The world's timber engineering leaders recently convened in Oslo for the bi-annual World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE), and the Australian presence was stronger than ever, with forty-three attendees out of 850.
As part of a global trend, Japan is growing in all-timber and hybrid timber construction with their government offering strong incentives to use timber and co-organising the significant WoodRise event with France and Canada. Through the 2021 revision of the Public Buildings Wood Use Promotion Act, the Japanese Government is encouraging the use of timber in both public and private buildings. Japanese researchers showcased their advancements, including Professor Takahiro Tsuchimoto’s exploration of mid-rise and high-rise timber buildings using cross-laminated panel construction and glulam frame design.
Another remarkable trend is the significant attention of many research papers to the disassembly of timber structures, to enable an efficient reuse and recycling of their components within a circular economy approach.
Professor Keith Crews from University of Queensland, Chair of the next WCTE 2025 in Brisbane, delivered a keynote address, emphasizing Australia's commitment to advancing timber through the Research Hub to Advance Timber in the Built Environment. The research hub is instrumental to developing the resources, enablers, and drivers to advance timber, as a natural resource, to be the material of choice, leading towards a net zero future for Australia’s built environment.
WoodSolutions’ contribution came from Paolo Lavisci as a co-author with CEFC’s Christina Wijeratne, on the subject of “Investing in mass timber construction in Australia: The Clean Energy Finance Corporation Timber Building Program.”
Boris Iskra, FWPA’s National Standards and Codes Manager reported on “Fire-Protected Timber Elements of Construction – Response During Fire Decay and Cooling Phase” leading to key changes in the National Construction Code for buildings up to 8-storeys high.
Ralph Belperio from Aurecon, a pioneer of excellence in mass timber design, presented “A case study on the use of robotics in constructing the award-winning Boola Katatjin mass timber building in Western Australia.”
Stavros Spyridakis, along with Cristian Maluk, Felix Wiesner, Jeronimo Carrascal Tirado and Kim Barber of the University of Queensland delivered a paper about “Exploring the influence of heating conditions in the charring profile of bare timber and timber protected with a thin intumescent coating.”
The camaraderie among Australian delegates and global collaborations set the stage for an exceptional WCTE 2025 edition in Brisbane.
For those eager to delve into the proceedings, the full body of papers is available for free download at: https://www.proceedings.com/69179.html