Please turn your device to portrait.
Design, engineering and advisory company, Aurecon, delivers solutions for challenging MMC mass timber building.
The Singaporean Government’s trajectory towards Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) underscored by their Industry Transformation Map (ITM), was launched back in 2016 with the stated objective of attracting another 50,000 people to new construction technology jobs by 2025, bringing the total to 80,000.
The road map was implemented to reinvent Singapore’s construction sector to reduce the cost of housing and minimise construction time.
The ITM intention was to strengthen core engineering and skills in transformation areas via structured professional development pathways, and significantly, the ITM was conceived to ensure that the industry is not driven to extinction.
Singapore’s authorities aims to attract new entrants to an elevated industry that demands more technical competency and offers a more comfortable working environment.
As Singapore Contractors Association Limited president Kenneth Loo put it: “If you have a completely backwards industry that no one wants to join, nothing can ever be cheaper or faster. We are pumping in a bit more now, but that is to keep this industry alive and sustainable.”
Singapore’s investment and commitment to MMC and ITM is paying off with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) latest project, Academic Building South (ABS), to be built largely from Mass Engineered Timber (MET).
It’s slated to be the new home for Nanyang Business School, and at 40,000 square metres, it will be one of the largest mass timber buildings in the world.
ABOVE: Renders of Nanyang Technological University’s mass timber project, Academic Building South.
To realise the vision, Aurecon was engaged to deliver civil and structural engineering services, including consultancy services for the demolition of the existing lnnovation Centre, conceptualisation and detailed design of all structural elements, preparation of tender documents, and construction supervision.
MET will be used to build the six-storey ABS by adopting a combination of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) for slabs and Glue Laminated Timber (Glulam) for beams and columns. The utilisation of MET technology in this project supports the Singapore government’s move towards productivity-driven economic growth.
According to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), it confirms the ongoing transformation of Singapore’s built environment sector.
Serena Yap, Aurecon’s Project Manager for the project explained that material will be sourced from renewable forests and prefabricated for on-site assembly. Not only does this method reduce dust, debris, and noise pollution on site, it is also faster and requires less labour than traditional building methods.
The exposed MET aesthetic also meant that all steel connections between the load-bearing beams and columns are obscured. Aurecon configured a design to ensure the steel connections were embedded within the timber, as the steel connections within the timber also helps fire design by keeping the critical load-bearing members protected by a ‘sacrificial’ layer.
Hear David Kingham, Technical Manager, Mass Timber, NTU ABS Singapore, speak about this innovative mass timber build at this years’ Offsite Timber Construction 2022 conference and exhibition.
The hybrid event for ‘in-person’ and ‘on-line’ delegates will be held at Crown Promenade Melbourne on Tuesday and Wednesday 21-22 June 2022
Book your tickets HERE
CLICK HERE to return to the home page for more articles.
