Monday, February 28, 2022
Berlin Senate Administration decided to lean on the use of innovative and sustainable timber modular construction methods to construct 32 wooden schools in the next few years. Wooden construction takes less time, and already six schools have been successfully built. The module structures were built with 8-metre long GLVL beams (made of Kerto® LVL S-beam).
The modular schools in Berlin were built by the Austrian prefabrication constructor Kaufmann Bausysteme (KBS). To keep construction time short, the three-storey school buildings were constructed from prefabricated volumetric modules. The assembly of the modules took place in Berlin. Due to the short distance to the construction site, the transport was efficient and avoided unnecessary costs. Every classroom is composed of 2–3 modules. The modules were built using CLT load-bearing walls. Two Kerto GLVL beams carry the loads to the walls of modules, allowing a column-free floor plan to be used. The span of these 8-m long beams could not be realised with glulam. Hence, the new venture is cost effective and reduces construction time.
Sebastian Hagspiel, Project Manager from Kaufmann Bausysteme, describes the material selection of the GLVL beams as follows: “We are wood builders, not steel builders. Therefore, steel beams were out of the question for us and a stronger alternative to glulam had to be found. These requirements could only be solved by using laminated veneer lumber (LVL). There were two materials that came into question: hardwood LVL made of beech and softwood LVL made of coniferous wood.”
For structural requirements, the project partners set out to find a wood-based material with high compression and flexural strength. In addition, the material had to be easy to machine. Bullinger Holzwerke in Germany proposed GLVL (Glued-LVL) as a solution. This product is made from Kerto LVL beams glued together to form a GLVL beam. The GLVL manufacturing process was developed by Bullinger in cooperation with Metsä Wood.
Production manager Ingo Faller describes the process as efficient: “We have updated our standard glulam process so that we can use also LVL beams. The GLVL beams have high bending strength. It is roughly similar to GL 50. Standard glulam generally reaches a strength of up to GL 30/32.”
Tags: berlin, Cross laminated timber, Kerto, LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber), school, wood, wood and panel, wood school
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