35-storey wooden skyscraper planned

Plans for what would be the world’s tallest wooden building have been unveiled by Michael Green Architecture in Paris as part of a competition looking for innovative eco-friendly city projects.

Tall timber buildings have many environmental benefits – not least the revitalisation of high-value sustainable forestry industries in places like New Zealand – and have become possible only recently with advances in engineered timber products, where many layers of wood are bound together to create far stronger beams.

The designers estimate the tower – which is being called the Baobab building – would also store 3700 tonnes of carbon, which is equivalent to taking 2200 cars off the road for a year.