Construction of a timber-framed high-rise building for Portland's Pearl District, which would have become one of the USA's tallest wooden structures, has been postponed indefinitely.
Local firm Lever Architecture designed the 130-foot (40-metre) mixed-used Framework tower to be one of the country's first high-rises to adopt a wooden construction, employing a mix of two types of engineered wood: cross-laminated timber (CLT) and and glue-laminated timber, also known as gluelam.

Its completion was originally scheduled for later this year, when it was predicted to become the tallest all-mass-timber building in North America.
But earlier this week developer Project announced that it has halted the project after costs began to exceed the bottom line, initially estimated at $34 million (£26 million). The company put this down to the rising price of the construction in the city and "fluctuations in the tax credit market".
"Over the last four years, the Framework team has worked with private entities and public agencies that have understood the nature of this project and have supported our efforts to bring this pioneering model to fruition," said Project's Anyeley Hallova.
"Although beset with market challenges beyond our control, we are very proud of Framework's achievements and the new standards we've established for the use of CLT in the US."

CLT is produced by layering up many slices of wood at right angles and glueing them together, while g...