‘Sustainable Architecture With Wood’ – New Timber Products

Having dabbled in art, design and building, I read with great interest this weekend about a new, renewable timber product and the new Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood (CSAW) at the University of Tasmania.

Next year the Centre will provide an online Graduate Certificate in Timber (Processing and Construction) for people in Australia’s timber related production, fabrication and construction industries.

The Current Situation

In a recent breakthrough, ‘Peace in our times?’, forestry groups and the environment sector in Tasmania have agreed that logging in old-growth forests is no longer viable and an expansion in plantation forestry has been recommended.

Environment Tasmania’s Phill Pullinger says:

“The forestry industry, unions and environment groups have found common ground in the interests of all Tasmanians. This will pave the way for a sustainable timber industry that protects jobs and also protects the state’s remaining unique native forests..

The goodwill demonstrated through this agreement is genuine. People’s jobs depend on it, the state’s economy will be damaged without it and the protection of our native forest heritage is now possible through it..

An end to logging of native forests will also protect critical habitats for Tasmanian devils and other threatened species.”

Europe is reforesting and the only major renewable building material we have, and have had throughout human history, is timber, says CSAW director Greg Nolan (Alistair Jones, Weekend Australian – Professional 13-14 November 2010).

The Centre’s Two Interrelated Research Streams

• Timber research focused on timber processing and product innovation
• Building research focused on timber applications in sustainable built environments

Cross-Laminated Timber – A New Construction Technology

Today it’s possible to build with timber in a similar way to the concrete tilt-up slab technique. Called cross-laminated timber, this technology has taken off in Europe. It allows a ‘timber slab’ to be built on the ground and then stood up.

Using this timber product it’s possible today to span 100metres and build residential buildings nine storeys high, as well as large industrial or exhibition buildings.

The new product has also been used extensively in the rebuilding of L’Aquila, the Italian town badly damaged by earthquake.

About The Graduate Certificate Course

Cross-laminated timber is just one new technology to be studied in the new course.

CSAW is targetting leaders and managers already in the building industry and also people in the wood production industry as there aren’t any courses for those actually involved in making the new materials.

“The course [can provide] these people with a way of understanding the material more fully, and also [educate them] in the standards being used, the technologies and the consequences of using a natural material.” (Weekend Australian)

UTAS will be holding introductory face-to-face workshops in Brisbane and Launceston.

For More Info

Email info.csaw@utas.edu.au
Fax (03) 63244 4408
Mail to Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood School of Architecture & Design University of Tasmania Locked bag 1324 Launceston TAS 7250

Fascinating stuff.