Issue 227 Timber & Forestry E News

6774

AFS/01-10-01 www.forestrystandard.org.au

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 1

Forests for timber championed in Rio Sustainable forest management at heart of new, green economy: FAO

New building concepts the way out for wood sector?

This Issue

Timber redeemed at Rio+20 .. timber formwork in place for renovation of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue.

competitive new products and processes to substitute non-renewable materials, and

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by doing so were opening

• B oral Timber appoints new chief executive • Mt Gambier educational hub for bio-energy?

• Hoo-Hoo luncheon puts charity event into top gear

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SUSTAINABLE forest management and the timber products it creates were championed at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week.

The sustainable management of forests offers multiple benefits – with the right programs and policies, the sector can lead the way towards more sustainable, greener economies were opinions expressed to more than 150 world leaders, including Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

The conference heard that forest-based industries around the world were innovating

Industry in crisis

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 1

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Kris te Lintelo, development director, Australand, a diversified property group based in Sydney, Dr David Pollard, chief executive, Australian Forest Products Association, Canberra, and Daniel Marsic, Australand, meet up on the EWPAA stand at Frame 2012.

ForestWorks performs a range of industry wide functions acting as the channel between industry, Government and the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) system

Frame Australia points to a way out for wood

Learning Skills Research Advice Innovation

Industry in crisis

By JIM BOWDEN THE wood industry is in crisis and is perhaps at its lowest ebb in more than 50 years.

While architects, engineers, specifiers and developers cry out for wood products and new wood building systems, the timber industry seems frozen in the headlights of financial disaster, sleep-walking into the most massive ‘external failure’ it will have experienced.

Truss plants have retreated to three-day weeks, manufacturers have mothballed sections of their factories and importers of softwoods have reduced their supplies by up to 70% despite the attraction of the high-rolling Aussie dollar.

And then there’s the carbon tax.

Tough times didn’t prevent more than 300 delegates investing about $300,000 for registration and accommodation at Frame Australia last week. But excitement in the conference room over new structural timber and engineered wood systems didn’t transfer to tea and coffee breaks where there was much talk about business downturns and the gloomy

Page 2 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

housing market.

The wood sector is confronting enormous change and if it doesn’t adapt to the new technologies such as those on show at Frame Australia some corporate players will not survive.

In the wood construction systems forum, Doug Bartlett, an architect and timber and building consultant, noted that the roof truss and truss fabrication industry had changed little in the past 40 years.

The wood sector is confronting enormous change and if it doesn’t adapt to the new technologies such as those on show at Frame Australia some corporate players will not survive “In the mid-60s we were introduced to nail plates and roof trusses and then the roof truss industry emerged and moved into pre-assembled wall frames – and that’s where it has Cont Page 3

VICTORIA

PO Box 612, North Melbourne 3051 Tel: (03) 9321 3500 Email: forestworks@forestworks.com.au

NEW SOUTH WALES

PO Box 486, Parramatta 2124 Tel: (02) 8898 6990 Email: smukherjee@forestworks.com.au

TASMANIA

PO Box 2146, Launceston 7250 Tel: (03) 6331 6077 Email: edown@forestworks.com.au

BRISBANE

PO Box 2014 Fortitude Valley 4006 Tel: (07) 3358 5169 Email: bharle@forestworks.com.au

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Unit 2/191 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide 5006 Tel: (08) 8219 9028 Email: michelle@forestworks.com.au

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INDUSTRY FOCUS

Panel systems all factory-built for new apartment block in Melbourne

From Page 2

been stuck all these years,” he said.

“We’re still building houses that way and it’s about time the building industry, and the fabrication industry, adapted to new systems like automated construction, portal frame design and Expan quickconnect technology and realised there are far better ways to build a house, “We’ve got to stop talking about just sticks of timber.”

Certainly Frame Australia this year for the first time looked beyond the standard development of frames and trusses and software packages and fixed on totally new methods of construction such as factory-built panels and cross laminated timber for multi-storey buildings.

Cross-laminated timber construction is now well established in Europe as a building alternative to steel and concrete Opening the wood construction session, Ric Sinclair of Forest and Wood Products Australia challenged delegates to

Tim Sherry, Carter Holt Harvey, Melbourne (left) chats with Stora Enso’s Olle Berg, senior vicepresident, marketing and sales overseas, on the Stora Enso display at Frame Australia 2012.

recognise that out of adversity comes opportunity after his call for a show of hands suggested there would be little change in a depressed market for at least 18 months.

Kris te Lintelo, development manager for Australand, one of Australia’s most successful diversified property groups, talked up the application of timber framing to multiresidential projects up to four storeys, using factory-built technology.

Project examples included design developments such as the elimination of concrete slabs, even for car parks, along

with solutions and benefits achieved with timber framing.

He referred to a new complex in Melbourne of about 30 units over three floors, all factorybuilt using systems developed by panelBUILD in Brisbane.

Philipp Zumbrunnen, UK design director for CarbonEng, said new systems such as cross laminated timber construction were now well established in Europe as a building alternative to steel and concrete.

“If the 19th century in England was the century of steel and the 20th century the century of concrete, then the 21st century

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John Simon, chief executive, Simmonds Lumber Group (left) and John Halkett, director, Forestlands Consulting, Sydney, catch up at Frame Australia 2012.

is the century of timber,” he said.

In Australia, there is a perverse reversal of this thinking; while building specifiers, architects, engineers and developers now have a huge desire for wood products, the timber industry is standing at these gates of opportunity without a key to open them.

The Wood Solutions master class in Melbourne last week was booked out two weeks before it started. Fifty attendees – specifiers, engineers, the lot – visited the Lend Lease CLT Cont Page 6

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 3

INDUSTRY NEWS

Global forest products industry is at forefront of forest conservation

From Page 1

pathways towards low-carbon bio-economies.

The UN Food an Agriculture Organisation said putting forests at the heart of a new, green economy would require, first and foremost, policies and programs that gave entrepreneurs incentives to pursue the sustainable utilisation of forest resources.

This included the removal of perverse incentives that resulted in deforestation and degradation and conversion of forests to other uses as well as those promoting the use of non-renewable raw materials such as steel, concrete, plastics or fossil energies that compete with wood.

