International House Sydney at Barangaroo South is Australia’s first timber engineered office building and one of Sydney’s newest cutting-edge sustainable commercial buildings. It is an expression of innovation and sustainable design excellence and represents a new movement in commercial building design and construction. The use of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and glulam in such a high-profile project has encouraged industry interest in timber as a building material. It offers similar structural outcomes as traditional concrete and steel, but at a fraction of the weight. It can be erected rapidly, resulting in significant savings and significant reductions in safety risks during construction. The design of the timber beams was modified to incorporate reinforcing with a product called Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). Four prototypes were developed in collaboration with Stuttgart University in Germany. Today, International House showcases the world’s first LVL-reinforced glulam beams. The advantages of using engineered timber was significant, improving:
•    Structural Capabilities – the performance of LVL-reinforced beams
•    Environmental Credentials – timber not only reduces air, noise and waste pollution in construction, it also offers embodied carbon emission reductions and is suitable for recycle and reuse in new structures at end of life.
•    Aesthetic Qualities – warm and attractive, users also benefit from health benefits.
•    Construction Process – prefabrication streamlines the build, which allays costs and improves productivity. The structure was delivered in approximately 30 per cent less time than using concrete.
•    Safety and Wellbeing.    International House Sydney’s engineered timber is a pre-fabricated building system providing safety, sustainability and commercial benefits over conventional delivery. Combined with the recycled ironbark logs and the turpentine timber extracted during excavation of the basement levels of Barangaroo clearly demonstrates this building’s Best Use of Timber.