Dive Brief:

• Builders in Bergen, Norway, are about to erect a timber-frame apartment building that they plan to top out at 14 stories and 49 meters (about 160 feet), which will give it the title of tallest timber-frame multifamily structure.
• The building, whose name translates to English as "The Tree," uses glulam structural elements a meter (just over 39 inches) thick that will support modular apartment units.
• The design by Sweco AB calls for a glass-and-metal facade to go onto the building once all the 62 apartment units are in place, and completion is scheduled for fall of next year.

Dive Insight:

Sweco, the structural engineering firm working on The Tree project, says it will be more expensive to build with timber than with concrete or steel, but it does not take as long, so the owner's payback can begin sooner.