But to spark that shift, governments must enact programs and policies aimed at both unlocking the potential of forests and ensuring that they are sustainably managed, the ‘Through sustainable forest management practices, our industry not only produces a sustained annual yield of timber, but also ensures its abundance for future generations’ – Donna Harman FAO stressed.

In a new report, the State of the World’s Forests 2012 (SOFO 12), the FAO makes the case that better and more sustainable use of forestry resources can make a significant contribution to meeting many of the core challenges discussed in Rio, including reducing poverty and hunger, minimising the impacts of climate change, and creating alternative and more sustainable sources of bioproducts and bio-energy for human use.

“Forests and trees on farms are

Page 4 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

Forest-based industries opening pathways towards low-carbon bioeconomies.

a direct source of food, energy, and cash income for more than a billion of the world’s poorest people,” says FAO assistant director-general for forestry Eduardo Rojas-Briales.

“At the same time, forests trap carbon and mitigate climate change, maintain water and soil health, and prevent desertification.

“Brazil has successful examples of forest plantation management, and its good practices can be disseminated to other developing countries in order to promote the green economy and strengthen the synergies between sustainable development and climate change mitigation.”

Donna Harman, president of then International Council of Forest and Paper Associations, said the global forest products industry was at the forefront of forest conservation efforts.

“Through sustainable forest management practices, our industry not only produces a sustained annual yield of timber, but also ensures its abundance for future generations.

“The global forest products industry also contributes to livelihoods and human well-

being by employing millions of people around the world and by producing products that provide shelter and increase literacy. The emerging bioeconomy can only increase the important role of this industry.”

Investments in wood-based enterprises can generate jobs, create assets and help revitalise the lives of millions of people in rural areas, according to FAO’s new report.

Some 350 million of the world’s poorest people, including 60 million indigenous people, depend on forests for their daily subsistence and longterm survival, it notes. Onfarm forestry, or agroforestry, is in some cases contributing up to 40% of farm income via harvesting of wood, fruits, oils and medicines.

Despite sometimes having a poor reputation due to concerns over deforestation, wood products – if sourced from wellrun forestry operations - can store carbon and are easily recycled.

Forest-based industries around the world are innovating competitive new products and processes to substitute nonrenewable materials, and by doing so are opening pathways

towards low-carbon bioeconomies.

“The promotion of a sustainable forest-based industry offers a way to improve rural economies while meeting sustainability goals,” says SOFO 12.

But while the report indicates that the value of forest products exports more than doubled between 2002 to 2010 in certain areas, it also says that more attention needs to be paid to promoting the creation of small and medium scale forest-based enterprises that benefit local communities.

FAO’s report also argues that sustainable forestry offers a renewable, alternative source of energy.

“Burning wood may be the oldest method by which humans acquire energy, but it is anything but obsolete,” Eduardo Rojas-Briales said.

“Today, wood energy is still the dominant source of energy for over one-third of the world’s population, in particular for the

Investments in wood-based enterprises can generate jobs, create assets and help revitalise the lives of millions of people in rural areas – FAO report poor,” he noted.

“And as the search for renewable energy sources intensifies, we must not overlook the considerable opportunities for forest biomass-based energy to emerge as a cleaner and greener alternative.”

According to SOFO 2012, deriving energy from wood, can offer a climate-neutral and socially equitable solution, provided wood is harvested from sustainably Cont Page 6

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WHAT’S ON?

JULY

1-4: NZIF 2012 Conference Engineering Value Growing and Harvesting Forests for Novel Wood Structures, Christchurch, NZ. EventMergers +64 9 428 4783 or email Carlene Martin carlene@eventmergers.co.nz

10-11: Australia India Skill Conference: Partners for Prosperity. Brings together business leaders to showcase the successes and opportunities of international skills partnerships.

Central Institute of Technology, East Perth Campus, 140 Royal Street, Perth. Contact Jaclyn Lane. Email: jaclyn.lane@ innovation.gov.au 23-25: Australian Timber Trainers Association annual workshop. Albany, WA. Visit www.atta.org.au

20: National Carpenters Day. Tel: (03) 9597 0948. Fax: (03) 9597 0958. Email: info@ carpentersday.com.au

AUGUST

13-15: Australian Window Association’s annual conference and exhibition.

Fenestration Australia 2012 at The Esplanade Hotel, Largest gathering of local and international organisations associated with the window industry, bringing together more than 300 delegates from right across the value chain.

Inquiries to conference secretariat on (08) 9381 9281 or email fenestration2012reg@iceaustralia. com 22-23: Carbon Forestry2012.

Auckland NZ. Forestry is New Zealand’s largest potential carbon sink and, as the ETS continues to grow in importance to NZ businesses,so does its investment future. A raft of new legislation,a dramatic drop-off in carbon trading and pricing during 2011, thsome international emissions units and uncertainty around the future alignment of New Zealand and Australia’s trading schemes has changed the landscape significantly. It’s led to uncertainty in the marketplace about the immediate future and opportunities that exist in carbon forestry.

Visit www.carbonforestryevents. com

OCTOBER

3-4: Joint ISCs and Skills Australia conference: The Future of Work In 2011, Australia’s 11 industry skills councils and Skills Australia held their inaugural joint conference. Join MC Kerry O’Brien, Q&A panel moderator Tony Jones and a range of industry identities to explore the future of work, and its implications for building Australia’s human capital. Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Drive, Darling Harbour, NSW. 30-31: Industry Development Conference hosted by ForestWorks in Canbrerra.

Following overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding the opportunities for high-level political engagement afforded by holding the dinner at Parliament House, ForestWorks has moved

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EVENTS

quickly to secure one of the few remaining available dates during sitting weeks. Speakers, topics and themes will be available soon.

10-11 (Rotorua) and 16-17 (Melbourne).

Improving international cost competitiveness through smart science, research and technology.

New Zealand and Australian forest products companies face increasing competition from low cost producers, and from lower cost, better performing non-wood products. Low costs and high fibre recovery,achieved through process innovation, are prerequisites to competing in today’s global forest product markets. This Australasian technology event will provide local forest products, wood processing and manufacturing companies with a unique opportunity. Visit www.woodinnovationsevents.com

NOVEMBER

3: Queensland Timber Industry Awards Night – Victoria Park Function Centre, Brisbane.

28-29: ForestTech 2012 – Improving Wood Transport and Logistics.

Melbourne and Rotorua

December

4-5. Focus on improving transport and logistics in the forestry sector.

