Finding 20 of Australia’s leading architects, engineers, builders and developers in a Tumbarumba plantation forest, in the heart of the Forestry Corporation of NSW softwood pine plantations is not an everyday sight. But with as they increasing look to timber, Tumbarumba and the twin cities of Albury-Wodonga play important roles in building and construction. Source: Timberbiz
Hosted by the Timber Development Association, building professionals embarked on a two day ‘CLT and Mill Tour’ which involved visiting the XLAM production facilities in Wodonga, a pine plantation and Hyne Timber’s Tumbarumba Sawmill.
For TDA CEO Andrew Dunn, the convenor of the trip, the tour provided building professionals with a rare opportunity to explore CLT up close – capturing the complete supply chain from the forest through the sawmill and the production facility.
“Building professionals are always astonished when they seeing the science and precision that goes into the production of timber products,” Mr Dunn said.
“They see the precision and science commencing in the forest, through the sawmill and then to the CLT manufacturing.”
Xlam is the first CLT manufacturer in the southern hemisphere and through its Wodonga production facility, has capacity to service the growing demand for CLT in Australian building and construction industry.
Sean Bull, Xlam Business Development Manager for NSW and QLD emphasized the value of CLT in delivering a range of bespoke building solutions.
“While CLT is a prefabricated building system, every project XLam delivers is unique, something generally not associated with prefabrication,” he said.
“With CLT having similar strength properties to reinforced concrete, but then being 80% lighter, it opens the door to tremendous opportunity.
“XLam is supplying fast, sustainable, efficient mass timber solutions for all sectors,” Mr Bull said.
In Tumbarumba, attendees were given a guided tour of the softwood pine plantations and Hyne Timber’s sawmill. Hyne Timber Site Optimisation Manager, Mat Thomsen provided delegates with an insight into the ‘chain of custody’ involved in delivering sustainable building materials.
“It was great to see the enthusiasm on faces as delegates toured our production process,” he said.
“Participants learned how we are developing new ways of using a mature sustainable building material for state of the art building construction.
“The journey from the forest to a completed product is far more complex than most people imagine with leading edge technology and automation used though-out the process.”
When it comes to capturing the journey from the forest, in the pine plantation, forest certification plays an important role in demonstrating and verifying the sustainable origins of building materials.
