Issue 245 Timber & Forestry

6875

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issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 1

Housing yanked from brink in US

Complete solid timber processing systems

Presidential campaign pumps up recovery in family homes market

Presidential race .. Obama and Romney both have a sales pitch on US housing recovery.

•A FPA re-joins talks on forests agreement • Vienna first step on LIGNA tour

Global Wood Mart hub of region’s industry

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which saw housing starts increased 15% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 units, according to a US Commerce Department report – the quickest pace since July 2008.

US timber imports increased 21% from June to July to meet the housing demand. The US imported 56% more lumber from Chile in the same period.

Imports from New Zealand increased by 12%, a relatively modest increase compared to the increase in supply from the major suppliers to the US. China, which usually supplies a similar volume to the US as

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A pumped up building market in the US is attracting South American wood producers back to their traditional market which should take some pressure off the industry in Australia and New Zealand still bending under heavy imports from aggressive suppliers such as Chile.

European wood producers, too, are likely to divert exports to America’s building revival

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issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 1

INDUSTRY NEWS

AFPA re-joins talks on Tas forests agreement

David Pollard

Adrian Kloeden

THE Australian Forest Products Association has rejoined the forest peace talks in Tasmania.

It withdrew over five weeks ago seeking assurances given by the state government about the management structure of wood production forests.

AFPA has consistently maintained the requirement for the durability of outcomes for the forest products industry, its employees, contractors and associated communities.

Chief executive David Pollard said that although AFPA had received no response to its letter to the Tasmanian government, following discussions about resource security, durability and forest management, the association had agreed to return to IGA negotiations.

“AFPA wishes to explore every avenue for an agreement, and will therefore re-join the talks,” Dr Pollard said.

‘We remain concerned about durability of the as-yet to be determined forest management arrangements and the confidence they will provide for the future of production volumes, and will not sign off on any ultimate agreement if those concerns are not explicitly addressed.”

AFPA has actively promoted the need to maintain a single, integrated and independent statutory manager with fiduciary responsibilities, responsibility for commercial operations and with full control of the permanent production forest zones to provide the necessary

Page 2 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

Bob Gordon

security for investment that is at arm’s length from government.

“Any arrangement which separates the management of the production forests from commercial operational management undermines the durability of any forest agreement,” Dr Pollard said.

Meanwhile, Forestry Tasmania has reported a $27.6 million loss for the year to June, describing it as its most difficult

Bryan Green

since it was corporatised in 1994.

In the report, chairman Adrian Kloeden and managing director Bob Gordon cite difficult market conditions and ongoing political uncertainties.

Resources Minister Bryan Green has defended the company’s result which he blamed on external pressures.

5th Annual

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

Forest, Wood, Paper & Timber Products Industry

30 – 31 October 2012 Hotel Hyatt & Parliament House, Canberra Join together Discover & build opportunities to step up the value chain PRESENTED BY

REGISTRATION & QUERIES: Tel: 1800 177 001 Email: cday@forestworks.com.au www.forestworks.com.au/conference2012

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Race to White House bets on a recovery driven by housing

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.6% in August, up from a record-low 3.55 in July, but well below the 4.27% figure for a year earlier.

From Page 3

New Zealand, increased it supply by 33%.

The US economy has shown signs of faster growth in recent months as the jobless rate falls and retail sales data points to stronger consumer spending.

The data reveals housing, which was battered by the 2007-09 recession, is increasingly one of the brighter spots in the economy and could add to growth this year for the first time since 2005.

And presidential candidates – Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney – are both plat-forming on the signs of a US housing recovery ahead of the November 6 election.

President Obama is drawing attention to improvements in the housing industry while keeping up pressure on Republicans to back policies the White House says would help struggling homeowners refinance their debts.

“One of the heaviest drags on our recovery is getting lighter,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “Now we have to build on the progress we’ve made and keep moving forward.”

Obama cited an increased pace in construction of singlefamily houses and apartments in September. The Commerce Department said last month’s construction pace was the fastest in more than four years. Home sales are also up compared with last year.

With the economy still the dominant issue of the presidential campaign, Obama has been counting on voters believing that conditions are improving.

Governor Romney wisely is focused on the long term in housing.

Although it remains difficult for many people to qualify for a mortgage, the housing market is strengthening because of pent-up demand, says the Realtors Association.

Shopping for wood .. US housing recovery spikes rise in timber imports.

“We need to wind down the portfolios of the GSEs [government-sponsored flow of credit] and reassess the government’s role in such a way to get more private capital back into housing,” he said.

The brighter economic signal is likely to be welcomed at the White House, where a sluggish economy is weighing on President Barack Obama’s chances of re-election next month.

Economists estimate that for every new house built, at least three new jobs are created.

More home building could help compensate for some of the weakness recently in factory output, which is seen as due to sluggish export demand and cooling investment in capital goods.

Economists polled by Reuters forecast residential construction rising to a 770,000-unit rate. August’s starts were revised to show

a 758,000-unit pace instead of the previously reported 750,000.

US home sales have been creeping up and the steep decline in prices since 2006 appears to have bottomed.

That has helped home-builder sentiment, which this month rose to a fresh six-year high.

The national median sale price was $187,400 in August, up 9.5% from a year earlier.

August marked the sixth straight month of year-overyear price increases, which had not happened since early 2006, shortly before the housing bubble burst, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Federal Reserve says it will try to support the recovery – and in turn, drive down the high unemployment rate – by launching another round of bond-buying designed to cut already historically low mortgage rates.

‘Although it remains difficult for many people to qualify for a mortgage, the housing market is strengthening because of pent-up demand’ – US National Association of Realtors

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Meanwhile, America’s lumber mills, their workers, and American tree farmers face a mounting crisis from Canada’s long-standing practice of dumping government subsidised lumber on the US market.

The USD Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports – an alliance of large and small independent sawmills from around the country, joined by hundreds of thousands of their employees, and tens of thousands of woodland owners – are united in opposition to Canada’s unfair trade practice of virtually giving away its forestlands to companies that export lumber to the US, the world’s largest wood products market.

