According to a published report by the United Nations environment programme in 2020, the construction industry accounted for 38% of CO 2 emissions worldwide (Building Sector Emissions Hit Record High, but Low-Carbon Pandemic Recovery Can Help Transform Sector – UN Report 2020).
With the weight of responsibility of onset climate change, many designers have started to explore alternative materials with which to create environmentally friendlier solutions to the issues of housing demand.
This paper will explore how Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) can be utilised as a structural system for high-density residential projects as an alternative to concrete and steel structures. Through an initial literature review, this paper will investigate the structural fundamentals of CLT, its manufacture, strength grading and methods of connection to form a basis for further discussion.
Using Dalston Lane in Hackney as a case study, the paper will investigate the specific constraints of the project that lead to the adoption of CLT as well as identifying how the designers and engineers achieved building the structure, examining the structural connections between the floorplates and walls.
The results of this paper provide an investigation into the implementation of CLT for high density tall residential projects via an analysis of Dalston lane’s structural system, which incorporated innovative solutions to standard joinery techniques by building on from the conventional CLT connections and combining it with new technology to achieve improved structural rigidity. Additionally, this paper offers an insight into the logistics and output of CLT worldwide demonstrating that currently as it stands the UK is heavily dependent on importing CLT panels from central Europe, calling into question the carbon footprint associated with CLT.
