Timber Proves Worth as Vital Piece to Solving Olympics Construction Puzzle

A fire station and a pool of timber sound like an intuitive mismatch. But showcase projects presented at the Timber Queensland and WoodSolutions conference at the University of Queensland (UQ) last month are out to challenge assumptions around timber. Projects such as the mass timber Maryborough Fire and Rescue Station and the Paris Aquatics Centre, [ pictured above] which was built for the 2024 Olympics under new French laws mandating that all new public buildings use at least 50 per cent timber, prove that timber’s capabilities are evolving. Timber Queensland chief executive Mick Stephens said the possibilities of timber should not only be in architectural design but in project feasibility and construction program savings. He said the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics would be “a massive opportunity” for timber to show its worth. ▲ Baber Studios designed the Maryborough Fire and Rescue Station. The director of UQ’s Australian Research Council-funded Advance Timber hub Keith Crews said it was a “no-brainer” that timber was the best material for reducing carbon emissions. Crews acknowledged the shift to timber was a “significant change” but saw the 2032 Olympics as a chance to tackle industry problems and move the industry out of its “comfort zone”. Project showcase the new era of timber The timber roof of the Sydney Fish Market—30 per cent lighter than a comparable steel structure—took six months to build, has 580 unique beams and involved shipping more than 700 pieces of timber from Italy to Australia. BVN project director Asher Galvin said the roof installation became an exercise in precision rather than standard building program problem-solving. ▲ The Sydney Fish Market’s 230m floating roof canopy is the largest timber roof in the Southern Hemisphere. “Mass timber doesn’t simply change the material palette,” Galvin said. “It changes the design process, it encourages earlier conversations, greater trust between disciplines and a much stronger connection between the design and the manufacture ... that, for me, was where the real value lay in introducing this into the project.” Exposed to pool and sea water respectively, the Paris Aquatics Centre and the Sydney Fish Market prove timber can be used in the most unlikely of places—pushing the boundaries of what is considered possible with timber construction. Timber close to home Maryborough Fire Station was a demonstration project with Hyne Group and Hutchinson Builders, designed by Baber Studio Architects and built using local resources. The project was Hutchies’ first go at a real mass timber project. Holding a traditional Hutchies war room prior to commencement of the project in 2021 highlighted regional project constraints, including the availability of suitability skilled trades. But as they worked through, the benefits kept adding up; supply was not heavily impacted by overseas demand and smaller pools of domestic suppliers were not affected as drastically by cost escalations. It took 10 days to build up the 300sq m floor plate, with reduced program prelims and reduced site numbers, Hutchies contract administrator Oliver Macklin said. ▲ The Maryborough Fire Station was built from 500sq m of locally grown CLT and Glue Laminated Timber (GLT) manufactured by Hyne Timber and XLAM. “Not only do you have general freight decreases, you don’t need to cut concrete or bring in plant concrete pumps, so there’s actually a significant decrease in the amount of resources you need.” Macklin said the team only needed a fifth of the resources normally required to complete the structure in the timeframe they did. “We would like to see timber in the industry more, designed in from those early stages and brought to us earlier on in the piece, so we can be involved in that.” Another project, an Inala infill apartment development, managed to shave nearly 10 weeks off the construction program through using timber. It took 20 minutes to install a wall or floor panel, meaning up to 720 sq m can be installed per day, equating to between eight and 10 weeks saved on the residential project, Baber Studios founder Kim Baber said. “If contractors and subbies are looking down the barrel on a non-negotiable deadline and we have just found you an extra 10 weeks of program—what would that be worth?” Why are developers not investing in timber? While developers can be innovative, the added pressure of a housing crisis is making the sector risk-averse. But data will help, Macklin said. “If you want to build an apartment building with 200 units in it, you have the same rate per unit. Developers have the data to support that. “We simply don’t have really key data on using timber, whether it be hybrid or complete mass timber buildings.” But this will change as timber is increasingly included in builds, Macklin said. ▲ The Paris Aquatic Centre built for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Hopefully you’ll have developers, especially in the adaptive reuse space, who realise they can add two or three extra levels with it, and want to explore this option, because they’re going to see a cost saving.” Macklin forecast that Queensland in particular will need an additional 49,000 tradespeople to complete the works required for the Olympics and to meet housing demand based on current DAs in place—and that prediction might even be “undercooked”. “Everyone’s a little bit nervous about where the market is going to trend because we don’t know how or when the Olympic work will roll out and we also are acutely aware of competing interests for infrastructure growth around the South-East Queensland market. “And the one thing that mass timber production allows for is a reduction in onsite workforce, and it also opens the supply of these products from overseas and locally as well. At conventional builds we rely heavily on local markets that will be inundated with work.” That’s where timber comes in.

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