Despite a strong home building recovery, US lumber prices are touching new lows, bankruptcies and mill shutdowns are high and climbing higher, while Canada’s share of the US market approaches 35%, a near record high.

“We can compete against any lumber industry in the world, but we can’t compete against their government, too,” the coalition’s chairman Rusty Wood said.

issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 3

BUILDING TRENDS

Sizing up race to the skyline Wood buildings designed for 30 storeys

There is an excitement building in Australia, the UK, Austria, Canada and other regions. Myths are being dispelled and popular wisdom is being rewritten. The era of the wood skyscraper is dawning.

In Hackney, Dornbirn, Melbourne and other progressive centres, there are already eight, nine and 10-storey wood buildings.

Many more are on drawing boards of designers around the world. These projects are part of an exciting international trend that must not be missed.

These wood buildings are not the traditional lumber and plywood constructs typical of single family houses, town homes or even the six-storey residential structures that are now permitted by the Building Code in British Columbia.

Instead, they are constructed of various forms of massive laminated timber panels.

Pre-fabricated in modern facilities, from undervalued wood fibre, using sophisticated computer controlled equipment, they are precisely engineered in various configurations up to 19.5 m long, 3.5 m wide and 305 mm thick.

They are shipped ready to install, with simple tools and minimal labour.

They provide a cost-effective, faster and highly aesthetic alternative. They also provide more than sufficient levels of structural, seismic, thermal and fire performance, at a fraction of the weight and environmental footprint.

The first modern tall wood building, Waugh Thistleton’s Murray Grove StadtHaus in London’s Hackney district, was completed in 2009. This 27-unit residential building consists of eight storeys of cross laminated timber on a first storey of concrete. It was

Page 4 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

A wooden skyscraper may seem like a far-fetched idea to those who live in cities built from concrete and steel, but Canadian architect Michael Green has developed an innovative wooden tower for Vancouver that could spark a renaissance in using wood to build urban high-rise projects. If realised, Mr Green’s Tallwood tower could be one of the greenest skyscrapers in the world – and at 30 storeys, perhaps the tallest of its kind.

erected in eight weeks.

CLT was developed in Austria about 15 years ago and consists of three, five or more perpendicular layers fastened together to make huge slabs for walls, floors and shafts.

Also in London’s Hackney district, Bridport House by Euroban stands at eight storeys. The 41-unit residential building also was built entirely of CLT. It was completed in only 12 weeks in November 2010.

The first commercial example is the eight-storey Life Cycle Tower just completed by Cree by Rhomberg in Dornbirn, Austria.

The big news about cement is that it is the single biggest material source of carbon emissions in the world and the demand is going up

By

WERNER HOFSTATTER

This office building is built with a concrete core, but is supported by glulam columns and glulam/concrete floor panels, connected with a series of steel sleeves and pegs.

It was erected in only eight days.

So far, the tallest wood structure is Lend Lease’s Forte building in the Docklands district of Melbourne. At 10-storeys tall,

this residential building is the same height as Chicago’s Wainright Building – the world’s first official skyscraper. It is also made entirely of CLT. The groups responsible for all four of these projects have been scouting British Columbia, the place were even wood higher buildings are being considered. The province has the knowledge, the fibre, the latest materials and, more importantly, the attitude to make things happen.

The Canadian Wood Council recently commissioned architect Michael Green, together with Equilibrium Consulting, to develop a conceptual design for even taller wood buildings. They developed a model for 12, 20 and even 30-storey wood skyscrapers.

Just last month, CEI Architecture Planning Interiors in British Columbia, together with the engineering group Read Jones Christoffersen, received an honourable mention in a design competition for a similar concept.

Their design for the Commercial Real Estate Association’s NAIOP ‘office building of the future’ included a 40-storey glulam column and beam design.

The world is in need of sustainable housing.

According to experts like Julian Allwood of Cambridge University, “The big news about cement is that it is the single biggest material source of carbon emissions in the world and the demand is going up.”

Clearly, continuing to satisfy the demand for high-density urban housing with traditional building technologies will be environmentally disastrous.

• Werner Hofstatter is the Wood First advisor for the Canadian Wood Council.

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WHAT’S ON?

OCTOBER

30-31: ForestWorks and First Super 5th annual Industry Development Conference.

Hyatt Hotel and Parliament House Canberra. Registration inquiries contact: The Events Manager at cday@forestworks. com.au or phone (03) 9321 3500.

For further information, including announcements of speakers and topics, visit www.forestworks. com.au/conference2012

NOVEMBER

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

9: ALCAS (Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society) roundtable – MLC Centre, Level 47, 19 Martin Place, Sydney, 9am-1pm. German Experiences in Timber Assessment and Building Sustainability Rating Tools and Directions for Australia. Keynote speaker is visiting international scientist Sebastian Rüter from Germany’s Johann Heinrich von ThünenInstitute. He will present the results of a recent LCA project of German forest products in the context of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD).

His presentation will focus on sustainable building certification schemes in Germany. The roundtable is a ‘free’ event for ALCAS members and invited guests ($50 for non-members) or join ALCAS for 2012-13 at $99 and attend for free). Agenda (and log-in details will be emailed to registrants. Email: roundtable@ alcas.asn.au 13: VAFI annual dinner –

Grand Ballroom, Park Hyatt, 1 Parliament Square, Melbourne.

6:30-11:30pm. The dinner presents an opportunity for members and stakeholders of Victoria’s forest and wood products industry to network and showcase the industry, and its achievements, in a relaxed atmosphere. Special guest speaker Peter Walsh, Minister for Agriculture and Food Security and Minister for Water. Masters of ceremonies Nick Duigan and Andrew Hart from the TV series Going Bush. Contact Jillian Roscoe on (03) 9611 9002 or jroscoe@vafi.org.au for bookings.

26: FSC Australia 6th Annual Excellence awards, Melbourne This year sees a redesign of the awards, and the introduction of three new awards categories.

Visit www.fscaustralia.org 28-29: ForestTech 2012 – Improving Wood Transport and Logistics.

