NZ’s first mass timber office block: 1,500 pieces of giant Lego

Willis Bond senior development manager Will Ellison says wood is best (Image: NZME)

Tue, 17 Sep 2024

The developer of New Zealand’s biggest mass timber office block, which will house Tauranga City Council, says nothing comes close to wood for reducing embodied carbon. The council’s new premises, due for completion next year, use 1,500 pieces of prefabricated engineered timber instead of traditional steel and concrete. Developed by Willis Bond, the eight-storey,10,000sq m building has half the embodied carbon – emitted through manufacture, transport and installation of building materials – of a traditional stee...

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