It will build on the excellent program designed by the Forest Industry Engineering Association.

Visit www.foresttechevents.com

Australia’s forest, wood, pulp and paper products industry now has a stronger voice in dealings with government, the community and in key negotiations on the industry’s future, as two peak associations have merged to form a single national association.

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has been formed through the merger of the Australian Plantations Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P) and the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI).

AFPA was established to cover all aspects of Australia’s forest industry: - Forest growing; - Harvest and haulage; - Sawmilling and other wood processing; - Pulp and paper processing; and - Forest product exporting.

For more information on the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) or to enquire about membership , please call (02) 6285 3833.

issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 5

INDUSTRY FOCUS

Industry locked into cost structures

From Page 3

project at Docklands which has the distinction of being both the world’s tallest timber apartment building and Australia’s first timber high-rise development containing 23 boutique residential apartments and four townhouses within its 10 storeys.

They inspected the completed first two storeys and a warehouse containing CLT panels.

Along with Frame Australia delegates, they listened as Ann Austin, Bovis Lend Lease’s national manager for

sustainability, talked about sustainable buildings and how they produce great working environments where people work more effectively and to a higher quality.

The CLT project at Docklands has the distinction of being both the world’s tallest timber apartment building and Australia’s first timber high-rise development

Here was a young woman talking up the environmental benefits of wood – at the same

time as people in the industry are saying everyone is against them. She was prepared to stand up and say that wood is better than any other building material.

Sure, housing starts are down – it’s a cyclical event. But according to Housing Industry Association figures they have been lower, so what’s different this time?

Part of the issue is that many sections of the industry are locked into cost structures they can’t think through.

Companies and CEOs, whether they are in the frame and truss, sawmilling or panels business,

must seriously re-think their business.

Out of the present crisis must come a Rooseveltian New Deal, a mandate to build for the future, not just for the short term and the present.

What is needed is an industry infrastructure that promotes smart growth and long-term sustainable economic growth.

Using building systems because they are tried and true and just because that is what has always been done, is to build for the 1960s, not the 2020s.

Forest product sector at forefront of conservation

From Page 4

managed forests, burned using appropriate technologies, and undertaken in combination with reforestation and sustainable forest management programs.

Increasing the use of renewable energy, including woodbased fuels, relative to fossil fuels may be one of the most important components of a global transition to low carbon economies, the report says.

Sustainable energy production from wood can create local employment and can be used to redirect expenditures

Page 6 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

from imported fossil fuels to investments in domestic sources of energy, with employment and income benefits.

However, FAO cautions that doing so will require careful attention to existing patterns of wood energy dependence, the use of sustainable forest management practices in the harvesting and planting of trees, and the adoption of efficient technologies for converting biomass into heat and cogeneration (heat/ electricity).

By both reducing deforestation

and restoring lost forests on a large scale, significant amounts of carbon can be removed from the atmosphere, reducing the severity and impacts of climate change. At the same time, such projects would also support rural livelihoods and provide renewable raw materials for sustainable building using more wood and bamboo as well as bio-energy.

Nearly 2 billion ha of land area have been identified through the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration as being suitable for restoration.

And afforestation provides the

additional benefit of helping combat desertification and soil degradation.

Creating appropriate revenue streams for forest ecosystem services like carbon sequestration can also encourage forest landholders and managers to protect and restore forests. Open and decentralised systems of management including industrial transformation and energy supply can help promote efficiency and transparency and offer a diversified range of opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

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ENGINEERED WOOD

Reaching for the sky .. for CLT builders it seems a race for biggest and the best

THE challenges continue about cross-laminated timber structures – the tallest, the biggest, the first, the latest.

Lend Lease’s project to build the world’s tallest wood building using CLT has started with the second storey construction of

the 10-storey Forte apartments in Melbourne completed.

Lend Lease is aiming to develop 30-50% of its apartment pipeline using CLT and sees application elsewhere across the group.

Philipp Zumbrunnen design director for CarbonEng in the UK, who was a keynote speaker at last week’s Frame Australia conference in Melbourne, talks about a faster, greener, neater and more accurate building – the eight-storey CLT Bridport House completed in Hackney, London.

Like the Stadthaus before it, also in Hackney, Bridport House is pushing the boundaries of timber construction up to eight storeys. Although Stadthaus is marginally taller at nine storeys, it features a concrete ground floor, whereas Bridport House is CLT from the ground up, so it’s a moot point which is technically the taller timber tower.

It marks the first time that cross-laminated timber (CLT) has been chosen in the UK for an entire multi-storey structure, including the ground

floor, which is traditionally constructed from concrete.

Commissioned by the London Borough of Hackney and designed by Karakusevic Carson Architects, Bridport House offers altogether 41 maisonettes and apartments and is considered one of the tallest residential timber structures in the world. The groundbreaking building with its innovative design replaces an old block of flats built in the 1950s.

Cont Page 11

Doug Howick, national secretary, Timber Preservers Association of Australasia, Melbourne (left), and David Marley, TPAA committee member and consultant in marketing and timber export solutions, Sunshine Coast, promote the TPAA’s Treatment Process Guidelines publication at Frame Australia 2012. The guide, which explains hazard classes and end-use applications of treated timber and other data, is being distributed nationally throughout the forest and forest products industry. Copies are available from Doug on (03) 9596 8155.

Visit www.tpaa.com.au

Frame Australia report next month

A more comprehensive report and photo coverage of Frame Australia has been held over until late July because of an embargo on speaker presentations by Frame Australia and Timber Trader News. Photos appearing in this edition of Timber&Forest enews were taken on assignment for various companies and organisations for distribution by them to the trade media.

www.tanalised.com

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

PEFC chairman receives Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award William Street fighter for workers’ entitlements

GLOBAL communicator William Street, chairman of the world’s largest forest certification organisation – PEFC – has been presented with the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, earned after his fight on behalf of workers at Ikea’s Danville factory in Virginia, USA. The award is bestowed by independent NGO American Rights At Work and recognises those who advance human rights for workers. Mr Street shares the award with Per-Olof Sjoo, president of the Swedish Graphic Workers Union.

When home furnishing giant Ikea selected the fraying bluecollar city of Danville to build its first US factory, residents couldn’t believe their good fortune. The Swedish firm had constructed a reputation as a good employer and solid corporate citizen and state and local officials offered $12 million in incentives.