Melbourne and Rotorua

30: NSW Forest Products Association annual conference and timber industry dinner.

Parkview Room, Doltone House, Darling Island Wharf, 48 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont. Conference 9am3.30pm. Theme: Community Engagement for the Forestry Industry. Keynote speaker Troy Grant, Parliamentary Secretary Natural Resources. AGM for FPA members at 4pm. Dinner starts at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont, at 6.30pm. RSVP: November 2. Tel: (02) 9279 2344. Email: fpa@nswfpa.asn.au. Web www. nswfpa.asn.au

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EVENTS

APRIL 2013

April 7-10: 6th International Woodfibre Resources andTrade Conference, Istanbul, Turkey.

‘Woodchips and Biomass for Global and Regional Markets’.

Hilton Istanbul Hotel. Discounted rooms for conference delegates if booked via the online process.

Book before November 2, 2012 to ensure a room. Visit www. woodfibreconference.com Residues-to-Revenues 2013 Conference and CleanTECH Expo Wood energy and ‘cleantech’ industry developments.

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland, April 10-11, 2013; Bayview Eden Hotel, Melbourne, April 15-16, 2013. Event website: www. woodresiduesevents.com

April 28-May 12: EuroWOOD 13 study tour to LIGNA Hannover (May 6-10). Study tour and tourist visits to Austria and Germany, starting in Vienna and finishing at LIGNA, Hannover, Germany. Add-on tour options to Finland and UK and European destinations. The 15-day tour is supported by the Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia (EWPAA), in collaboration with other industry bodies and companies.

Participants will have the option to attend the full LIGNA program in Hannover and join selected visits to surrounding wood manufacturing factories and a university outside LIGNA for one or two days, allowing three full days at LIGNA. Internet site available soon. Costs, program and itinerary available at eurowood13@bigpond.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 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 5

WOOD DESIGN

Call to ‘sell’ timber’s advantages in the re-building of Christchurch

Post-quake opportunity for a different type of design THE timber industry needed some exemplar buildings that could be easily repeated, speakers said during a seminar on innovative wood solutions for rebuilding Christchurch.

The seminar, hosted by the Marlborough Forest Industry Association at the Marlborough Research Centre last week, was looking at ways Marlborough and Nelson wood growers and timber processors could be part of the post-quake Christchurch rebuild.

Delegates were told of a wide range of innovative products and methods of building with wood, available in Marlborough and Nelson, all of which could be used in Christchurch.

However, there was a gap between the products available and those used in construction.

Some seminar participants urged for stronger marketing programs; while timber could be used to create excellent buildings, such as the NMIT arts and media building in Nelson that is made completely from wood, the industry really needed exemplar buildings that

Page 6 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

NMIT arts and media centre .. ‘world first’ for its unique use of laminated veneer lumber.

were comparable in cost to those made of other materials and easily repeated.

The NMIT building is sustainable, environmentally sensitive and local, with the design and resources all sourced within 100 km of Nelson. The multi-storey building is a ‘world first’ for both its timber earthquake resistance design and its unique use of laminated veneer

lumber as the primary structure.

A Nelson-based team of Irving Smith Jack Architects Ltd and multi-disciplinary engineers Aurecon won the design competition for the building against a formidable array of top design teams from throughout New Zealand.

The judges said the design solution met the specific needs of NMIT as a creative learning institution, using state-of-the-

art structural timber technology coupled with the use of locally produced materials including LVL. Build Green structural engineer Anne Mackenzie, who works mainly in the Christchurch central business district, said there wouldn’t be any concreteframe buildings left there.

“This is an opportunity for a different type of design,” she said at the Marlborough seminar.

“All sorts of things can be done with timber – there are curves, the feel and smell, all the aesthetics. We need stunning timber buildings. Innovative solutions are out there.”

Procurement specialist David Corney said the timber option needed to be aired and “very soon”.

Timber was the right thing for Christchurch and had all the right engineering aspects for the market, Mr Corney said.

While he was a fan, he said the timber industry hadn’t done enough marketing for its new products and the benefits of using wood.

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EVENTS

Vienna first step on engineered wood study tours to LIGNA Fair

Inspection of CLT technology in Austria and Germany

PARTICIPANTS in EuroWOOD 2013 – a study tour of engineered wood technology in Austria and Germany – will fly directly to Vienna to start 15 days of visits to industry operations and tourist spots leading to the world famous LIGNA Fair in Hannover.

The study tour from April 28 to May 12 next year will visit manufacturing sites; innovative value-adding product development; technical colleges and universities (engineered wood programs); housing projects; and forest operations where practicable.

Qantas has taken the steps towards establishing its new gateway to Europe and the UK by signing off on a global partnership with Emirates.

Participants will have the opportunity to attend the full LIGNA program in Hannover from May 6 to 10 with an option to join selected visits to surrounding wood manufacturing factories and a university outside LIGNA for one or two days, allowing three full days at LIGNA. The comprehensive study tour and related sight-seeing program has been prepared in collaboration with the Homag Group and its subsidiaries and partners and in consultation with other leading wood processing technology companies and manufacturing, machinery and technology experts.

The tour will be led by widelyexperienced Australia-based timber industry and travel specialists.

The Homag Group, located at Schopfloch in the northern part of Germany’s Black Forest, is a global player represented in more than 100 countries. It is a leader in the field of machinery and manufacturing for panel

LIGNA Hannover .. without doubt the number one venue for the world’s wood and forest industries.

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processing, structural timber frame housing construction, producing solutions from stand-alone machines to complete production lines.

Ahead of LIGNA Hannover, tour participants will travel to St. Johann-Lonsingen in the Swabian Alps south of Stuttgart to visit Homag partner and subsidiary the Weinmann Group to inspect factory-built

Cont Page 8

issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 7

EVENTS

EuroWOOD 2013 .. a careful mix of industry visits and tourist locations

From Page 7

prefabricated housing and cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction methods.

The tour will include a seminar and inspection at Graz University of Technology in southeast Austria, about 200 km south of Vienna, a world leader in CLT building technology.

