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Sydney is erecting the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper — 40 stories of hybrid timber that sequester carbon instead of emitting it, and the building is designed to change the way the world constructs tall buildings
The city of Sydney, Australia, is building the tallest wooden skyscraper in the world. According to ArchDaily, the Atlassian Central will have 40 stories and a height of 180 meters, using an engineered hybrid timber structure combined with steel and concrete.
Moreover, the wooden skyscraper is expected to be completed by 2026 and was designed by the New York-based SHoP Architects and Sydney’s BVN.
Therefore, while most skyscrapers in the world emit hundreds of tons of CO₂ during construction, the Atlassian Central will sequester carbon in its very structure — because wood stores CO₂ instead of emitting it.
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Consequently, the project could redefine the engineering of tall buildings for the 21st century.
How a wooden skyscraper stands up — and why it doesn’t catch fire
According to sustainable construction experts, the Atlassian Central does not use ordinary wood. In fact, the structure utilizes mass timber — engineered wood made from glued and pressed layers that are more fire-resistant and stronger by weight than steel.
In practice, mass timber beams char on the outside when exposed to fire, but maintain their structural integrity on the inside — similar to how a thick log burns slowly while a thin branch catches fire instantly.
Furthermore, laboratory tests have shown that mass timber elements can withstand fires for over two hours without structural collapse — exceeding safety requirements for tall buildings in Australia.
Thus, the wooden skyscraper combines the lightness and sustainability of wood with the strength and durability of steel and concrete at critical points in the structure.
Every cubic meter of wood in the building stores 1 ton of CO₂
According to data from the World Green Building Council, the construction industry is responsible for 39% of global CO₂ emissions. In this sense, replacing concrete and steel with wood in tall buildings can have a significant impact on reducing emissions.
Especially since each cubic meter of wood used in construction stores approximately 1 ton of CO₂ that the tree absorbed during its growth. In other words, the building functions as a permanent carbon sink.
To give you an idea, a conventional 40-story concrete and steel building emits between 15,000 and 20,000 tons of CO₂ during construction. The Atlassian Central, by using mass timber, reduces this footprint by up to 50%.
Equally important is the fact that engineered wood is produced from sustainably managed planted forests — not from deforestation.
Sydney wants to prove that the future of construction is wood — not concrete
According to urban planning authorities in Sydney, the Atlassian Central is part of a larger strategy to transform the Tech Central neighborhood — where the building is being erected — into a hub for sustainable innovation.
Additionally, the design of the wooden skyscraper includes facades with vertical gardens, rainwater harvesting systems, and integrated solar panels that are expected to generate part of the energy consumed by the building.
Similarly, the interior has been designed with open spaces, cross-ventilation, and lighting that maximizes natural daylight — reducing air conditioning and electricity consumption.
However, critics point out that the cost of engineered wood is still significantly higher than that of conventional concrete. On the other hand, proponents argue that costs will decrease as demand increases and production technology scales.
In comparison, sustainable infrastructure projects in Europe have already demonstrated that higher initial investments pay off in operational savings over decades.
Still, the wooden skyscraper in Sydney faces skepticism from the real estate market, which questions whether high-end office tenants will accept working in a building made of wood.
The company Atlassian — an Australian software giant — which will be the main tenant, bets that they will. In fact, the company sees the building as an extension of its corporate identity focused on sustainability.
The concept of building wooden skyscrapers is not new. However, until recently, mass timber technology limited buildings to a maximum of 18 stories. The leap to 40 stories represents an advancement that structural engineers have compared to when reinforced concrete replaced masonry in the early 20th century.
Worldwide, more than 70 wooden buildings over 8 stories are under construction or planning. Additionally, countries like Norway, Canada, and Austria already have timber towers over 80 meters tall in operation.
According to the engineering firm Arup, engineered wood can be manufactured with millimeter precision in factories, transported to the site, and assembled like Lego pieces — reducing construction time by up to 30% compared to traditional concrete.
In practice, this also reduces the impact on the neighborhood during construction. In fact, timber sites are significantly quieter and generate less dust than concrete sites — a crucial advantage in dense urban areas like downtown Sydney.
Equally relevant is the weight of the structure. A floor of mass timber weighs up to 75% less than an equivalent floor in concrete. Consequently, the building’s foundations can be smaller and cheaper — partially offsetting the higher cost of wood.
The University of British Columbia in Canada conducted in 2025 the most comprehensive seismic tests ever performed on timber structures. The result showed that mass timber buildings of up to 12 stories can withstand earthquakes of magnitude 9 without collapse — outperforming the performance of similarly tall concrete buildings.
However, the challenge of scaling this technology to 40 stories involves issues that have not yet been fully resolved, such as the behavior of wood under extreme compression on lower floors and the response to intense lateral winds.
Despite this, the engineers of the Atlassian Central added a reinforced concrete core that absorbs lateral wind loads, while the wood handles vertical loads and the floors themselves.
Thus, the wooden skyscraper is actually a smart hybrid system — where each material does what it does best, without compromising the safety of the whole.
Will Sydney’s wooden skyscraper inspire other cities to replace concrete with timber in their tallest buildings? Or will the resistance to innovation in construction keep concrete as king for another half-century?
Ultimately, the Atlassian Central represents a bet that wood — the oldest building material of humanity — can become the most modern. If it works in Sydney with 40 stories, the next step could be 60 or 80 — and concrete could start to seem as outdated as clay bricks.
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