Hines was recognised for its contribution to development and timber
American business magazine Fast Company named developers Hines one of its most innovative urban development and real estate companies.
In particular, the magazine was impressed by the developer’s 555 Greenwich building in New York’s Hudson Square. The 16-storey office tower utilises geothermal walls to provide passive heating and cooling. The company claimed the building uses 80 per cent less energy than similar structures around Manhattan – making it one of the city’s most sustainable office buildings.
Another impressive feat was the firm’s expansion into a series of T3 mass timber projects, including the T3 Collingwood building in Melbourne, completed in November 2023. The building is the tallest mass timber building in Melbourne and adds to Hines’ portfolio of 26 timber assets in various development stages across North America and Europe as of 2023.
New mass timber concrete sandwich
It looks like the world now has a lower carbon “mass timber concrete sandwich” after Sweden’s Heidelberg Materials Precast Contiga and Finland based Metsä Wood joined forced to create a hybrid wall element featuring “an outer layer made of climate-improved concrete, intermediate insulation, and a load-bearing inner panel made of strong and material-efficient laminated veneer lumber, Kerto® LVL”.
The two companies say the panel also has a 30 to 50 per cent lower climate impact than a traditional concrete sandwich element. It is also 60 per cent lighter, which makes it suitable for buildings up to five floors.
New cross laminate timber facility in Oregon to meet high demand
Timberlab, a mass timber system supplier and Swinerton subsidiary has announced its plans to construct and operate a cross-laminate timber (CLT) facility in the US Oregon’s Willamette region.
The company noted that the facility was designed to meet the spark in supply chain demand for mass timber construction.
“This strategic initiative represents a significant milestone in the firm’s mission to accelerate the mainstream adoption of mass timber construction across the United States, providing a low-carbon and renewable material for the construction industry,” the company stated.
Timberlab’s president, Chris Evans, said the facility will remove the pinch points of the industry and make timber structures more affordable and usable in the States.