The EuroWood 2013 coach will sideline to Salzburg to rest among internationally renowned baroque architecture

Page 8 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

in the birthplace of 18thcentury composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Austrian company Dascanova in Vienna is included in the itinerary. This research and development company has won numerous international awards for its new panel manufacturing process.

Dascanova is currently focused on optimising and finalising the pilot phase of a high-tech wood-based panels project in cooperation with European and North American research

partners.

The Weinig Group, synonymous with technological advancement for more than 100 years, will welcome delegates to its headquarters in the Bavarian town of Tauberbischofsheim in the Tauber Valley as the tour travels from Austria to southwest Germany on its way to Hannover.

Tourist attractions in Germany will include the beer capital Munich, a Rhine River cruise and other stopovers.

The LIGNA Hannover exhibition

centre is without doubt the number one venue for the world’s wood and forestry industries.

Exhibitors from all over the world showcase their latest products and technologies in the areas of solid wood processing, wood panel and veneer processing, structural plywood application, forestry, sawmill technology, solid wood processing, wood component fabrication and furniture manufacturing.

The special LIGNA engineered wood exhibition this year will present the latest machinery and plant, plus innovative accessories for the manufacture of wood panel products and veneers, structural plywood and CLT technology.

This section of the fair will also feature production of chipboard, fibre board, OSB, production of chips and strands from wood waste, processing, press equipment, transport systems, measuring and control technology, production of veneers, veneered plywood and laminated veneer board and wide range of plywood structural and panel options.

The very latest in new and emerging technologies – in solid wood, panel products, bio-materials, wood finishing systems, wood modification technologies, building materials and construction systems that potentially can be picked up by local companies – will be a LIGNA focus.

A full study tour itinerary along with tour costs, including flight and coach travel, accommodation, meals, visits to tourist locations and entry to the LIGNA exhibition will be posted on a special Internet site soon.

The program will allow add-on visits to Finland, the UK and other European destinations.

Inquiries should be directed to: Eurowood13@bigpond.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Jack Norton leaves building, but not the industry he loves

A LEGEND in wood science, Jack Norton – affectionately known as Kaptain Preservation – is leaving government forestry in Queensland after dedicating 42 years to the preservation of timber.

He departs the forestry and horticultural division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as senior principal scientist on November 16.

“I’ve mixed feelings about leaving the department, but I’ve gone with guns blazing,” Jack said this week.

“I won’t be watching the sun set – life’s not going to be dull I can guarantee that,” he said, assuring industry he would “keep his finger in the pie” as far as wood treatment science was concerned.

Jack and his wife Marion have just returned from holidays in Brazil, Chile, Peru and Ecuador, where he couldn’t resist visiting research centres and marvelling

Jack Norton .. life’s not going to be dull.

at the growth and extent of the eucalypt forests.

He returned in time to welcome his third grandchild, George, who joins two other grandchildren, twins, aged 18 months.

Jack will be honoured by colleagues and friends at a farewell at the Ecosciences precinct in Brisbane on November 15. – JIM BOWDEN.

dennis@industrye-news.com

Hoo-Hoo Club 218 saddles up for another Variety Bush Bash

BRISBANE Hoo-Hoo Timber Industry Club 218 received a well-earned Silver Sponsor Award at a gala Variety Queensland event in Brisbane last Saturday.

The club raised more than $18,000 for disadvantaged children after a 4000 km run in the Variety Club Bush Bash in August, driving the club’s 1977 Kingswood.

Pictured during the presentations are, from left, Ian Mackay, chairman of Variety

Queensland, Alan Jones, HooHoo Club 218 president, Rob Goodwin, Variety’s director of motoring events, and Jim Bowden, Club 218 vicepresident.

Club 218 has already entered the next Bush Bash – Sun, Saddles and Surf – which will travel from Emerald in central Queensland to Mission Beach on the North Queensland coast by way of Mount Isa Rodeo, the largest rodeo event in the southern hemisphere.

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issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 9

EVENTS

Frames up in three months on Finland’s multi-storey building 42 mm thick glulam panel crowns Helsinki project

AS Lend Lease move towards competing Forte at Victoria’s Docklands precinct – the world’s tallest CLT residential building – Finland’s largest wooden multi-storey apartment structure has been completed and opened in Helsinki.

A complex comprising 104 apartments and based on the proprietary Metsä Wood Multi-Storey System, the block is composed of five timber buildings, each with three to four floors, and has a total floor area of 6300 sq m.

The multi-storey system comprises a Kerto-structured beam-and-post frame,

InSurAnce..

It’S All In the SelectIon

Finland’s largest wooden multi-storey apartment structure has been completed and opened in Helsinki.

Selecting the right equipment to maximise your production output is similar to selecting the right people to maximise your insurance protection.

Austbrokers Premier has been working with the timber industry for over 25 years and we know what insurance best suits your industry and risks. Whether it’s a complicated business interruption loss or a burnt out frontend loader we work hard to get you the right outcome.

You can expect superior outcomes from Austbrokers Premier in the following key areas: • Focus on premium value and insurer security • Expert advice for Business Interruption • Premiums + claims + deductibles – self insurance option analysis • Committed claims management & settlement negotiations.

• On-going service and advice, not just at renewal time.

Call Alan Jones 0419 754 681 or Scott Hastings 0406 382 582 today.

Freecall 1800 803 180 ABN 95 010 576 324 AFSL 238123

Insuring it all stacks up.

Page 10 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

Jari Viherkoski .. chief designer and architect of the multi-storey wooden building site in Helsinki.

intermediate floors, roofing panels, and exterior walls delivered as timber frames.

The balcony structures and awnings of the houses were created with Kerto and glulam elements. The impressive 42 mm thick glulam ‘king panel’ crowns the buildings.

A 12 m façade panel creates a harmonious and clear line for the housing.

The frames of the apartment buildings were completed in three months. Beam and post frame intermediate floors, roofs and external walls were installed in four weeks.

