Building with Cross Laminated Timber is seen as a more efficient and environmentally-friendly construction process, which has proven successful in Europe for more than a decade, but has not been undertaken in Australia before.

By using CLT, Lend Lease claims, the project, Forté, will reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by more than 1,400 tonnes when compared to concrete and steel - the equivalent of removing 345 cars from our roads.

CLT is an engineered mass timber product and very different to a traditional wood frame. Mass timber - dense solid panels of wood engineered for strength through laminations of different layers - provides significant benefits and has the equivalent structural integrity to concrete. CLT on a weight to strength basis meets, and in some cases exceed, the performance of reinforced concrete, resulting in a very stable and durable structural outcome.

Designed and produced in a factory environment means it will also be built 30 percent faster than its material counterparts, while being cleaner and more efficient.

Chief executive officer for Lend Lease's Australian business, Mark Menhinnitt said CLT is the most significant form of innovation in construction technology that Australia has seen in many years.