Technologies enabling advanced urban timber construction

This paper addresses rebirth of timber as a material suitable for urban construction. It lost currency during the late nineteenth and throughout the twentieth century, with the main reasons being concern about fire safety and the emergence of structural steel as a material well suited to expression of architectural modernism. Now the wheel of fortune is turning again, but in timber’s favour, with driving forces being continued population growth and urbanisation, and the need to create sustainable liveable cities. Also, technical knowhow now exists to address fire performance of timber buildings and timber materials have evolved to a level where some claim they are ‘better than steel’, or reinforced concrete. Research and development of fire engineering as a rigorous science are enabling implementation of performance-based design methods that literally revolutionise the design space for timber buildings. Tall timber buildings dot many recent city landscapes, but even so the possibilities largely await exploitation.