Ikea bought 83,000 acres of forest and Apple has bought 36,000 acres. What’s the reasoning behind these retail giants buying their own forests? Source: Gizmodo Last year, we saw major technology and retail companies buying up wind and solar farms. Walmart, Facebook, Apple, Ikea, Googl

Developer Hines has broken ground in Minneapolis’ North Loop on its all-timber office building, the first commercial property in the US to use an engineered wood material for its interior and structure. Source: Star Tribune The Houston-based real estate company announced the sta

New Forests announced that it has reached agreement to purchase approximately 4200 hectares of freehold land and softwood plantations from the Flight Group. Source: Scoop NZ The plantations consist of radiata pine and are located in the Marlborough region of New Zealand’s South Island

Lonza, the Swiss supplier of pharmaceutical, biotech and specialty ingredients has acquired New Zealand based Zelam a developer and manufacturer of crop protection and wood protection products. Sources: Business Standard, The company specializes in fungicides, insecticides, herbicides

New Zealand’s national railway KiwiRail has issued a request for proposals for the operation of the Napier-Gisborne line on the east coast of the North Island. Source: International Railway Journal Tender documents have been published on the New Zealand Government Electronic Tenders S

A woodchip mill in northwest Tasmania formerly owned by bankrupt timber company Gunns, that had been lying dormant for five years, has swung into action. Source: ABC Rural The new owner, Forico, spent close to $10 million on refurbishing the mill, which now has the capacity to produce

Councils and communities have major concerns of widespread job losses and impacts to economic growth in mid-north South Australia, as the future of the forests region is considered. Source: ABC Rural The State Government has released an expression of interest for the potential long-te

The role of thermal mass in residential design is apparently simple, yet in practice it is frequently poorly understood and applied, especially in timber design and construction. Source: Timberbiz For example, while it is often said that thermal mass is good, it is seldom recognised t