But three years after the massive facility opened, excitement has waned.

Ikea is the target of racial discrimination complaints, a heated union-organising battle and turnover from disgruntled employees.

Workers complain of eliminated raises, a frenzied pace and

mandatory overtime.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Award was established in 1998 by US President Bill Clinton and was first awarded on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, honoring Eleanor Roosevelt’s role as the driving force in the development of the declaration.

“PEFC is honoured that our chair has received this recognition,” the general secretary Ben Gunneberg said.

“It comes as no surprise to us who work with Bill on a regular basis.

During his term as PEFC chair we have strengthened and clarified some of our fundamental core values pertaining to the social aspects of sustainable forest management.

A BILL that would have removed criminal penalties and all references to foreign law from the Lacey Act has been withdrawn from consideration in the US Senate, according to the Hardwood Federation.

The bill – dubbed the Freedom from Over-Criminalisation and Unjust Seizures Act of 2012 – was intended to be included as an amendment to the 2012 farm bill, which is currently

“From the top down, PEFC is today a leader in social standards thanks to Bill’s guidance.

We have a board that is gender and geographically balanced, with a wide range of representatives from indigenous people’s

organisations, ENGOs, small family forest land-owners and of course labour unions.”

William Street is the sole nominee to complete another three-year term as chair of PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) which is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

In accepting the award, Mr Street said there were many commonalities between promoting human rights for workers and the work of PEFC. “As a voluntary non-profit independent forest certification organisation dedicated to a bottom-up approach I have had the pleasure to watch our newest members like the Malaysia Timber Certification System embrace

the fundamental ILO core labour standards and require them even when their national legislation does not,” Mr Street said.

“PEFC forest certification can be an important tool to advance human rights for those who live and depend on forests.

“I am proud of PEFC’s work in this area and expect it to continue to build the capacity of and help forest dependent families for decades to come.

“However, it is the Swedwood group [part of IKEA industry group] workers who deserve the credit. They took the risks.”

Mr Street is also the chief of staff of the Woodworkers Department of the Machinists Union. Prior to that, he was director of the Global Wood and Forestry Program for Builders and Woodworkers International, the global union federation in Geneva, Switzerland, responsible for construction, wood, and forestry unions.

He has a Master’s of Science Degree from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Arts from Mansfield State University in Pennsylvania. As a lifelong advocate for social justice, Mr Sweet has been involved in the civil rights struggle and the anti-war movement in the US.

being debated in the Senate.

According to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, every five years, Congress passes a bundle of legislation called the “farm bill” that sets national policy on agriculture, nutrition, conservation and forestry policy.

The Hardwood Federation has urged supporters to help

oppose the bill by calling on lawmakers.

Different legislation to amend the Lacey Act in the House is still under consideration; it was passed by the House Committee on Natural Resources earlier this month.

The Lacey Act of 1900, or simply the Lacey Act, is a conservation law in the US introduced into Congress by

representative John F. Lacey of Iowa. The act was signed into law by President William McKinley on May 25, 1900.

The Lacey Act protects both plants and wildlife by creating civil and criminal penalties for a wide array of violations, and most notably prohibits trade in wood products, wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, transported or sold.

‘PEFC forest certification can be an important tool to advance human rights for those who live and depend on forests’ – William Street

William Street .. strengthening the social aspects of sustainable forest management.

Bill to Amend Lacey Act withdrawn in US Senate

Page 8 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Government ‘sitting’ on second review of Forestry Tasmania

THE Tasmanian government is not prepared to release the long-awaited second stage of an independent review of Forestry Tasmania. The review will guide how a $110 million budget allocation for the stateowned company will be spent.

The Opposition believes the money will be used to shut it down and postponed question time in an attempt to force the review’s release.

Shadow Treasurer Peter Gutwein has accused the government of withholding the report for its own reasons, including to force the Upper House to vote on the budget “without all of the information.”

Labor and the Greens blocked the Opposition’s move to force the government to release the report which the Premier Lara Giddings says will go through the proper cabinet process.

The Greens leader Nick McKim told Parliament the timber industry did not support the Opposition’s position on forestry.

Peter Gutwein has accused the government of driving forestry workers to the brink of suicide.

He told parliament 960 farmers and forestry workers had accessed a suicide prevention program in the past six months.

The Deputy Premier and Resources Minister Bryan Green said the forest peace deal had not caused the forest industry downturn; the 100odd million dollars put in to support those people in the industry had been money well spent to give the opportunity to work through the difficulties in the industry.

Tasmania’s Upper house is pushing for more funding to be allocated to struggling forestry workers.

The Legislative Council has passed a motion calling on the federal government to top up a $15

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Peter Gutwein .. concern for forestry workers.

million fund for forestry workers to exit the industry.

Independent Greg Hall told Parliament the money ran out on April 12.

“The longer this issue has gone on, the more grief there is out there in our communities,” he said.

The motion also called on the state government to remove the word ‘Gunns’ from future eligibility.

Meanwhile, veneer processor Ta Ann Tasmania is considering overhauling its operations to help the forest peace talks.

Ta Ann’s rotary veneer mills process native logs, 20 cm to 70 cm in diameter. Bryan Green has revealed the company will trial using smaller and lower quality peeler logs.

He says a permanent change could free up forests for reservations under the state’s peace talks to reduce native forest logging.

“That might help ensure that we can come up with a volume for Ta Ann out of the existing mix that allows some room within the negotiations,” Mr Green said.

Under its 20-year wood supply agreement with Forestry Tasmania, Ta Ann has an annual entitlement of 265,000 cub m of peeler billets.

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 9

BUILDING INDUSTRY NEWS

Green Building Council launches new sustainable cities rating tool Important step for building and construction industry

The Green Building Council of Australia has released Green Star - Communities, an independent, national rating tool it contends will drive more sustainable, productive and liveable communities.

“Green Star – Communities is one of the world’s first rating tools designed to encourage higher levels of sustainability across a broad range of issues,” GBCA’s chief executive Romilly Madew said. .“The rating tool will support the planning, design and delivery of communities, precincts and neighbourhoods that prioritise environmental sustainability – such as minimising energy

InSurAnce..

It’S All In the SelectIon

and water consumption, and reducing dependence on motor vehicles – alongside broader issues such as economic prosperity, liveability and community health and wellbeing.”

