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The future of engineered timber after

Grenfell
There can never be a choice between life safety and
sustainability in our buildings.

Home The future of engineered timber after Grenfell

23 January, 2020 # " $ %

The UK Government’s response to the tragedy at Grenfell
Tower was to introduce a ban on the use of combustible
materials in the external walls of buildings taller than 18
metres. Amongst other commonly used materials affected
by this restriction was cross-laminated timber (CLT). As the
name implies, CLT is an engineered product formed from
factory fabricated bonded layers of softwood, each layer
placed at right angles to its neighbour. It’s a versatile
material that can be made into many shapes and sizes
designed in each case to meet specific functional
requirements. The resulting components are both strong and light, and significantly from the perspective of sustainability,
come from a renewable resource. Against the background of much greater concern about the impact of our buildings on
the climate and the changes to Approved Document B of the Building Regulations which deals with fire safety,
the industry has been working hard to find innovative ways to allow CLT to continue to be used in new buildings without
compromising the new - and now more prescriptively defined - standards of fire integrity.

Emerging to wider notice in the 1990s, the use of CLT grew for a number of reasons; design flexibility, good thermal
performance and high sustainability credentials are all key. It is also a lighter, less dense material compared with steel
or concrete which means it can deliver potential cost savings in foundation construction. Used initially for smaller
projects like schools or healthcare buildings, it has been taken up to a greater extent in the multifamily and student
accommodation sectors. Legal & General amongst others invested in setting up factories to prefabricate entire
apartment modules from CLT which could be used to construct, for example, volume build to rent schemes. Beyond its
versatility as a building material CLT also offers potential programme savings.

There can never be a choice between life safety and sustainability in our buildings, but equally they should not be seen
as mutually exclusive. Materials like CLT offer us many advantages especially as a substitute for more traditional
building elements with far less attractive carbon footprints like steel and concrete. Right now, we can anticipate a radical
review of the standards and processes we use to establish that our buildings are designed and built to be robust and
safe.

Timber trade bodies and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) both argue that the Government’s action is
expedient and lacks nuance. They argue that the use of timber as a cladding material should be distinguished from its
use as a structural system, where a route to demonstrate regulatory compliance has always existed. The new rules also
overlook, they say, timber’s inherent fire resistance. Right now, however, it’s probably not reasonable to expect the
political climate, following so significant a loss of life, to be open to so technical an argument which seems, on the face
of it, to push back the margin of safety so firmly set by the new legislation. As is evident, the ban is already denying
designers access to materials that were previously available, so there is something of an ingenuity gap waiting to be
filled with new materials, new applications and new design approaches. Finding such an approach has been a key
factor for us.

CBRE is currently project managing a residential-led urban development that includes new towers originally intended to
be built with CLT. Following the amendments to Approved Document B which came into force in December 2018, a
predominantly CLT clad structure was no longer an option for our client. As a result, the design team has been engaged
in a series of studies to develop alternative designs for the tall buildings with a focus on avoiding compromise to the
sustainability objectives in the project brief.

The design team has been working in collaboration with a leading structural frame contractor and a façade specialist to
develop a hybrid design for the buildings. This new design has also been assessed by the project’s Approved Inspector
to confirm it will meet the amended legislation. The proposed new design will continue to use CLT for the interior
partitions, but it will work in conjunction with a steel structure supporting the exterior façade now incorporating non-
combustible mineral wool insulation. Sprinklers would also be installed throughout the towers, again something we
believe will be incorporated into Document B and identified in the most recent consultation about amendments in
2019.

The team has identified a further challenge in the potential risk of condensation which needs to be resolved before this
can be taken to the next stage of design development. Nonetheless, this exercise shows how the industry is beginning to
respond to the changes in legislation but is not being driven to relinquish the selection of sustainable materials and
components in doing so. CLT is of real value from the perspective of sustainably and can also be a powerful weapon in
the fight against climate change. We will all need to find new design approaches that maximise our ability to use
sustainable materials like this without putting at risk any aspect of building or life safety.

If you would like to continue the conversation, feel free to get

in touch.

Kathryn Ware
Associate
Director, Project
and Cost
Management

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