AWARENESS AND INTEREST TOWARDS ADOPTING CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an Engineered Wood Product that is used as a structural, load-bearing building element to construct floor, wall and roof elements. Predominantly used in Europe for the last 20 years, it has brought about substantial productivity benefits to the construction of buildings due to its lightweight nature and high strength-to-weight ratio. It is also a renewable material and has a low impact on the environment throughout its entire product life cycle.

Singapore has recognised the need for productive technologies like CLT in the construction industry. With decreasing reliance on cheap foreign labour, Singapore must look to productive technologies to maintain its competitive advantage and improve productivity on-site. Despite this, and the efforts of a handful of firms, CLT has yet to take off in the city-state.

This paper seeks to uncover the reasons for the low adoption rate in Singapore. The focus was on uncovering the awareness and interest towards using CLT in Singapore. Findings indicated that awareness among the public and building professionals was low. It was found that a direct relationship existed between awareness and the ability of respondents to perceive CLT’s performance well. There were therefore misconceptions about the performance and capabilities of CLT, which were shown to have an impact on the willingness of respondents to adopt CLT