The GBCA brought together industry and all levels of government to create the rating tool, which will benchmark community developments against six categories: liveability; economic prosperity; environment; design; governance; and innovation.

Speaking at the industry release of the rating tool in Canberra, ACT Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer and Minister

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Insuring it all stacks up.

Romilly Madew .. practical, holistic rating system.

for Economic Development Andrew Barr said introduction of the new rating tool could only continue to improve the standard of building and planning.

Maria Efkarpidis from principal sponsor Rock Development Group said the assessment tool was an important step for the Australian building and construction industry.

“It follows global trends that consider the sustainability of entire communities and precincts from the beginning to the end of the development process,” he said. “This tool will set the standard for building genuinely green communities.”

Ms Efkarpidis said Green Star – Communities joined a growing suite of green star rating tools trusted by industry.

“We now have a practical, holistic rating system able to transform the talk about the future of our communities into actions and results,” Romilly Madew added.

Ms Madew was recently elected to the board of directors of the World Green Building Council, a coalition of more than 90 green building councils, making it the largest international organisation influencing the green building market place.

She also chairs the council’s rating tools task force, which is focused on developing a common carbon protocol, socioeconomic categories in rating tools and a quality assurance guideline for new rating tools.

New ratings tool follows global trends that consider the sustainability of entire communities The official ministerial launch of the Green Star – Communities ratings tool will be made by the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Anthony Albanese at the Built Environment Meets Parliament conference in Canberra on June 27.

The launch will follow the Australian Award for Urban Design at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra on June 26.

The Australian Institute of Architects, Consult Australia, the Green Building Council Australia, the Planning Institute of Australia and the Property Council of Australia are joint host bodies of the annual built environment summit.

editorial inquiries

tel: +61 32661429

Page 10 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

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ENGINEERED WOOD

CLT bears no extra risk in the event of fire

From Page 7

According to the calculations for Bridport House, each apartment contains 30-40 cub m of timber, which is equivalent to more than 30 tonnes of CO 2. The wood was supplied by Stora Enso from PEFC certified sustainable sources.

The main contractor, Willmott Dixon, considers CLT an ideal solution to the very specific issue of weight.

“The large Victorian-era sewer running beneath the site of Bridport House made it unsuitable for a traditional and heavy concrete frame structure,” site manager Terry Waite said.

Mr Waite also highlights that cross-laminated timber from Stora Enso offers additional advantages apart from its light weight, air-tightness, acoustics and minimal assembly time.

Because of CLT’s dimensional

Frame Australia conference manager Kevin Ezard (right) chats with Caillum Falknau, quality control engineer with the Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia, on the EWPAA stand at Frame Australia 2012.

stability, the material was also used to form the lift shaft instead of steel or concrete.

Safeness and fire performance are additional benefits. The frame structure is long-lasting and would be suitable also for

earthquake zones due to its strength.

The massive wood creates a healthy indoor climate since solid wood regulates room air humidity to the optimal level for health.

“Cross-laminated timber is a massive timber material that does not bear extra risk in the case of fire,” Mr Waite observes. “The outer parts would char, protecting the bulk of the material and bringing no danger of structural collapse.”

Willmott Dixon’s in-house sustainability consultancy ReThinking, has been working with the Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Cambridge calculating the embodied carbon of Bridport House.

Their calculation shows that had the building been of conventional reinforced concrete frame, the materials required would have incurred an additional 892 tonnes of carbon. This is equivalent to 12 years of operational energy required to heat and light all the

Cont Page 15

Conference focuses on forests in the Pacific

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 11

INDUSTRY NEWS

Mount Gambier region seen as educational hub for bio-energy

Industry club presents student scholarships

From BRIAN PAGE STUDENTS in forestry at the Southern Cross University’s Mount Gambier campus were presented with scholarships at a special ceremony and dinner in the Blue Lake city on June 18.

The scholarships, sponsored

by Mount Gambier Timber Industry Club 214, were presented before an interested crowd of 40 people including local MP Don Pegler, SCU course convenor Diana Lloyd and Hoo-Hoo JIV president Val Fennell.

Ms Lloyd spoke about the SCU campus and thanked the club for its several years of scholarship support. She said she was very proud of the students, many of whom had been able to balance families, study and work.

“Every graduating student has found good jobs and real careers in the forestry industry,” she said.

Students Chris Mayling and Michelle Chislett each received a cheque for $1000.

A highlight of the evening was a well-prepared address by

Diana Lloyd

Andrew Lang

Val Fennell

Andrew Lang, chairman of Smart Timber Australia and a member of the World Bioenergy Association, who after a recent overseas tour to Europe spoke of the heavy up-take of bio-energy around the world.

This up-take, he said, was through bio-energy production in small units to very large plants producing heat, electricity and liquid fuels from plant sources, particularly wood and wood wastes and residues but also straw and from municipal wastes and sewerage.

Mr Lang highlighted the potential in the region for clean

energy and energy sufficiency processes where commercial technology was proven and carbon neutral.

It reminded guests when the region hosted power and heat generating stations at four timber mill sites and discussed anaerobic production of methane or producer gas.

The potential of industrial estates clustering around a central plant producing heat and electricity for heat using industries could include commercial laundries, hospitals, and particularly timber mills, foundries and

industrial scale production of wood pellets.

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The meeting considered how the region could get into a bioenergy and a carbon neutral future and how local students could get back into sciencebased education ready for jobs in this sector. Mount Gambier as an educational hub for bioenergy was also considered.

Mount Gambier Club president Maurie Drewer thanked everyone, the students and particularly Andrew Lang who was presented with a gift.

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Page 12 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Forest leaders awarded AMs in Queen’s Birthday Honours List Glen Kile, Ian Ferugson recognised for distinguished service

TWO outstanding Australian forestry leaders were awarded Order of Australia (AM) medals in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Dr Glen Kile and Professor Ian Ferguson both have links to Forest and Wood Products Australia as well as numerous forest industry related boards and councils.

Dr Kile is a former managing director (2007-2008) of Forest and Wood Products Australia and was a director for five years and executive director of Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation (2002-2007).

Prof. Ferguson was also an FWPRDC director.

Dr Kile was chief, CSIRO division of forestry and forest products, (1996-2001), chief, division of forestry (1992-1995), inaugural director, Cooperative Research Centre for Temperate Hardwood Forestry (19901991), program manager, hardwood plantations, Forestry and Forest Products (19871991), research scientist (19751991 and a representative of the Greening Australia Council (1994-1998).

