Industrial Warehouse Building Carbon Footprint Model
This section provides information on the industrial warehousing building used in the NZ Wood carbon footprint model.
Many modern buildings tend to make extensive use of timber, steel, and concrete materials in construction, all of which can be energy-intensive to produce, via processes that have the potential to cause adverse environmental impacts and give rise to CO2 emissions.
However, recent developments in wood technology and engineered timber products, seismic and acoustic design, fabrication and construction techniques have enabled timber to be utilised much more extensively for instance in the basic structure of medium-rise, multi-storey buildings, such as a typical ‘down-town’ office block.
While there is a tendency for buildings to be labelled according to the main material used for their sub-structure and super-structure, the vast majority of buildings use a large number of different materials, from a variety of sources, both national and international. From a materials perspective, a building becomes a very complex system and it is often not immediately clear which materials or combinations of materials provide the best environmental performance.
Studies have indicated that when considering the environmental impacts of building materials, the structural components used in a building are of significant importance.
The building designs covered by the NZWood carbon footprint model emphasis alternative structural design options where the predominant structural material is either timber, steel or concrete.
Description of Industrial-Warehousing Building
Building statistics:
- 12146m2 floor area
- 2 x 64m portals with central columns (8.0m bay spacing)
- 13.9m to top of apex with a 7.50 roof pitch
- NelsonPine LVL 10 main structural componentsNailed moment joints
- Epoxied rod lateral bracing system
- Sprinkler fire safety system
In late 2001 Nelson Pine Industries commissioned their state of the art veneer line and LVL plant in Richmond, Nelson. One and a half years after the commissioning of the LVL plant, Nelson Pine built a large warehouse to house its future dispatch and LVL storage facility. The project used close to 900m3 of LVL and covered a floor area of over 12,000m2.
The portals were centrally supported 64m spans with bay spacings of 8m. The main components were manufactured from NelsonPine LVL 10.
The shape of the main rafters comprised on a central web of one billet width 63mm x 1200mm deep. Four 45mm x 400mm flanges were then glued to the sides of the central web to form a large I - beam section.
The composite gluing was done at Hunter Laminates in Richmond. These components were assembled on site before being erected into place.
The nailed moment joints required importing of 100mm nails to meet the penetration requirements of NZS3603.
A template with the nail patterns were spray painted over the joints, leaving a pattern of dots, which were then filled with a nail each ensuring the correct nailing pattern was attained.
View LVL building comparison data - Excel document
LVL Building under construction