Frame installation commenced in late October last year and by taking autumn rain and the Christmas holiday season into account, the buildings reached the roof covering stage in about two weeks. The building frames were insulated and heat could be switched on about two weeks later.

The Metsä Wood Multi-Storey System promotes costeffective apartment building construction because it substantially accelerates the construction schedule, reduces site work and minimises the amount of material loss. ”In addition to eco-efficiency, fast construction is a vital competitive edge,” says Jari Viherkoski, chief designer and architect.

“Because the walls of the multistorey system are not loadbearing structures, the facilities can be flexibly modified retroactively, and repair is also easy.”

The legislation and regulations were amended last year, which was favourable for wood-based construction.

The Helsinki project shows that wood-based construction is a good alternative for industrial apartment building construction.

“Our goal is to have long-term profitable operations where the Metsä system can be applied not only to apartment production, but also to office and business premises construction with flexibility for changes,” Jari Viherkoski said.

All wooden building parts and the foundations’ concrete elements, as well as the HPAC and automatic extinguishing systems of the wooden apartment buildings were designed through 3D modelling.

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ENGINEERED WOOD

Gold Coast lab maintains ‘gold’ standard for EWPAA products

RIGOROUS testing of woodbased panel products at the EWPAA’s NATA-accredited laboratory on the Gold Coast reaffirms the international respect the brand has earned for certification and product analysis.

The Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia operates two industry laboratories in Australia accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA).

Facilities in Brisbane and the Gold Coast test for a full range of structural and physical properties and for formaldehyde emissions and bond quality.

Since the amalgamation EWPAA and the Australian Wood Panels Association, industry has gained from

Gold Coast laboratory manager Vince Wilkinson prepares flooring board samples for testing at the EWPAA facility at Burleigh.

access to the Gold Coast test centre laboratory, which carries out most of the wood panel tests specified in Australia / New Zealand, European and Japanese standards.

The EWPAA technical committee produced (through

active representation on Standards Australia committee TM005) all of the reconstituted wood panel standards and test methods covered under AS/ NZS 1859 and 4266 series for particleboard, dry processed fibreboard, decorative

overlay wood panels and wet processed fibreboard The committee also produced the Australian Standard 1860 Parts 1 and 2, Particleboard Flooring and Installation of Particleboard Flooring, and provides input to regional and ISO Standards development.

“Compliance testing of particleboard and MDF to Australian standards at the Gold Coast lab goes hand in hand with the EWPAA program providing major benefits for the engineered wood products industry in Australia and New Zealand,” EWPAA general manager Simon Dorries said.

EWPAA is proud of the fact that manufacturers of woodbased panels have qualified for emissions intensive trade exposed (EITE) status under

Cont Page 14

Conference focuses on forests in the Pacific

GREEN and CLEAN Engineered wood products from EWPAA members are manufactured from 100% LEGAL forests – they are GUARANTEED to meet all Australasian standards.

Engineered wood products have the best environmental credentials and the lowest emissions.

They meet all specifications for emissions certified under JAS-ANZ accreditation.

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issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 11

INDUSTRY NEWS

‘Claytons’ emissions scheme a cost to New Zealand taxpayers Flood of cheap international carbon credits won’t stop

THE Climate Change Response Amendment Bill has been reported back to parliament with no significant changes which means New Zealand will continue to have an ETS in name only, says Roger Dickie from the Kyoto Forestry Association.

“Amendments to the Bill will do nothing to stop the flood of cheap international carbon credits into New Zealand,” he said.

“I ask, why exactly does New Zealand have an emissions trading scheme? Isn’t it supposed to discourage emissions and encourage forestry and other low-carbon products and technologies?”

Those are the questions forest owners are asking about the ETS, which has turned their world upside down and inside out in recent years – all for no real benefit to the environment or to the country’s reputation.

“The prime minister promised before taking office in 2007 to decisively confront what he described as the biggest environmental challenge of our time: global climate change,” Mr Dickie said “John Key promised policies to encourage ‘climate friendly’ choices ‘like windmills, hydro power and tree planting’, and to reduce the desire for climate unfriendly behaviours, like burning coal. He promised to give clear signals about where climate change policy was headed in the long-run so that businesses and land owners could can plan and invest with confidence.

“Mr Key’s promises were so unequivocal that many land owners and investors acted on those promises soon after National came to office and began planting forests.”

Page 12 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

New Zealand forestry companies risked as much as $175 million a year of their own capital to invest in more than 250,000 ha of new forestry in the 1990s.

Mr Dickie says the reality is that New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are spiralling out of control, deforestation of land capable of being converted to dairying is under way again, and the concept of planting of forests for carbon is a bad joke.

“The fact that Climate Change Response Amendment Bill has been reported back to parliament with no significant changes means New Zealand will continue to have an ETS in name only,” Mr Dickie said.

“New Zealand emitters will still have access to some of the dodgiest and cheapest carbon credits in the world and these will be 50% subsidised by the taxpayer. The area of plantation forest will continue to go backwards.”

Mr Key announced the National’s climate change

Roger Dickie .. New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are spiralling out of control.

policies in May 2007, saying that tackling climate change required global action – and, as a responsible international citizen, New Zealand should stand up and be counted.

He emphasised that credible action on climate change was needed to defend the economy

‘New Zealand emitters will still have access to some of the dodgiest and cheapest carbon credits in the world and these will be 50% subsidised by the taxpayer’ – Roger Dickie

from “food miles bullies” and to create new markets for Kiwi industries, tourism, and technology. He said a strong New Zealand voice on climate change was vital to the brand exporters relied on.

He strongly criticised the then Labour Government for using taxpayer cheques to pay for its failure to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a policy that National has now confirmed it will continue indefinitely.

Mr Key said: “The most damaging area of Labour’s climate change policy is what happened in forestry. In the 50 years to 2003, New Zealand each year planted an average 30,000 ha of new forests.

After Labour broke its word on forestry credits, we’ve had deforestation for the first time since those records began.”

In 2007, the media was describing this as a “chainsaw massacre”.

