In Australia, the construction industry is responsible for 23% of greenhouse gas emissions (Green Building Council of Australia, 2019). These emissions can be reduced by choosing timber as the preferred building material.

Beautiful, versatile and cost-effective, GLT is ideal for residential, commercial and large scale industrial building projects. With superior thermal, acoustic and load-bearing properties, it's the perfect companion for your project.

GLT comes in many species and grades which can fulfil various uses and appeals. Structural and visual grade timbers are often chosen for outdoor structures.

Timber is usually preferred for its appearance over steel or concrete as it creates a warm and comfortable feeling. It has been proven that timber has a positive impact on people's health and wellbeing as it can lower blood pressure, heart rates and stress levels.

Furthermore, it's a comparatively light building material that can be prefabricated, which helps reduce labour cost on site, and contribute to a safer and quieter construction site.

In fire situations, timber buildings perform strongly compared to other materials thanks to the nature of wood and its significant insulating properties. When timber burns, it burns in a slow and predictable way. In fact, it goes through a thermal breakdown process and a layer of charcoal forms on its surface. This charred layer is the key to timber’s fire resistance, acting as an insulator that protects the inner core.

Large GLT members can maintain load-bearing requirements during a fire event. Unlike steel and reinforced concrete, GLT will not twist or spall in fire.

Make sure to follow guides on how to design for fire.

There is a wide range of timber products available in Australia, with some manufactured locally and others imported from all around the world. Due to this product mix, we see differing product labelling in the market that can lead to confusion. For example the Australian and European products label structural GLT products with a GL prefix followed by a numeric 'X' value. The numeric 'X' value refers to a different structural property in each product:

• In the Australian/New Zealand (AS/NZS) system, it refers to the bending stiffness (modulus of elasticity) in gigapascals (GPa)
• In the European (EN) system, it refers to the bending strength in megapascals (MPa)

For more information on Australian vs imported GLT marking/labelling, read WoodSolutions's blog article.

Timber is one of the few natural, renewable building material that takes less fossil fuel energy to produce and is good for the world.

The process of manufacturing timber uses substantially less fossil fuel energy per unit volume than steel, concrete, or aluminium; meaning that timber has a very low carbon footprint.

As a general rule, if we can replace a cubic metre of concrete with a cubic metre of timber, about a tonne (1,000 kilograms) of CO2 emissions will be avoided. Further, approximately 50% of the dry weight of wood is carbon that the growing tree has removed from the atmosphere.

Have a look at GLT's Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).

Are you interested in GLT for your next project?
Get in contact with one of our timber specialist by calling 1300 784 963 or emailing us here.