Wood Matters

The Green Triangle’s hardwood plantation sector is proving it could have the solution to meeting Australia’s future structural timber needs. 

Celebrating National Forestry Day on Tuesday 20 August, hardwood plantation companies Australian Bluegum Plantations, Midway Limited, and New Forests, supported by plantation managers PF Olsen and SFM, have showcased the industry’s new engineered wood product – a Glue Laminated Timber prototype made exclusively from Eucalyptus Globulus (Bluegum) grown in the Green Triangle.  

The collective has revealed its plan to evaluate the viability of building an integrated manufacturing hub in the Glenelg Shire, close to its hardwood resource to commercialise the first-of-its-kind product, working in partnership with the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub (GTFIH) and Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA).  

The mass timber product is an output of the GTFIH’s Splinters to Structure project, delivered in conjunction with Forest and Wood Products Australia, which used both softwood and hardwood fibre, with no specific domestic application as the core product base. 

Generated after two-year manufacturing trials, the new hardwood product is equivalent to structural steel in building construction, with work currently testing the product durability and domestic and export market opportunities. 

With global demand for timber set to quadruple by 2050, Australian Bluegum Plantations CEO Russ Hughes said the new product would support the imbalance between supply and demand, supplementing the reduction of Victoria’s native hardwood market. 

“A portion of our existing resource would be utilised in this potential new product, which would support highly skilled jobs, increasing local and export income, ultimately strengthening the forestry sector value chain,” he said. 

“Importantly, this product will provide additional domestic timber supply, supporting the Victorian State Government in its plan to supply more housing stock. Our early research suggests the development of a hardwood timber manufacturing hub could generate up to 110 jobs in construction with 40 ongoing.” 

Midway Limited managing director Tony McKenna said the hardwood product would diversify the market base, providing a new domestic product with a low carbon profile. 

“While our core business will remain export, mass timber has grown from being an emerging technology to a structural building solution. Importantly, this is a sustainable building product which can be used in place of steel or concrete to create durability with less embodied carbon,” Mr McKenna said. 

PF Olsen managing director Nathan Windebank, representing New Forests, said the proposed feasibility study would support a comprehensive business case to understand how to best commercialise the product and attract investor attention. 

“This study would evaluate how to best construct an integrated manufacturing facility, considering both physical and logistical infrastructure needs. It will identify the best location near existing complementary industries, where space can be shared amongst industry partners, to support this new and sustainable hardwood timber product market,” Mr Windebank said.