Norway built the world's tallest wooden tower

The Mjostarnet tower was built entirely of wood, when completed, a total of 18 floors and 85.4m high.

Norway completed the frame of the world's tallest wooden tower in the town of Brumunddal, about 100km north of Oslo, AFP reported yesterday.The Mjostarnet tower is hailed as an environmentally friendly construction and has good fire resistance.

Mjostarnet tower is being built in Norway.(Photo: Voll Arkitekter).

Mjostarnet is built along Lake Mjosa, Norway's largest lake. The construction was designed by architect Voll Arkitekter and started construction in early September 2017 and is expected to be completed in March 2019. This 18-storey tower will include apartments, hotels, restaurants, offices, a common living area and an indoor pool.

According to Arthur Buchardt, the investor of the project, the use of wood, a renewable material, will reduce CO2 emissions by 30% compared to concrete."Wooden buildings will contribute to creating a cleaner world. I want to convey this important message to people through the project," Buchardt said.

Not only environmentally friendly, the building also has good fire resistance. The project engineers said the building uses laminated wood and it is difficult to catch fire. They only burn when exposed to the fire for a long time.

Initially, the Mjostarnet tower was designed 81m high, but then added a frame of 4.4m high climbing on the top of the tower, helping the project to be slightly taller than the 84-meter HoHo tower being built in the Austrian capital Vienna. Not to mention HoHo tower is only built from 76% of wood materials.

Over the years, many ambitious wooden projects have been proposed such as the 120-high Baobab tower project in Paris, France or the 87m-high Abebe Court awaiting construction in Lagos City, Nigeria.