Today, timber construction products can already replace many conventional CO2-intensive construction materials that are leaving a considerable carbon footprint with their production and transport to the construction site already such as concrete and steel. "We are talking here of reducing the greenhouse effect by up to 50% for a single-family home, looking at the life cycle of the construction material. The fact that wood is actively alleviating the impact on the climate is only one of the construction material's many advantages," says Richard Stralz, CEO of the Mayr-Melnhof group.
Multi-story timber construction
3800 m³ of wood were used in the dormitory Woodie © Mayr-Melnhof
Solid wood has by now been established in the field of multi-story construction. Here, low weight, less waste on the construction site and the positive characteristics in terms of heat, moisture, acoustics and fire resistance stand out. In addition, the thinner wall and ceiling structures compared to massive construction result in a gain in square meters. This means that the buildings end up with more living area at identical total floor areas. The high degree of industrial prefabrication that renders cross-trade interfaces on the construction site unnecessary makes timber construction a fast and simple method, as the Mayr-Melnhof group assures.
Innovative construction systems with comprehensive solutions such as integrated housing technology are attractive for modular, standardized building. "The groundbreaking further developments for instance are wood-concrete composite elements. Especially for multi-story housing construction, the use of wall and ceiling elements made from XC XLam Concrete – a composite consisting of cross-laminated timber and concrete without any metal fasteners exclusively using recessed bird's mouths – is a revolution," Stralz elaborates.
The elements are mounted dry without falsework support. The product by MMK – a joint venture of the Mayr Melnhof Holz Holding with the Kirchdorfer group – meets very high quality and safety requirements.
The hybrid convinces with improved vibration behavior and high sound insulation properties at very large spans. And on top of that, the massive construction method comes with a visually appealing wood surface. This is particularly relevant since besides the sustainability factor, also the comfort level and a pleasant room atmosphere are playing an increasingly important role in building construction.
The projects
Mayr-Melnhof is a leading producer of cross-laminated timber and glulam and user of wood solid construction elements MM HBE. XC XLam Concrete rounds off the product portfolio and positions Mayr-Melnhof Holz as complete supplier for wood construction.
"Pioneer projects such as the residential building Q7 in Graz that is 100% made from wood, Central Europe's highest wooden high rise, the 24-story HoHo in Vienna; the dormitory Woodie in Hamburg in modular design or the 9-story energy-efficient dormitory KJN in Oslo speak for themselves," Richard Stralz is convinced.
