Timber iQ February - March 2018 // Issue: 36 | Page 9

NEWS
cracking. The slats are glued to each other on all
faces in the production process. All panels are
distinguished by their high strength, stability and
outstanding static load-carrying capacity – they
create a solid, secure and true all-wood construction.
Due to Novatop’s exact drying process and panel
forming technology, they exhibit dimensional
stability even with changes in humidity.
As Ben McCluskey from theengineer.co.uk points
out that thanks to CLT, wood is no longer a raw
material: it’s a product. In combination with high-
precision digital manufacturing processes like
computer numerical control (CNC) milling, CLT allows
architects to design and build with timber at scales
unthinkable a century ago.
This point has been proved by a number of
interesting projects all over Europe. Apart from
family houses, office buildings and smaller public
buildings, even high-rise buildings such as the Treet
in Norway and the Wildspitze in Germany or the
Hoho-Tower in Austria, have been constructed from
wood – something no one could have imagined until
very recently.
The first CLT buildings have started to emerge in
South Africa, although on a much smaller scale. The
first one is Pinotage House in 2013, a residential
house with an office, followed by Hout Bay House, a
show house and a research project open to the public.
HWZ hopes that – given the worldwide popularity
of wood and with the benefit of South African
certification – there will be more of these projects
and that South Africa will follow the global trends in
sustainable building.
First CLT certified
in South Africa!
World’s most popular modern
sustainable construction material
available also in South Africa
Pictured below: The Wood Innovation Design Centre
in Canada incorporating a simple, ‘dry’ structure of
systems-integrated CLT floor panels, glulam columns
and beams and mass timber walls.
Find out more about CLT
and NOVATOP Solid wood
construction system at
www.hwz.co.za or
www.novatop-system.com
// FEBRUARY / MARCH 2018
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