Prof. Ferguson received his AM for service to tertiary education through administrative and

Prof. Ian Ferguson .. distinguished service to forest industry.

teaching roles, to forestry and land management, as a researcher and author, and to the community.

University of Melbourne (1990-

He was Pro Vice-Chancellor,

president, Institute of Wood

Science, Australia (1991-1993).

He has been Emeritus Professor since 2003 and was professor and foundation chair of Forest Science (1981-2003) and senior lecturer (1968-1976).

Prof. Ferguson was head, School of Forestry, 1994-2001, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry (1987-1989), head, Forestry Section (19811986 and 1990-1993) and was reader, Department of Forestry, Australian National University (1976-1981) and senior lecturer (1971-1976).

He was deputy chair, FWPRDC from 200 1 to 2003 and chaired the expert panel on sustainable yield, Western Australian Forest Management Plan (2000-2003).

Ian Randles .. extra income vital for pastoralists.

was made to me that only now are the wild dogs taking the bait, because they’ve just finished eating all the sheep and goats and that’s how people feel about their ability to earn a livelihood from stock out there,” he said.

“There is high value sandalwood on people’s leases.”

Mr Randles says pastoralists should have the first rights.

A lot in common .. Dr Glen Kile (right) pictured with Chris Lafferty, research and development manager, Forest and Wood Products Australia.

1992), board

president,

president

academic

(1991-1992),

(1990-1991)

vice-

and

Graziers in WA want sandalwood payment

THE Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia is calling on a state parliamentary committee to launch an inquiry into the sandalwood industry, to give pastoralists greater access to the lucrative trees on their properties.

At the moment, contractors pay the state Government for the right to harvest the tree, which is used in perfumes, but

pastoralists get nothing.

A 2000-signature petition is currently before the Environmental and Public Affairs Committee, which will decide whether a review into the industry is warranted.

The PGA’s Ian Randles says the extra income would be vital to numbers of struggling pastoralists.

“In the Goldfields, a comment

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 13

INDUSTRY NEWS

Boral Timber appoints new chief

Steve Dadd has wide knowledge of hardwoods the London Business School.

BORAL Timber has announced the appointment of Steve Dadd as executive general manager, replacing Bryan Tisher who is taking on the role of divisional managing director for Boral Building Products.

Mr Dadd has managed Boral Timber’s integrated hardwoods business for the past five years, developing extensive knowledge of the industry and Boral Timber’s markets. Prior to joining Boral, he held senior managerial roles at The Boston Consulting Group and CSR Sugar.

Commenting on the appointment Bryan Tisher said: “With Steve’s industry expertise and experience he is well positioned to successfully lead the timber business. I

Boral Timber has been developing and producing wood products for well over a century and has become one of the largest suppliers of certified hardwood and softwood timber in Australia.

Steve Dadd .. extensive knowledge of industry.

Bryan Tisher .. moves to Boral Building Products.

would like to thank Steve for his contribution to Boral over the past number of years and wish him the very best in his new role.”

Mr Dadd has a Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New South Wales and a Masters of Business Administration from

A wide product range includes flooring, structural timber, decking, furniture timber, decorative, panelling, cladding and formply. Boral Timber has a wide range of Australian native hardwood timber species in a variety of timber flooring products All Boral TimbeR’s products are Australian Forestry Scheme (AFS) chain of custody certified.

LATE NEWS

New forest reserves in Tas if peace deal goes through

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Page 14 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

■

■

■

THE Tasmanian government has outlined how new forest reserves will be created if a peace deal is struck.

Long-awaited peace deal legislation has been tabled in parliament to meet a commonwealth deadline.

As expected, the legislation does not detail which forests will be protected from logging because environmental and industry groups are yet to strike a final agreement, according to an ABC News report.

The bill also allows the government to change the amount of wood it will supply sawmillers, if the groups agree on a different quantity.

The Resources Minister Bryan Green says it gives the negotiations space.

“If the signatories come back with a different figure of course of we’ll consider that and I will amend it on that basis,” he said.

If passed by parliament, an

immediate protection order will be placed over the forests to be reserved from logging, while the boundaries are verified and the reserves are finalised.

Industry and conservationists negotiating an agreement have until July 23 to strike a deal.

The government will not attempt to pass the bill until a deal is reached.

Labor and the Greens defeated an Opposition attempt to force the Premier to explain why the government has tabled incomplete legislation.

Opposition Leader Will Hodgman moved to suspend normal parliamentary proceedings after confirming the bill did not identify which forests would be protected.

He said the uncertainty in the forest industry would continue.

The Premier Lara Giddings told parliament the government was fostering a peace agreement to deal with the industry downturn.

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ENGINEERED WOOD

CLT lighter than alternative structural materials From Page 7

dwellings at Bridport House.

Alternatively it would take 61 years to save the same amount of carbon as the planning requirement of 20% renewables. When the sequestered carbon locked up in the 1576 sq m timber structure is added to the carbon avoided, the total figure is 2113 tonnes of carbon – equivalent to 29 years of operational energy.

Philip Zumbrunnen says CLT is considerably lighter than the alternative structural materials.

“With CLT you have line loads, not point loads. Thanks to CLT, the height of the structure was doubled compared to the previous building, while the weight increased by only 10%.”

The short, only 12 weeks’ assembly time on the site was possible due to the prefabricated CLT boards, which are simple and accurate to put together.

Good news story for CLT .. the eight-storey Bridport House apartments in London.

Mr Zumbrunnen estimates that the assembly time is half that of conventional reinforced concrete.

Stora Enso’s senior vicepresident building solutions Matti Mikkola says Bridport House is excellent proof that urban multi-storey construction can be done both costcompetitively and sustainably

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using CLT as a green building system.

“If the majority of European homes were to be built of wood instead of concrete, the environmental load caused by housing construction would reduce substantially,” he said.

Stora Enso’s CLT is produced at the company’s purpose-built factory in Austria using locally

Philipp Zumbrunnen design director for CarbonEng in the UK chats with Simon Dorries, general manager, Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia, on the EWPAA stand at Frame Australia 2012.

sourced PEFC-certified spruce.

It differs from other brands of CLT because it requires only a minimum of three layers to achieve air-tightness, not five or seven, as is often the case.

