Australia's first tallest timber tower

In 2018, Stora Enso, in partnership with Lendlease, delivered prefabricated sustainable wood for 25 King Street in Brisbane. At the time, the 10-story, 52-meter high office designed by Bates Smart was Australia's largest engineered timber building. Only the basement and ground floor are concrete; everything else is solid wood, including the elevator shafts.

25 King is an exemplary model of sustainable office construction. The number of mass timber buildings is expected to double every two years through 2034, driven by their sustainability, economic benefits, and health advantages (The Beck Group, Kaiser + Path, Treesource, Doug Fir Consulting LLC).

Materials

Stora Enso supplied 4,824m³ of mainly non-visual grade CLT untrimmed and unedged 'raw panels' to Lend Lease's DesignMake, which carried out CNC processing in their Sydney Eastern Creek factory before delivery to the Brisbane site. Lift core modules were pre-assembled at ground height and then lifted into place to form an easy-to-build wooden structure.

Wiehag produced 1,430 m³ of glued laminated timber (GLT/Glulam), mainly GL28h in visual quality, including hybrid beams reinforced with Baubuche (Beechwood) LVL sandwiched within the glulam beams.

The GLT columns that form the striking entrance are spruce GLT in the core with an overlay of 40mm Accoya applied in WiEHAG's mill to improve durability in exposed weather conditions. Stora Enso preinstalled passive moisture-sensing RFID tags into the columns between the spruce GLT core and the Accoya overlay. These sensors enable easy tag scanning to detect any water ingress, preventing moisture damage.

Services: shipping and logistics

Stora Enso managed all logistics from Europe, a significant accomplishment. The CLT panels, up to 16m long and almost 3m wide, were transported from Austria to Australia using low-emission train cargo and MAFI roll/cargo trailers on roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels. All 33 GLT columns and 52 beams (1,430m³) were shipped in 40' HC (high cube) containers.

Press

The Guardian | The Fifth Estate | Infrastructure Magazine

Awards

25 King Street has received numerous awards for its architectural design, sustainability, and innovation. Here are some of the most notable ones:

Australian Timber Design Awards
   - Winner: People’s Choice
   - Winner: Excellence in Timber Applications – Public or Commercial 

Good Design Awards
   - Winner: Gold in Architectural Design – Commercial and Residential

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Award:
   - Best Tall Building under 100 metres

Engineers Australia Australian Engineering Excellence Awards:
   - Queensland Division

Consult Australia Awards for Excellence:
   - High Commendation: Superior Sustainability

Property Council of Australia Innovation and Excellence Awards:
   - Development Innovation – Lendlease and Impact Investment Group

Urban Development Institute of Australia (Qld) Awards for Excellence:
   - Winner: Environmental Excellence

Australian Institute of Building (AIB) Awards:
   - Queensland Research Development and Technology – Professional Excellence Award

Queensland Architecture Awards (AIA):
   - Award for Interior Architecture – Woods Bagot
   - Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Architecture – Bates Smart
   - Harry Marks Award for Sustainable Architecture – Bates Smart

MIPIM Asia Awards:
    - Best Office Development – Bates Smart

National Architecture Awards:
    - National Commendation for Sustainable Architecture

Time lapse of construction: