The research team composed of architects, biochemists, mathematicians and engineers, who specialise in plant-based materials, including cross-laminated timber, has come up with the first major structural innovation since the advent of reinforced concrete, 150 years ago.
Principal researchers say that before cross-laminated timber, there was simply no building material to replace steel or concrete. To construct cities or skyscrapers, we just had to accept the fact that our only option is concrete and other existing non sustainable materials.
Concrete is five times heavier than timber, therefore you have to spend more for foundations and transportation; it’s resource-intensive, and contributes to heavy emissions. Concrete is the second most consumed material by humanity (after water). But now we have a new choice and it is 100% sustainable - plant based.
Researches believe that adoption of this technology can help us to address most of the problems in global housing shortage and climate change.
Dr Ramage gave an interesting example: "In England alone, more than 300,000 new homes are build every year and this number will only grow over next 12 years to accomodate our population. Concrete is obviously unsustainable. Timber is the only building material we can grow ourselves and that can drastically reduce the emissions. Every tonne of timber clears 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide from atmosphere. Therefore if all new English houses were built from timber, we could clear emissions of around 900,000 people for 10 years.". This simple example just shows how big this impact can be.