It is also edge-glued to make it even more stable and airtight.

issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 15

EVENTS

Breakfast Creek pioneers’ luncheon puts club charity event into top gear

TWENTY pioneers of Brisbane Hoo-Hoo Club 218 gathered at the historic Breakfast Creek Hotel last week for a reunion that represented a combined service to the timber and forest industries of 1000 years.

Yarns, memories, fine steaks and ale were on the menu but the main business centred on the club’s major charity effort this year for disadvantaged children – the Queensland Variety Club

of Queensland’s Bush Bash to north Queensland.

The club has invested in a 1977 Holden Kingswood that will travel the bash route from Dalby on the Darling Downs to Mackay in North Queensland.

First past the sponsorship chequered flag with $2000 was Michael Kennedy of Kennedy’s Classic Aged Timbers at Narangba.

This was quickly followed

with another $2000 donation during the pioneers’ lunch from club foundation member John Crooke of Queensland Sawmills.

Club 218 is asking industry to dig deep and support this worthy children’s charity event. All sponsorships and contributions are tax deductible and event supporters will have the name of their business or organisation prominently

displayed on the Kingswood which will attract widespread media coverage along the track.

Further information and sponsorship packages are available from club committee members Alan Jones (president) on 0419 754 681, Tim Evans 0417 08 815, Don Towerton 0428 745 455 and Jim Bowden 0401 312 087.

Enjoying a Hoo-Hoo day at Breakfast Creek are Tom Donohue, Mark Kapper, Jim Bowden, Alan Jones (president Club 218), David McIntyre and Bill Neilson.

Memorable lunch .. Brisbane Timber Industry Hoo-Hoo Club 218 pioneers, from left, Noel Griffiths, Tony Stokes, Alf Chapple, David Armstrong, Tim Evans, and, seated, John Crooke, organiser of the event.

Behind the shades .. Colin Galley, Dick Pegg and Pieter Verlinden.

Club 218 pioneers .. Bill Philip, Don Towerton, Peter Mort, and seated, Malcolm Powell.

Page 16 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

Ready for anything .. the Hoo-Hoo Club 218 Kingswood with Black Cat flags flying.

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Natural forests – fire is part of the landscape, say firefighters

AS firefighters battle blazes in western USA that have forced hundreds of evacuations and destroyed hundreds of structures, the US Forest Service chief is renewing his call to restore forests to a more natural state, where fire was part of the landscape.

Experts say a combination of decades of vigorous fire suppression and the waning of the timber industry over environmental concerns has left many forests a tangled, overgrown mess, subject to the kind of super-fires that are now regularly consuming millions of hectares and hundreds of homes.

“The urgency couldn’t be greater,” says Tom Tidwell.

The plan calls for accelerating restoration programs – including prescribed fires and mechanical thinning – by 20% each year in key areas that are facing the greatest danger.

This year’s target: 1.6 million hectares. The budget: About $US1 billion.

“We need to understand the conditions we’re facing today,” Mr Tidwell told the Associated Press.” They’re different than what we used to

An air tanker drops a load of fire retardant on a forest fire in British Columbia’s southern interior.

deal with. We’re seeing erratic fire behaviour, more erratic weather.”

In southern New Mexico, a lightning-sparked fire raced across more than 15,000 ha in recent days, damaging or destroying at least 224 homes and other structures.

To the north, a Colorado fire has burned 202 sq km, destroyed more than 100 structures, including at least 31 homes, and forced hundreds of people from their homes.

The accelerated restoration effort is focused on several projects, the largest of which

is a 20-year plan that calls for restoring 980,000 ha across four forests in northern Arizona.

The Forest Service recently awarded a contract to start thinning the first 122,000 ha.

A similar project is planned in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, where a historic fire ripped through 95 sq km and threatened one of the national’s premier nuclear laboratories last summer.

Forest officials estimate the cost of fire suppression in some of the areas targeted for restoration could be reduced by up to 50% because

of the work.

Still, there are millions of hectares – wilderness and roadless, rugged areas – where mechanical thinning won’t be an option. In those areas, fire will have to take its natural course.

“Everybody has to keep in mind that fire will play a huge significant role in our landscape for the rest of time,” Mr Newman said.

With more natural fires, experts contend the forest has a better chance of recovering. Severe fires tend to sterilise the soil, destroy any banks of seeds stored in the ground and leave mountainsides primed for erosion.

Tom Tidwell said campaigns were under way at the federal and state level to address the benefits of restoration, particularly prescribed fire under the right conditions.

“We’re going to have trade-offs of either dealing with smoke at different times of the year or dealing with what we’re dealing with now,” he said, pointing to the fires burning across the country.

– Cape Breton Post.

Old-growth stands sketched out in Canadian forests

A CANADIAN Forest Practices Board audit of the old-growth timber supply available across British Columbia is recommending that the provincial government better track old-growth areas and evaluate whether or not they are effective in protecting biodiversity.

“All the licensees [the companies who cut down

trees] who operate in the district have a working group and share information on where harvesting is happening, they use geographic information system analysis and other forms of existing information and see how much old growth is there, and they are supposed to ensure that whatever harvesting is going on doesn’t bring the old growth amounts below provincial objectives for

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the area,” Darlene Oman of the Forest Practices Board said.

“The purpose of the report was to see whether or not these areas were being actually identified and protected to do that preservation, to protect biodiversity,” Ms Oman said.

There are 55,000 identified stands of old-growth in the province, amounting to about 4 million ha. The intention is to

protect certain amounts of it to allow a natural ecosystem to perpetually cycle, with tracts of the working forests at different stages of growth in all areas of the province.

“The fact the licensees are actually making the plans to quantify and identify old growth, so each district’s provincial targets are met, is the big first step,” Ms Oman said.

issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 17

EVENTS

US biomass: most of the wood pellets now exported to Europe Thinnings provide carbon-neutral energy

EUROPE is usually the last place on one’s mind when riding through surprisingly desolate pine forests, stretching from the America’s Alabama line to Georgia’s marshy coast.

But, in an unlikely convergence of European eco-policy and south-eastern pines, a Georgia wood pellet plant is now supplying a German-based utility with a steady stream of carbon-neutral energy.

For over a year now, Georgia Biomass has overseen the production of 750,000 tonnes of wood pellets a year. After a 160 km rail trip from its Waycross, Georgia, plant to the port of Savannah, the pellets are received as cargo bound for Europe where they are co-fired in coal-burning plants.

