Australasian Timber Magazine - November 2019

November 2019

MANUFACTURE • TECHNOLOGY • DESIGN • CONSTRUCTION Incorporating Australian and New Zealand Timberman – Established 1977.

HOUSING INDUSTRY

Bounceback for June

BUSINESS TURNAROUND

From toxic to showpiece

HYNE EXPANSION GLT goes big

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NEWS australasian

November 2019 Issue 7 Vol. 27 Incorporating Australian and New Zealand Timberman – Established 1977.

News 4-8 Building figures 6 Hyne Expansion 12-13 Woodchat 22 Associations 18-21 Whats On 22 Front Cover: Simon Prebble, Hyne General Manager Engineering, Innovation & Technology, with Sam McGarvie from Sam’s Plumbing & Gas at the company’s Maryborough plant expansion.

Publisher and Chief Executive: Hartley Higgins General Manager: Robyn Haworth Editor: Bruce Mitchell b.mitchelll@ryanmediapl.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9512 Advertising: Gavin de Almeida g.dealmeida@ryanmediapl.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9517 Production: Peter Frezzini & NEM Creative Team Timber classifieds: g.dealmeida@ryanmediapl.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9517 Subscriptions: subs@forestsandtimber.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9522 Subcription rates One-year (8 editions) $55 Two-years (16 editions) $95 Accounts: Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9555 Postal Address: 630 Regency Road, Broadview South Australia 5083 Phone: (08) 8369 9555 Fax: (08) 8369 9501 Melbourne Office: Suite 2262, 442 Auburn Rd, Hawthorn VIC 3122 Phone: (03) 9810 3262 Website www.timberbiz.com.au Printed by Lane Print, Adelaide, SA

Conditions

The opinions expressed in Australasian Timber Magazine are not necessarily the opinions of or endorsed by the editor or publisher unless otherwise stated.

All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. All material in Australasian Timber Magazine copyright 2019 © Ryan Media. All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic, or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, the publisher will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

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CLT home claims top prize in timber design awards

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SPECTACULAR exercise in cross laminated timber (CLT) and stone for the home of James Fitzpatrick of fitzpatrick+partners in Sydney’s Castlecrag, has been recognised as the overall winner of the prestigious Australian Timber Design Awards.

Already the subject of considerable acclaim, The Seed House is an exemplar project that combines a sensitivity of the site and awareness of materials with an attention to detail that reflects the passions of the architect and owner, James Fitzpatrick.

Mr Fitzpatrick describes The Seed House as “Utilising the latest technologies in engineered timber construction, this healthy home imbues a sense of warmth and comfort’’.

“Every bracket and screw is used to inform the overall aesthetic of the home, with materials selected so to develop a patina of use and character with time. The normal is sculptured to become the beautiful,’’ he said.

“Its experimentation in construction and engineering has supported the architectural vision. It is a forever home, yet it is home to a young family. It will adapt and change as they do, forever.”

Constructed primarily from structural cross-laminated timber panels, glulam columns and finished with lining boards, The Seed House wraps the occupants in timber. Adding to this, the joinery and furniture are all made from timbers sourced from the bottom of the hydro lakes of Tasmania.

Species used include celery top pine, huon pine, radiata pine and blackwood. Together they form

■■ Inside fitzpatrick+partners award winning Seed House

a backdrop to the owner’s collection of Wegner and Aalto furniture pieces, Danish ceramics and modern art.

The apparent simplicity of the stacked pod design belies the complex geometries, large spans, and cantilevers that required hundreds of hours of computer analysis to create the optimum structural and aesthetic solution which defines the interior forms and finishes. This process led to the development of new detailing and fixing systems to address the unique Australian environmental and construction industry requirements.

The Seed House is a worthy winner in an impressively strong field in the 2019 Awards. The breadth and depth of the entries in the 20th year of the Awards reflected the increasing popularity of wood and wood products in the built environment. A trend that is expected to increase as more mid-rise residential and

other commercial projects realise the significant financial, operational and environmental benefits of using timber construction systems.

Other winners included AECOM/JCB Architect /Multiplex for the new Monash University’s Gillies Hall which collected the sustainability award and - iph architects with ATC Studio for their work on the Pingelly Recreation and Cultural Centre in Western Australia which claimed the major Imported Timber award.

“I would like to congratulate all the entrants and winners on their excellent work,” Eileen Newbury, WoodSolutions Program Manager and National Marketing and Communications Manager for Forest and Wood Products Australia said.

Now in their 20th year, the Awards promote and encourage outstanding timber design.

They are open to builders, designers, architects, engineers and landscapers: to anyone involved in the design or building of structures that feature timber.

A Rising Star Award is available to students and entrants aged 35 or under.

Timber buildings’ rough deal defies logic WITHOUT doubt the building industry, when it comes to timber cladding, has been given a rough deal by the Australian Building Codes Board when it comes to the out-of-cycle amendment to the National Construction Code 2019 (NCC).

That amendment has effectively seen the “banning” of the use of timber cladding on low-rise buildings up to three storeys.

That’s despite evidence that there has never been a major issue or a loss of life involving a timber-clad three-story building.

