Developer Lend Lease has received approval to build a 10-storey timber residential tower, the tallest of its kind in the world, the Australian Financial Review reports today.

The building has received approval despite having a wooden fire stair. Although wooden buildings as high as four stories have been built in China for centuries, it has recently been taken up with enthusiam by architects and developers. They are keen to shift to the use of timber in high-rise building because it is considers a "carbon sink' while concrete and steel are greenhouse gas intensive to produce. 

The wood will not ignite  because is it made of wood panels that laminated together in thin sheets, a techniqe that gives the material comparable strength to steel and concrete, and greater capacity to withstand the destructive forces of an earthquake.