“We will encourage tree planting,” Mr Key said.

Mr Dickie said because of broken promises by the Prime Minister and the National Party, New Zealand was seeing deforestation taking place on an unprecedented scale.

“The National Party’s environmental legacy will be a massive bill for all New Zealand taxpayers,” he said.

The Kyoto Forestry Association represents the more than 30,000 ordinary New Zealanders and forestry companies who risked as much as $175 million a year of their own capital to invest in more than 250,000 ha of new forestry in the 1990s, both because of the benefits predicted to arise from the sale of wood products and for the carbon credits earned from carbon sequestration.

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EVENTS

Global Wood Mart will grow as hub of region’s timber industry

MTC to double promotion efforts for 2014 event

BASED on the results of the recently concluded MTC Global WoodMart 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian Timber Council is confident that the biennial event can grow to become a hub beyond the region to showcase and preview the latest in raw timber products as well as a platform for the industry to leverage the use of wood as a renewable and eco-friendly building material.

“Besides the business of timber-based promotion, procurement and networking, the MGW has been able to attract the interest from a diverse range of major industry players to advocate common and shared interests ranging from sustainability, certification, export regulations, design, innovation and applications,” MTC CEO Cheah Kam Huan said.

He said the MTC would double its efforts to promote the third MGW exhibition in 2014 while maintaining the exhibition’s focus on the promotion of timber raw materials in the face of serious competition from other building materials.

“While the global market for timber and timber products is huge, exceeding $US193 billion annually, its use as building material is relatively small compared to cement,

‘The number of visitors may be smaller than many other shows, but they are high quality buyers who attend for one reason and one reason only – to buy or sell wood’ – Mike Snow, AHEC

Malaysia’s Minister for Plantation Industries and Commodities Bernard Dompok (foreground) tours the MTC Global WoodMart.

- Pictures by Turnstone.

steel, glass and aluminium,” Cheah said.

“Based on the positive feedback from exhibitors and visitors, the MGW can be incrementally and sustainably developed and leveraged as a hub in the ASEAN region.

“Despite difficult market conditions in Europe and the US, our strong buyers program attracted more than 1800 high quality visitors from 61 countries. Many exhibitors reported good sales and solid trade inquiries,” Cheah added.

MGW 2012 – organised by the MTC with the American Hardwood Export Council and

Stephen Mitchell of the Timber Development Association in Sydney addresses the MTC conference in Kuala Lumpur.

FrenchTimber as partnering organisations – attracted 118 exhibitors from 20 countries.

Enjoying the Global Woodmart in KL are Ho May Yin of New Zealand Trade, Nina Cinkole, EU delegation to Malaysia, and Alexis Chang, Malaysian Timber Industry Council.

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Apart from Malaysia, exhibitors came from Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, UK and the US. About 70% of the participants were repeat exhibitors.

The ratio of Malaysian and foreign exhibitors was 50:50 and there were sizable representations from China, France and the US. MGW 2012 showcased a wide range of products such as logs, sawn timber, plywood and panel products, wooden flooring, wooden decking, doors and windows, mouldings and furniture components.

Other products include marine hardwood plywood, glulam, mosaic parquet, bamboobased products, palm plywood raw board and decorative palm plywood, and thermally treated timbers.

The diversity of the show was demonstrated in the exhibitor mix, which included the Malaysian Timber Certification Council, PEFC International (Geneva), Ghana Forestry Commission, SGS Forestry, the European Forest Institute, American Softwoods, the European Timber Trade Federation, the International Wood Products Association, the Australian Timber Importers Federation, Thai Hevea Association and TRADA (UK).

According to AHEC’s executive director Mike Snow the strong focus on wood is what set the Global WoodMart apart from most other shows in southeast Asia where wood suppliers are often lost amid the myriad of other products and services on display.

issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 13

TRADITIONS

New investment adds to century of red gum sawmilling on the Murray

Laminated bench tops, decking and flooring

BUILDING on more than 100 years of experience working with red gum timber, Arbuthnot Sawmills has invested more than $1 million in new equipment to improve the efficiency of its operations, making more red gum products available to builders and home owners.

Arbuthnot, a 123-year-old Koondrook business, is the last remaining mill along the Murray River using high quality red gum sawlogs harvested from state forests.

Managing director Paul Madden said the mill had been processing timber since the time paddle steamers ruled the Murray River and that this investment would ensure the business remained relevant in changing markets.

“We have a proud history of local manufacturing and 123 years later, we are still processing quality Red gum timber for homes and businesses,” Mr Madden said.

“Mostly to allow us to produce new building materials, this investment includes new sawmilling equipment and staff training.”

The new investments have allowed the mill to produce finger-jointed laminated bench

New trunks grow from an old red gum trunk, probably cut down to provide wood for the steam paddle steamers which used to ply the Murray River during the heady days of the 19th century, hauling wheat and wool bales or rafts of felled logs.

Arbuthnot Sawmills, a 123-year-old Koondrook business, is the last remaining mill along the Murray River using high quality red gum sawlogs harvested from state forests

The cream of the red gum .. engineered finger-jointed laminated products from Arbuthnot Sawmills.

tops, decking and flooring, and engineered finger-jointed laminated veranda posts.

Mr Madden said the use of finger jointing allowed for the use of smaller pieces of wood for high-value applications, which would not have been viewed as suitable in the past.

“This means that more of the timber we mill can be used for high value, appearance grade applications used in homes or other building projects were aesthetics are important,” he said.

Arbuthnot Sawmills has completed prototypes of these products and sales have commenced.

The $1 million invested in new machinery includes a finger jointer, a laminating press, wide belt sander, a new panel saw, and sawdust extraction to be used to compliment machinery in the dry mill.

The process has also involved the up-skilling of staff. Employees and the management team are working on kiln dried products. This includes one mature aged employee completing his apprenticeship as a timber machinist through Creswick training centre.

Samples tested daily at both laboratories

From Page 11

the federal government’s Clean Energy Legislative Package.

“This has been a long and expensive process but it effectively adds $10 million to the bottom line for EWPAA members,” Mr Dorries said.

