SPR Webinar: Timber buildings: the environmental solution real estate needs, 21 June 2022

Timber framed, but not as we knew it
 
Speaking at this SPR seminar, which was moved online due to the national rail strike, Dave Lomax of architects WTA revealed that timber-framed buildings now have the potential to replace conventional steel and concrete in many situations.  Key to this development is cross-laminated timber (CLT), which can form thick panels that are far stronger and more adaptable than traditional timber.  Creating forests for such timber will actively reduce the carbon in the atmosphere, rather than adding to it like most other raw material extraction and processing.

Lomax presented some impressive case studies of timber-framed constructions designed by WTA, including Dalston Works, a block of 121 apartments and 35,000 sq ft of commercial space that on completion was the largest such structure in the world.  Brick-clad and with plastered interiors, the building has a conventional appearance but with the additional advantage of being demountable when no longer needed.  This effectively provides for a one-third reduction in subsequent carbon consumption, to add to the third-lower footprint of the initial build.

The importance of reducing the carbon embedded in buildings on the journey towards net zero was emphasised in Marylis Ramos’s opening presentation.  The director at Savills Earth Advisory noted that the UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050 implies a reduction of at least 40% in new buildings’ embedded carbon by 2030, a target that will mean much more re-use of the materials in existing buildings as well as new technologies like wood.  She suggested that investors are now focusing more on the full property life cycle and not just the operational challenges of zero carbon, but that this revolution is still not happening fast enough.  Timber construction could certainly play an important role in reducing buildings’ embedded carbon along the road to net zero.

In the panel discussion led by Alex Dunn of Cromwell Property Group, who chaired the event, his colleague Danya Pollard proposed that the biggest hurdle for investors to overcome in accepting the benefits of modern wood construction is their lack of education in how far the technology has advanced, particularly in relation to fire and damp risks.  Lomax explained that these can now be dealt with in a similar way to concrete and steel structures, where they can still be a problem – there is no reason why wood should be regarded any differently in this respect.

Thinking about the fund investment landscape in which she works, Pollard believes that such vehicles are relatively well placed to take a view of longer term ESG issues given their lifespan, with values and returns set to be increasingly influenced by the risk of asset stranding, something that is being reinforced by regulation.  For Lomax, this all works in favour of timber construction, which he just hopes will be given the chance of a ‘fair hit’ – this should lead investors to ask the question ‘why not?’ rather than ‘why?’.

Tim Horsey