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Japan reveals plans for world's tallest wooden skyscraper

The W350 tower will be ten per cent steel but mainly wood: Sumitomo Forestry
The W350 tower will be ten per cent steel but mainly wood: Sumitomo Forestry

Plans have been drawn up to build the world’s largest wooden skyscraper.

Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry is proposing to build a 350-metre 70-storey building in Tokyo.

The new building, which is being referred to as W350 Project, will be ten per cent steel, combined with 180,000 cubic metres of indigenous wood.

The internal beams and braces will have a mixture of steel and wood and will be able to withstand the regular earthquakes that hit the region.

It will have balconies on all four sides as well as greenery from the ground to the top floor.

The project is expected to cost twice as much as a conventional skyscraper that size – coming in at approximately 600bn yen (£4.02bn).

That figure may however be reduced as technology advances between now and 2041, when the project is scheduled to be completed.

The current tallest wooden building is a 53-metre student residence in Vancouver.

Other wooden sky scrapers are currently under proposal with a 244-metre building in Chicago being considered.