34 | Sector Focus: Timber in Construction
SUMMARY
■ Northstowe Learning Community features 3,100m3
of CLT
■ The CLT was supplied by Stora Enso ■ It stores 3,000 tons of CO2 ■ The project won a Structural Timber Award last year
A CLASS ACT
A new community learning campus in Cambridge demonstrates why it’s time to build more wooden schools. Sally Spencer reports
Northstowe new town is taking shape a handful of miles from Cambridge and an integral part of its phase two development is a complex of primary, secondary, special educational needs (SEN) and community space (sports centre, theatre and café) with the all-embracing name, Northstowe Learning Community. The 15,000m2
project features approximately 3,100m3 of cross-laminated
timber (CLT), storing an impressive 3,000 tons of CO2
and it’s these statistics that help to explain why the campus is being hailed as an exemplar of sustainable construction. The fact that it is also an inspiring and healthy
space for students is the icing on the cake. The project, which won the 2020 Structural Timber Award for Education Project of the Year, was the central point for discussion in a webinar hosted by The B1M (the world’s largest and most subscribed-to video channel for construction) in conjunction with Stora Enso, which supplied the CLT for Northstowe. The wider focus of the webinar was “Why it’s time to build more wooden schools”. Participants included Fred Mills, co- founder of The B1M, along with key members of the project team: Rory Doak, business development manager at Stora Enso; Dayo Shittu-Balogun, associate at CLT design
specialist Eurban; Will Hendry, senior design manager at Kier; James Mills, architect at Frank Shaw Associates; and Andy Daly, executive principal at the Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust (CMAT). The event was attended by architects, engineers, designers and developers.
One of the early benefits of building with
CLT at Northstowe was the speed, with work starting on site in January 2019, completion around July and handover of the first phase in September of the same year.
The speed of build really lent itself to the phased construction and handover that was necessary for the school, said Will Hendry. “It gave us a break line so we could carry on constructing at the same time as the students were actually receiving their education.” All the structural requirements of the project are CLT, much, though not all of it, on full view and another benefit of this construction method is what amounts to future-proofing. For example, the sports centre currently features four courts but as the school and the town grow, the CLT panels can be lifted out and moved back to make room for a further four. A further example of CLT’s flexibility during the construction phase was highlighted by both James Mills and Andy Daly. “One of the important things for us was the ability to look into rooms as you walk past them and James was able to design really large vision panels into the classrooms,” said Mr Daly. “The flexibility of working with CLT made this easier than with other materials.” “Those windows were literally just a cut in the wall,” added Mr Mills. “When it comes to designing, CLT – or any timber – is quite flexible.”
Above: A team of experts in CLT construction worked together on the Northstowe Learning Academy project PHOTO: FRANK SHAW ASSOCIATES
TTJ | July/August 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
Another advantage, said Rory Doak, was the reduced noise on site because everything comes in as pre-cut and pre-manufactured panels on a just-in-time basis.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89
