The St.Lukes Building is one of only a dozen completed multi-storey mass-timber buildings in Australia, and the first of its type in Tasmania.

The building is a simple form representative of its unique mass timber construction system. The upper two levels have a discernible articulation the simple building profile. These upper levels create a visible, “outdoor room” when seen from both nearby and distant vantage points.

Utilising mass timber construction technology had many significant benefits; it is a natural, renewable and recyclable material. Mass timber buildings have a quicker construction time which benefitted the urban realm through reduced interruption from construction activity and resulted in significantly less construction waste.

The project’s mass timber construction methodology stemmed from research and specialist advice by leading timber design consultants who have recent experience with some of the most sustainable office buildings nationally and globally. Since completion, TERROIR has commissioned industry and institutional experts to engage in a collaborative research project that was also part-funded by the Federal Innovation Connections research program. The various strategies that lowered the carbon emissions associated with the StLukesHealth development – CLT/GLT structure, efficient floor plate and façade and the retention of existing buildings at the podium represented the best of current practice.

At only half the carbon of a typical multi-story building, the building makes a significant reduction in construction related carbon emissions; the equivalent emissions of 1,471 cars driving 20,000km per year. Remarkably, the volume of timber required took less than 6 hours’ time to grow the timber, if it were grown in an area equal to that of Tasmania’s managed forests.

Photography by Adam Gibson