20 October 2020

Why wood is great for commercial buildings

By ruiiid5

When it comes to commercial and industrial buildings that need to stand the test of time, wood has proven it has the necessary resilience and durability, to offer certain benefits over concrete or steel.

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In the retail and office space, wood not only offers exceptional durability, but introduces a more aesthetic warmth, often missing from the work environment. Further benefits include:

  1. Cost-effectiveness

Construction data show that mid-rise buildings on average cost a quarter more to build out of concrete compared to wood framing. Steel costs more than 40% more. Many communities also have a large pool of skilled and experienced contractors with wood construction, maintaining competitive labour costs and time-efficient construction. For more details on Oak Cladding, visit Timberpride, suppliers of Oak Cladding.

  1. Versatility and adaptability

A feature of commercial and industrial buildings is that they often have to be flexible as the tenants’ needs change from time to time. For this reason, space is often designed to be as open and unobstructed as possible. In terms of framing for the roof, there are several options available with wood that can provide the long span that’s needed for an open floor design. Roof trusses are robust, economical, and quick to install. They can be produced in complicated configurations due to cutting edge software which enables simpler join ups with mechanical systems, such as plumbing and electrics.

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  1. Ease of use

Increasing amounts of components can now be constructed off-site and constructed on arrival at the site. Particularly in terms of heavy wooden buildings, prefabricating various elements offsite mean a reduction in construction time on site, making structural timber building relatively quick and efficient to construct.