Timber to fast-track Adelaide Oval Hotel
Builders of the Adelaide Oval Hotel are knocking on wood, literally, to meet tight deadlines on the project through the use of engineered timber.
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Engineered timber is helping builders of the Adelaide Oval Hotel fast track the construction project, one of the early adopters of the growing architectural trend across the country.
Construction work on the 128-room hotel, supported by a $42 million state government grant, started last month, and bookings will be open from March before an expected trading start in September 2020.
Trading ahead of the International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup is the key goal for stakeholders.
The addition of a new building to an existing structure presented technical challenges with integration and weight being key considerations, Cox Architecture director Adam Hannon said.
Builder Built Environs is now using cross laminated timber (CLT), often used for building structures where weights are limited due to soil conditions or building on existing structure
Australia first started using CLT in 2012 for the construction of a 10 storey apartment building in Melbourne, after it developed in Austria in the 1990s.
“CLT, and the way it enables you to build, allows us to get around those challenges while also delivering other benefits such as acoustic and thermal performance, plus the speed of construction,” Mr Hannon said.
CLT is around 25 per cent of the weight of traditional steel and concrete but is strong and by prefabricating the panels before assembly on-site, construction times can be halved and noise on site reduced.
The first SA project to use CLT was the $27 million Verde Apartment project at Kent Town.
Last year, NZ company XLam started producing the CLT panels in Victoria, and is a supplier to the Adelaide Oval project.
The hotel will also use locally manufactured precast concrete and hot rolled Whyalla steel, with the majority of structural walls and floors constructed from CLT. There are some areas where steel is being used to work in with the existing structure, which is in addition to the major structural trusses made from steel.
“Projects such as the Adelaide Oval Hotel can play an important part in ensuring the local building industry remains competitive while keeping up with what’s happening around Australia and the world,” Built Environs managing director Daryl Young said.
“The response from local contractors to the use of CLT has been very positive – many are seeing it as an exciting opportunity to add to their skills given it’s not yet widely used in South Australia,” Mr Young said.
The CLT panels are not used for the cladding panels on the Adelaide Oval Hotel project but the panels have a high degree of fire performance and recently received necessary approvals.
The external cladding materials specified for the Adelaide Oval Hotel are non-combustible metal sheet products that complement and enhance the existing cladding systems of the Oval.