Jaguar Land Rover unveils the UK’s largest engineered timber roof
Jaguar Land Rover’s Advanced Product Creation Centre has the largest engineered timber roof in the UK, encompassing 1,512m³ of PEFC-certified glulam beams and 2,674m³ of cross laminated timber (CLT) panels manufactured by Binderholz.
Jaguar Land Rover unveils the UK’s largest engineered timber roof
13 January 2021 Sustainable construction
Jaguar Land Rover’s Advanced Product Creation Centre has the largest engineered timber roof in the UK, reflecting the design quality and company values associated with one of Britain’s most iconic automotive businesses.
Encompassing 1,512m³ of PEFC-certified glulam beams and 2,674m³ of cross laminated timber (CLT) panels manufactured by Binderholz, the engineered timber roof makes a huge design statement covering an area of over 50,000m2.
In fact, this award-winning roof structure with outstanding green credentials has already achieved two prestigious Structural Timber Awards for ‘Commercial Project of the Year’ and ‘Solid Wood Project of the Year’.
The roof was designed and engineered by Buro Happold with B&K Structures acting as timber subcontractor with their design responsibilities for the connections.
The CLT and glulam structure was designed to deliver permanent quality and long-term energy efficiency, requiring little or no maintenance to meet the sustainability objectives.
The engineered timber industrial system was specified as it allows for rapid assembly and offers excellent airtightness through robust cross laminated timber panels.
The solid wood structure met the natural look and feel that Jaguar Land Rover required, together with the low thermal resistance and airtightness that the structure demanded to meet the challenging design brief.
The timber roof will require only minimal maintenance during the building’s lifetime as the solid timber sections prevent dust getting trapped as it would with steel sections.
The timber structure is designed for 90 minutes of fire resistance.
The project represented the largest PEFC-certified CLT roof deck constructed by B&K Structures. The design of the steel to glulam connections were a primary factor in the accuracy of the frame.
Adopting a hybrid approach, the structure is designed to be as lean and efficient as possible. Maximising performance in this way has resulted in a roof with the lowest possible amount of embodied carbon.
Photo credits: Bennetts Associates/B&K Structures