A New Zealand building’s sustainable timber seismic design was announced as a winner at The Institution of Structural Engineers UK’s Structural Awards 2011 ceremony held in London.
The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and Arts (NMIT) building won the Education / Healthcare Structures category in the international awards.
Aurecon’s innovative “all timber” building design has a seismic bracing system which is a world first application of rocking LVL shear walls based on PRESSS technology.
The building also employs several new timber structural systems for floors, beams and columns that demonstrate the ability of structural timber for use in multi storey construction. All structural timber components were grown, milled, manufactured and erected within an 80km radius of Nelson.
Carl Devereux, Aurecon Technical Director and lead structural engineer for the NMIT project said, “The NMIT building demonstrates that sustainable multi-storey timber buildings are not only achievable but affordable.”
Aurecon’s Global Head of Innovation, Kourosh Kayvani said, “For Aurecon to win such a prestigious global award is a fantastic recognition. Such prestigious global acknowledgement for this innovative project highlights our leadership in damage limiting seismic design and our ability to deliver excellent solutions to address the full range of client needs globally.”
Image: Aurecon