“We now receive 65% free carbon permits after demonstrating our emissions intensities were above a certain

Page 14 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

Laboratory assistant Pat checks wood panel samples ready for modulus of rupture (MOR) testing.

threshold which was quite a technical challenge.”

Samples from member plywood, LVL and wood panel manufacturers are tested daily at both laboratories with other properties tested on a monthly basis. The schemes are accredited by the Joint Accreditation System of Australian and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ).

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OPINION

Ringbarking third world forestry

REDD program has never been formally enacted by any UN body

MANY academics around the world are campaigning for sweeping reductions in forestry in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea, not so much now because it is ‘illegal’ – there was and is no justifiable evidence of large-scale illegality – but on the grounds that timber production in those countries releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Various Australian researchers have secured funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) for studies by ANU and other institutions for “improving governance, policy and institutional arrangements to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD)”.

This ACIAR project claims that “if Indonesia could halve its deforestation rate, a conservative estimate shows that it could receive some $1 billion a year in carbon credits, with local governments (provincial and district) and their communities potentially receiving a significant share of those benefits”, and that the project “will contribute toward global efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, thus mitigating the potential economic and environmental impacts of future climate change on Australia”.

The accuracy of this claim is questionable when in 2010 half the total value of Indonesia’s timber and palm oil exports was around $4 billion, and there is no evidence that any country or agency will commit itself to paying the necessary compensatory minimum of $4 billion a year in carbon credits for ever.

The expanded ‘REDD+’ program is presented as if it had the formal endorsement of the United Nations. In its latest format it was adopted by some countries at the Bali

Indonesia’s area of productive timber plantations increased by 50% from 2.2 million ha in 1990 to 3.4 million ha in 2005.

and Copenhagen Conferences (2007, 2009) attended by Australia’s then prime minister Kevin Rudd and his advisers, officials, and academics.

However, REDD has never been formally enacted by any UN body. It was informally adopted only by some of the parties – mainly European – to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change who created the voluntary ‘Copenhagen Accord’ in 2009. It was these countries that ostensibly committed to providing the donor funding needed to induce countries like Indonesia to reduce their alleged deforestation and forest degradation.

So far, apart from Norway, the EU, UK and Australia, few have delivered much if any funding, and then only for promotional activities and trials in the target countries of southeast Asia.

Some parts of the UN are helping to administer REDD, but strictly speaking, they are

By

TIM CURTIN

only administering a voluntary donor fund.

The core concept behind REDD+ is its implicit contention that only countries with non-white populations and governments are guilty of producing emissions of CO2 when they undertake forestry.

As one of Australia’s REDD experts succinctly puts it in his

‘No climate scientists at all, and least of all those in the Australian government’s Department of Climate Change, understand that when harvesting trees, foresters prize their carbon content above all else’

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grant application (to ARC and AusAid), “deforestation occurs mostly in tropical countries and contributes a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing tropical deforestation therefore has an important role in global responses to climate change.

This research investigates whether, and how, deforestation can be slowed through better governance and by providing economic incentives to forest-rich tropical countries, including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea”.

However, it is ‘white’ countries that do far more logging annually than non-white countries (60% of total timber forest production in all countries in 2004 came from countries such as Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, FAO 2005). Moreover, it is the white countries – mostly in the northern hemisphere – whose timber harvesting (i.e. logging) is showing a strong rising trend. At the same time it is the countries most fiercely targeted by the German and Australian governments and their academics promoting application of REDD+ to southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, whose timber harvesting has actually dropped since 1995 for reasons wholly independent of REDD. Both these countries have diverted timber acreage to oil palm trees. In Indonesia’s case oil palm trees in 2010 occupied 5 million ha, up from only 1.2 million ha in 1995. However, Australia’s ‘REDDists’ claim the increase was mostly due to deforestation: “With annual deforestation at about 1.5 million ha (amounting to about 14% of global deforestation), Indonesia can play a central role in REDD”.

At the claimed deforestation rate, Indonesia would have

Cont Page 16

issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 15

OPINION

The post-harvest storage of carbon in most timber products is ignored timber frames and decks will be stored for their lives.

From Page 15

no forest left by 2065. That is nonsense, arising from the apparent reluctance of most climate scientists to accept that a transfer from timber to oil palm does not involve deforestation because after all, oil palm trees are trees – and are trees that absorb and store more CO2 than tropical forests per hectare per annum while respiring less CO2 than the forests.

Moreover, data in the FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment (2005:83) show that Indonesia’s area of productive timber plantations increased by 50% from 2.2 million ha in 1990 to 3.4 million ha in 2005.

Yet those involved in promoting REDD never admit that rising atmospheric CO2 is associated with increased sequestration of carbon in both standing timber and therefore also in the timber products derived from it.

In reality there is “little direct evidence that tropical forests should not be able to respond to increases in [CO2] .. the magnitude and pattern of increases in forest dynamics across Amazonia observed over the last few decades are consistent with a [CO2]induced stimulation of tree growth”.

Also, harvested trees do not release CO2 only when logged in the tropics despite the explicit and repeated claims to that effect of all promoters of REDD. There seem to be few climate scientists who accept that all trees derive the carbon they embody (usually accounting for 50% of their mass) from the ‘pollution’ of the atmosphere by CO2, which is the main agent in the photosynthesis that produces their carbon.

Page 16 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

Then there is the fundamental disconnect between REDD targets for emission reductions and the reality of the job, tax and GDP reductions involved in killing off the timber and oil palm industries in the tropics.

Oil palm trees are trees – and as trees they absorb and store more CO2 than tropical forests while respiring less CO2 than the forests.

No climate scientists at all, and least of all those in the Australian government’s Department of Climate Change, understand that when harvesting trees, foresters prize their carbon content above all else, which is why most timber products consist of close to 100% carbon.

Thus, although CSIRO’s Canadell and Raupach admit that trees absorb atmospheric CO2, they ignore the postharvest storage of carbon in most timber products.