If not for the largesse of European utilities required to meet government carbon emissions standards for their coal-burning plants, however, the US pellet export industry would arguably not exist; such emission standards have yet to reach the federal level in the US. ‘Even though it costs more to burn wood pellets than coal, it’s still cheaper than the carbon tax’ – Nathan McClure Even so, pellet exports from the US to Europe currently average over 2 million tonnes a year, which converts to about 450 MWs of electrical capacity solely from combusted pellets.

But that’s still a tiny fraction of Europe’s energy needs — thus,

electricity from chipped logging residues than from pelletised wood,” Mr McClure said.

“But if you’re shipping them long distances, compression removes [most of the moisture] so they become more energy dense.”

US biomass producers are using wood from pine forests grown on land certified as sustainable.

there’s room for growth as a number of coal-fired power plants switch from coal to pellets.

By 2020, Europe may annually import as much as 40 million tonnes of pellets from all sources, up from today’s 3.5 million tonnes of total pellet imports, says bio-energy consultant William Strauss.

“As long as the wood used to make these things comes from certified sustainable sources, then the Europeans quantify it as carbon neutral,” said Mr Strauss who is president of the Maine-based FutureMetrics.

“Even though it costs more to burn wood pellets than coal, it’s still cheaper than the carbon tax.”

Nathan McClure, a certified forester with the Georgia Forestry Commission who is very familiar with their local operations, said that Georgia Biomass processes roughly the equivalent of the annual growth on 930,000 ha of forests,

mostly slash and loblolly pines, ideally within an 80-km radius of the plant.

When the wood is brought in it’s roughly 50% moisture, so to meet its production capacity of 750,000 metric tonnes of pellets a year, Georgia Biomass needs almost double the amount in unprocessed wood chips or timber. McClure says most of that wood will come from thinning forests.

Georgia Biomass procures wood from pine forests grown on land that has been certified as sustainable, thus meeting one requirement of their product’s carbon-neutrality.

Lumber that arrives at pellet plants from these sustainable forests is first debarked and chipped. The chips are dried and hammer-milled to a fine, flour-like consistency. It is then pelletised before being shipped to Europe as dry bulk cargo in loads of 30 to 40,000 tonnes each.

“It’s cheaper to produce

Georgia annually grows at least 30% more wood than it consumes. In fact, Mr McClure says the state could export more than double its current amount of some million tonnes of pellets annually and still be able to certify its forests as sustainable.

Current rates for a tonne of pulpwood delivered to a Georgia mill averages $US27 a tonne. Because of such low rates, almost all pellets exported to Europe originate

To meet its production capacity of 750,000 metric tonnes of pellets a year, Georgia Biomass needs to almost double the amount in unprocessed wood chips or timber in the southeast of the state.

However, by the time the manufactured pellets hit the local docks for shipment to Europe, their current cost to the European utility is some $US165 a tonne More than a half dozen major European utilities are now buying around 2 million tonnes of US-made wood pellets annually.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE Items provided in this section of Timber & Forestry E news are drawn from a number of sources. The source of the item is quoted, either by publication or organizations in line with the practice of fair reporting.

Page 18 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

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Knowledge Tree Series

Introduc tion to Green Star® and FSC Project Certific ation Are you in the construction, timber supply, development or contracting industry? Do you want to understand FSC and how to gain competitive advantage? Have you been asked to work on a Green Star® job and supply FSC Certified Products? Then come along to our free information breakfast specifically targeted to you to help you grow your FSC Knowledge Tree.

Topics GBCA CPD points for - What is FSC & why is it important? attendance apply - Green Star® and the timber credit - Steps involved in Chain of Custody Certification - FSC Chain of Custody for Project Certification Speakers: Natalie Reynolds - Acting CEO FSC Australia Nick Capobianco – Senior Lead Auditor, Scientific Certification Systems Joshua Bruce – Sustainability Manager, ISIS When:

June 19th , 8–9.30am (Speakers will be available for Q&A, informal discussions and networking until 10.30am) RSVP must be in by 8th June to assure a place

Where:

Level 2, 263 Adelaide Terrace, Perth, WA 6000

RSVP:

RSVP is essential for catering purposes at http://www.trybooking.com/BISB. This event is fully supported by TABMA and therefore is presented at no cost.

Donations to support future Knowledge Tree Series are encouraged and are tax deductible.

Presented with the generous support of TABMA

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issue 227 | 25.06.12 | Page 19

Nominations Excellence :: Recognition :: Celebration The Queensland Timber Industry Awards are an important means of highlighting excellence in our industry and rewarding organisations who are leading the way in terms of service, innovation and commitment to improving both their business and the industry as a whole. The gala evening when these awards are presented is the only event of its kind; it provides a platform to celebrate our industry, our state and recognise our top performers.

This evening is set for Saturday 3 November 2012 at Victoria Park Function Centre, Brisbane.

To maintain the credibility of these awards and therefore the prestige and honour they represent for finalists and winners, the judging criteria for 2012 have been adjusted to reflect recent ideals and trends as well as give greater weight to operational areas of importance. The criteria for each category is available to view on the website, www.tabma.com.au - Queensland - Information Sheets - 2012 QTI Awards Criteria.

Award Categories 2012 

Best Specialist Timber Merchant



Best Frame & Truss Operation (Metro)



Best Building Materials Centre (Metro)



Best Frame & Truss Operation (Regional)



Best Building Materials Centre (Regional)



Best Timber Manufacturing Operation



Best Timber Wholesale Operation



Best Sawmilling Operation



Best Specialist Service Operation



Trainee of the Year



Best Training Culture



Apprentice of the Year



Best Wholesale Sales Representative



Recognising Women In Forest & Timber

If you wish to nominate please visit www.tabma.com.au - Queensland - News and Events - 2012 QLD Timber Industry Awards Nomination Form and complete an entry for each nomination. All nominations will be kept confidential and only be seen by TABMA Queensland management and judges. Nominations close 15 June 2012.

Introducing the Sponsor’s...

Sponsorship packages are still available.

Page 20 | issue 227 | 25.06.12

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Production T: 0439 417 671 ISSUE 203 || 25.06.12 12.12.11 || Page PAGE 21 15 issue 227 e: kerri@mycustompublishing.com.au

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