What is Cross Laminated Timber?
Cross laminated timber or CLT is a structural, prefabricated panel used to form environmentally sustainable, walls, roofs and floors across a wide range of structures. The gluing of both longitudinal and transverse layers, which reduces the movement of the wood, means that CLT more than meets the standards required by modern building materials.
B&K Structures offers both pure CLT systems and the possibility to incorporate CLT into a hybrid structure ensuring the best possible sustainable structural solution for each individual project.
How is Cross Laminated Timber made?
CLT is produced by stacking layers of timber, known as lamellas, at 90° to the layer below and gluing the lamellas together to create structural timber panels of up to 22m in length and 3.5m in width. Generally members are manufactured 2.4m in width for floor panels or up to 2.95m in width for wall panels, the length of the panels are dependent on site access and logistics.
Manufacture takes place in a factory controlled environment, using state-of-the-art CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) joinery machines, ensuring exceptional levels of accuracy are always guaranteed. The controlled conditions under which CLT is made dramatically reduces the appearance of defects which improves construction and project delivery time, reduces costs and maximises efficiency on all levels. CLT panels can also be designed to allow for the onsite installation of bespoke windows, doors and other architectural features.
What is Cross Laminated Timber used for?
CLT has a wide range of applications and can be used as part of a hybrid structure or as a sole building material. Its use is well documented in almost every sector and there are numerous examples of CLT in everything from high rise buildings and large commercial office space to single storey dwellings.
Cross Laminated Timber is primarily used for walls, roofs and floors. Because of its variance in thickness, it is highly versatile and doesn’t sacrifice integrity in place of sustainability. Its reduced weight, when compared to traditional materials like concrete, gives it considerable advantages in terms of total building weight and allows for additional storeys on a foundation of the same size.