Are there any Australian MPs, DCC and CSIRO scientists, or REDD economists that would harbour any timber furniture, door, window, and roof timbers, and decks in their homes, apart from a few books?

The ANU’s Crawford School, home to Australia’s main academic proponents of REDD, does not contain even

one cubic metre of timber in its structure. Instead it consists only of materials like aluminium, concrete, and steel, all of which release large amounts of CO2 in the manufacturing thereof (e.g. manufacturing aluminium emits 25.5 kg of CO2 per kg of aluminium). These materials store no CO2 at all, whereas manufacturing of timber products releases virtually no CO2, while the carbon embodied in such products (building materials, furniture, and books) is potentially stored forever.

Similarly, a typical modern Sydney house with concrete slab flooring will have generated emissions of 12 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which with its aluminium window frames, store no carbon at all. But when buildings comprise timber flooring and structural frames the carbon in those

‘There is the fundamental disconnect between REDD targets for emission reductions and the reality of the job, tax and GDP reductions involved in killing off the timber and oil palm industries in the tropics’

For countries like Australia that seek to reduce their own CO2 emissions by switching from hydrocarbon fuels to more costly renewable energy, that is their own choice. But their efforts to induce tropical countries like Indonesia to adopt REDD by closing down production of the raw material for their timber and palm oil industries, for which Indonesia has no alternative sources of comparable incomes from exports worth $8 billion in 2010, is something quite different.

Yet a recent seminar paper at the ANU’s Crawford School claimed that the only applicable opportunity cost from applying REDD+ to Indonesia was the royalty payments to forest owners by timber companies of up to Rs10,000 (about $5) per cub m when plywood earns Indonesia $579 per cub m.

But not only are the authors and promoters of REDD unfair in exempting their own timber and food oil industries from REDD, their apparent determination to close down most food production and other rural income generating activities in their target countries is even more unjust.

• Tim Curtin has worked as an economic adviser in several African countries and Papua New Guinea.

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INTERNATIONAL FOCUS

Brazil move against deforestation hits illegal loggers in the Amazon Pro-farm lobby approves new forestry code

BRAZILIAN President Dilma Rousseff has vetoed nine articles of a new forestry code approved by Congress that environmentalists said would lead to further deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira says the vetoes dealt with the most radical aspects of the measure introduced by the pro-agribusiness bloc in Congress, and were meant to prevent any incentive to more deforestation or an amnesty for those responsible for illegal logging.

“No to amnesty, no to encouragement of illegal logging,” she noted.

The final text of the law, including the vetoes, came into effect two weeks ago after it was published as a presidential decree in the Official Gazette.

It was the president’s last word on the disputed reform over which pro-farm lobby and environmentalists have locked horns for years.

“Farmers have obtained the legal security they needed to produce,” a happy senator Katia Abreu, president of the National Agricultural Confederation and head of the pro-farm bloc in the senate, said.

“This is the end of the environmentalist hegemony regarding environmental issues.”

Rousseff returned to the law the so-called rule of ‘ladder’, which imposes higher recovery obligations on landowners with larger properties.

Better law enforcement and the use of satellite imaging is helping the fight against illegal logging in Brazil.

The ‘ladder’ determines that farmers will have to recover between 5 and 100 m of native vegetation on permanent preservation areas along riverbanks. The size of each reforestation area will depend on the property size and the width of the rivers that cut through the property.

The larger the property, the greater the landowners’ reforestation obligations.

Senator Abreu defended the new code, including the vetoes, and insisted that Brazil continues to have “one of the strictest laws in the world” on environmental protection.

But environmentalists saw the text as a step back.

“The presidential veto slightly improves the text approved by Congress, which was awful, but the result continues to be very bad,” Paulo Adario, the Greenpeace expert on the Amazon, said.

He added that the new code is not tough enough with respect to recovery of deforested areas and it reduces forest protection, for example on river banks.

Andre Lima, an expert of the Amazon Environment Research Institute said the law created several amnesties for small producers who would not be punished for having deforested and others would be able to do the same.

Better law enforcement and the use of satellite imaging saw the lowest rate of deforestation in 2011 since records began three decades ago

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The previous code, which dates back to 1965 and which farmers said was not being respected, limits the use of land for farming and mandates that up to 80% of privately-owned land in the Amazon rainforest remains intact.

The new text allows landowners to cultivate riverbanks and hillsides that were previously exempt, and would provide an amnesty from fines for illegally clearing trees before July 2008.

In May, Rousseff had already removed 12 controversial articles and made 31 modifications to the text.

Authorities say key reasons for the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest are fires, the advance of agriculture and stockbreeding, and illegal trafficking in timber and minerals.

Deforestation has slowed since Brazil declared war on the practice in 2004, vowing to cut it by 80% by 2020.

Between 1996 and 2005, 19,500 sq km of forest was cut down on average, peaking in 2004 when more than 27,000 sq km was lost.

Better law enforcement and the use of satellite imaging saw the lowest rate of deforestation in 2011 since records began three decades ago. Just over 6200 sq km was cut, a 78% reduction on 2004.

Over the past 50 years, the Amazon has lost more than 720,000 sq km of forest cover.

issue 245 | 29.10.12 | Page 17

INDUSTRY NEWS

Invitations are due to be sent out, however you can get in early and book your table or seat at this year’s Queensland Timber Industry Awards Gala Evening. rd The event will be held on Saturday 3 November 2012, at Victoria Park Functions Centre. This prestigious industry event will showcase and recognize our industry’s finest.

This is the ONLY event of its kind for the Queensland Timber Industry and it is our chance to recognize those who excel in their chosen field.

Tickets are $143 each or a table of 10 is $1,325 GST inclusive. Phone Alicia on 3254 3166 or email alicia@tabma.com.au Tickets includes 3 course meal, 5 hour beverage package and live band.

TABMA QLD is proud to be hosting the event, sponsored by a host of businesses including timber industry and commercial entities.

Brisbane Hoo-Hoo Timber Industry Club 218 Inc.

07 3266 1429

Page 18 | issue 245 | 29.10.12

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