Metsä Wood has developed a wood wall panel solution that combines exceptional load-bearing capacity with material efficiency. This offers significant benefits, especially as a load bearing and stiffening exterior and partition wall solution for high-rise residential and office buildings.
Kerto-Ripa is a structural glued wall element made of Kerto LVL beams and panels. It also adds value for investors and property developers, as thinner wall constructions provide more sellable floor space for residential or office buildings.
The Kerto-Ripa wall construction allows savings of up to 50% in wood materials in the walls of a high-rise building compared to massive wood constructions. The wall structure is also suitable for hybrid construction due to its high load-bearing capacity and allows for continuous wall elements up to 20 metres high.
“Despite the smaller amount of material, the load-bearing capacity of the Kerto-Ripa wall element is excellent. This enables tall and heavily loaded buildings to be constructed in a material-efficient manner,” said Janne Heikkilä, Team Manager, Technical Customer Service at Metsä Wood.
* This article was originally published in the November/December 2024 issue of TDUK’s Supplying Timber magazine.
