Forest Industries festival features timber building innovation

FOREST INDUSTRIES 2011, as the centrepiece of the national Winning With Wood innovation showcase, will stage a three-day “festival of wood” in the lead-up to Rugby World Cup. FI2011 will include a special industry conference focusing on innovative products, designs and new developments for timber building.
The BNZ-sponsored conference, in the wake of the devastating Christchurch earthquake and announcements of multi-storey commercial buildings in UK, Australia and Canada, will feature international speakers including Italian engineer Paolo Lavisci, who played a key part in rebuilding the historic town of Aquila after it was badly damaged in a 2009 earthquake.
The use of timber in rebuilding Aquila has led to widespread adoption of multi-storey wooden buildings in Italy.
The conference will also feature Canadian architect Michael Green and Robert Finch, Chief Executive of Christchurch’s Structural Timber Innovation Company, a world leader in the engineering design of multi-storey wooden buildings for earthquake-prone areas.
Forest Industries 2011, to be held in Rotorua from 5-7 September, is believed to be the largest forest industries event staged in New Zealand. It will include:
• PF Olsen Forest Industries Expo, a major showcase of industry technology, equipment and systems over the three days of FI2011.
• Fourteen BNZ Tech Clinics covering a wide range of forestry and forest products developments and industry issues, on 5 and 6 September.
• BNZ Forest Industries Conference on 7 September.
• FITEC National Awards dinner for trainees on 7 September.
Associated events will include Kawerau Woodfest, featuring the 21st National Woodskills Competition, on 2-4 September, and Waiariki Institute of Technology’s opening of its innovative new timber building for the School of Forestry, along with a new gasification plant to use sawdust and woodchip to generate syngas to fire the school’s Windsor high temperature kilns.
FI2011 has also linked with the NZ2011 Business Club to provide opportunities for the NZ timber and wood products sector to meet and host like-minded RWC2011 visitors.
Winning With Wood, a national showcase of timber innovation, will display a wide range of innovative uses of wood at sites throughout New Zealand during Rugby World Cup 2011.
Winning With Wood, backed by NZ Trade & Enterprise, will enable wood-based manufacturers and designers to use their own premises or shared sites to display their products during September and October.
NZ Trade and Enterprise is promoting Winning With Wood through its overseas offices and will produce a printed and on-line guidebook to show visitors where they can see what New Zealand can do with wood.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Manager of NZTE, Lionel Crawley, said a range of companies were already signing up to participate and more have expressed interest.
“We are aiming to have Winning With Wood sites throughout New Zealand so that visitors with an interest in the sector can see and follow up opportunities wherever they are.”
Wood products are New Zealand’s third largest export earner behind dairy and meat, and forestry contributes 3% of New Zealand’s GDP – a gross annual income of about $5 billion, directly employing 20,000 people.
Internationally, New Zealand is a small player, accounting for 1.1% of the world’s total supply of industrial wood and 1.3% of the world’s trade in forest products. However, New Zealand supplies almost 9% of the Asia Pacific forest products trade volume, representing nearly 20% by value.