Watch: This is how engineers build wooden skyscrapers

Urbanization and the rapid growth in population are seeing the construction of new buildings being erected to maintain enough space for people in cities and even in rural areas.

However, the life cycle of a building is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the world causing a heavy carbon footprint. Buildings, building materials, and additional construction components consume nearly 40 percent of the global energy demand.

One of the major environmental concerns in engineering new structures arises from the fabrication of cement, one of the basic ingredients in concrete. This is an extremely polluting process.

That’s where wood buildings come in.

Wood-based building design and construction technologies have been developed over the past few decades to provide efficiency, speed, precision and versatility in construction for low to high-rise applications. Wood buildings are becoming more widespread throughout North America, most notably due to the technology’s environmental benefits and the potential impacts it can have on forest health and restoration.

Could these buildings provide a solution to our construction environmental woes? How are they designed and built to be sturdy despite using some pretty malleable components? Are wood buildings the future of the construction industry? This video answers all these questions and more.