Would you live in a timber house?

[Niall]

I've been looking into bamboo as well due to its quicker rate of growth and it takes in irrc around 3 times more carbon dioxide than more softwood while it's growing depending on species etc. It is also incredibly hard just problems with sourcing it and it has a habit of deforming slightly if not treated properly e.g cheap bamboo wood flooring
I haven't heard higher rise buildings 4 stories + using timber as the external walls but then this university doesn't explain much outside of 'use steel n concrete but be environmental about it!'.
Having said that I did hear from one of the lectures about the new eco friendly student village they built here which uses timber external walls and a inner concrete core for the lift shaft however they didn't plan for the wood to shrink so now there's like a couple cm dip between the lifts and the floor and some of the window frames don't line up
The current design plan is panels that can be assembled on site to ensure proper fitment and ease of construction, structurally insulated panels are an option but I just need to compare the strengths against cross laminated panels which I believe is pretty much the same thing but no insulation and more wood.

Again thanks to everyone who has done the survey so far and given feedback, this has given me alot to think over and write up about

The flats that they are building at Nine Elms in London at the moment are a very basic concrete core lift and stairs, concrete floors spuring from that but the outer walls are all glass and wood. Theres no reason why not as they are not load bearing.
The biggest issue with timber buildings is the fire proofing. If there was none, the building would be up in flames in seconds.

Quote fail niall? not sure i said that!

Yeah just a bit. It's alright, most of what you type is spam anyway so not worth reading