A Melbourne development has joined a push to grow the Australian timber tower movement and reduce the construction industry’s massive environmental footprint, but higher costs and fears of fire risks continue to pose obstacles. Collingwood will soon be home to a 15-storey hybrid timber office tower – one of Australia’s tallest timber buildings – where 10 levels are made entirely from wood above four concrete floors. The tower, called T3 Collingwood and developed by global real estate company Hines, is one of a handful of recent major mass timber developments in Australia that could signal the country is catching onto a trend well-established in the United States and Europe. …Hines managing director Simon Nasa said a company analysis showed the Collingwood tower would have a 40 per cent lower embodied carbon footprint – the greenhouse gas emissions associated with construction – than an equivalent structure made of concrete and steel.