Norwegian real estate investor Arthur Buchardt, owner of AB Invest, has unveiled plans to build the world's tallest timber skyscraper in Norway.
The tower, dubbed 'Mjøstårnet', after the nearby lake of Mjøsa, will be more than 80 metres tall and stand 30 metres higher than what is today considered the world’s tallest timber building, The Tree, a 52.8 metre high residential building in Bergen, Norway.
Buchardt said he was inspired by the Paris climate agreement. 'You could say that I have had my eureka moment. I want to help convey an important message with this project. To build with wood is to contribute to the world breathing better,' he said.
'In 15 years’ time I believe it will be illegal to produce and sell cars that run on fossil fuels. Similarly, I expect that climate-friendly materials will become an international statutory standard.'
The building will be erected in the town of Brumunddal, an hour and a half's drive north of Oslo. It will comprise 18 floors and include apartments, an indoor swimming pool, hotel, offices, restaurant and communal areas. Construction is scheduled to be
completed in December 2018. Moelven, a Mjøsa-local Scandinavian industrial group, will supply the timber constructions from local spruce forests required to construct the tower and the swimming pool area.
Earlier this year, Lendlease revealed plans to construct 5 King St in Brisbane, dubbed the world's tallest timber office building at 45 metres. HoHo Tower in Vienna, unveiled by architecture firm Rüdiger Lainer and Partner (RLP) in 2015, is being planned as an 84 metre, 24-storey twin tower with a hotel, apartments, a restaurant, a wellness centre and offices.
'The assembly and construction of the Mjøstårnet is nothing short of world-class engineering, and will be managed without external scaffolding, despite the complexity of working at heights. We are primarily using cranes and supplementing with lifts as needed. We have reached 33 metres to date, meaning we have 50 metres to go,' added Buchardt.
'Through Mjøstårnet we demonstrate that it is possible to construct large, complex wooden buildings,' he concluded.