It would seem the ABCB, battered by the devastating and tragic building façade fires in Melbourne and London, has tarred cladding with the same brush regardless of material, building height or history.

Making exceptions or exemptions seemed to be beyond the ABCB; a shotgun approach to the problem seemed to the simple solution.

Of course this decision has been made without any thought as to who may be affected, and the timber suppliers are certainly affected in a big way.

There simply is no australasian logic to the decision, and despite taking submissions on the change, the ABCB seems unlikely to change its mind leaving the industry in turmoil.

On the upside, Hyne’s faith in the future of the timber manufacturing industry has been reinforced with its huge $20-plus million GLT plant expansion in Maryborough.

Hyne should be congratulated for having the courage to go ahead with the project at a time when new-house build numbers are shaky; congratulated for sourcing from Queensland-grown, certified softwood plantation timber for the project, and congratulated for ensuring more than 40 local businesses were able to share the journey.

It would be so very easy to bring in the big guns from Brisbane and interstate. But Hyne didn’t.

This month also sees the retirement of Australasian Timber’s advertising manager Kent Humphrys. His role will be taken on by Gavin de Almeida.

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

Award winner: Overall Winner – The Seed House – sponsored by WoodSolutions Merit Category People’s Choice - 25 King - Bates Smart, Aurecon and Lendlease DesignMake Sustainability - Monash University Gillies Hall - AECOM / JCB Architects / Multiplex Innovative Structural Design Pingelly Recreation and Cultural Centre - iph architects with ATC Studio Rising Star - Oak REDefined Denfair Pavilion - Adam Markowitz Small Budget - Blue Mountains CLT Studio - Design King Company Excellence in Timber Applications: Residential Class 1 - New Building - The Seed House - fitzpatrick+ partners Residential Class 1 - Alteration or Addition - Brown Street House Rod Pindar & Natalie Sciberras Furniture and Joinery - Tailored couch - Simon Ancher Studio Interior Fitout – Commercial - 1 Martin Place - Adriano Pupilli Architects & Siren Design Group Interior Fitout - Residential - His and Her House - FMD Architects Multi-Residential - Fenner Hall Student Accommodation, Australian National University - BVN & LendLease DesignMake MERIT - Multi-Residential - Denison Rivulet - Taylor and Hinds Architects Public or Commercial – Commercial – 25 King – Bates Smart Public or Commercial – Public - Mernda Pavilion & Playspace - BVN & TTW Landscape – Mernda Pavillion & Playspace - MDG landscape architects Stand Alone Structure - Somewhere Other - jacaranda Excellence in Timber Products Imported Timber - Pingelly Recreation and Cultural Centre - iph architects with ATC Studio Recycled Timber - Mount Mulligan Lodge - David Dubois Sliced Timber Veneers and Prefinished Veneers - Bank of China, Sussex Street Sydney - Built Timber Flooring - Pingelly Recreation and Cultural Centre - iph architects with ATC Studio Timber Panels - Castle Cove House - TERROIR in collaboration with Pascale Gomes-McNabb Design Timber Veneers - Luther College - Imagination Hub - Cox Architecture/ Ireland Brown Timber Windows and Doors - Tree Haus - Pedersen Architecture www.timberbiz.com.au

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Building figures

June housing figures show green shoots Buildings starts up for month but still down year-on-year BRUCE MITCHELL

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HE number of new homes starting construction increased during the June quarter, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show.

For the first time since December 2017, building starts increased, up by 1.1 per cent but despite this slight improvement, home starts remained 20 per cent lower than a year ago.

“The increase in total starts was due to a 21 per cent lift in multi-unit starts, mainly in New South Wales and Western Australia. Detached housing starts have slowed to their lowest level since December 2013,” Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon said.

He said the slowdown in building activity over the past 18 months had affected the national economy, becoming one of the significant drags on Australia’s GDP growth.

However, the three interestrate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia this year, as well as the improvement in the lending industry, are expected to support the market.

“The impact of three cuts to interest rates and small fiscal stimulus has slowed the decline in work entering the pipeline. A return to normal lending conditions would provide a boost to home building and the wider economy,” Mr Reardon said.

Annual housing starts during the 2018-2019 financial year fell in the majority of states, with only the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania reporting substantial gains at 17.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively. The largest declines were recorded in Northern Territory and South Australia, which reported respective falls of 28.4 per cent and 22.6 per cent. The remaining states wit6

nessed declines ranging from 13 per cent to 18 per cent.

Master Builders Australia’s Chief Economist Shane Garrett said the forward-looking approvals data suggested that the short-term prospects for commercial building were still quite favourable.

“Up until recent times, commercial building had been one of the economy’s strong performers but today’s figures indicate activity here too has started to falter,” Mr Garrett said.

“Economic growth has been hurt by the decline in residential building activity which has been underway since late 2016,” he said.

“Domestic demand in the economy is lacking in energy at the current time which is why the onus lies so heavily on government to get things moving.

“Speeding up the rollout of already-committed infrastructure projects is the most obvious way to kick start demand in the economy. All levels of government need to work more closely together to help achieve this.

“Once new infrastructure is in place, it can spark off activity in other parts of the economy by enhancing the economic viability of potential residential and commercial building projects,” Mr Garrett said.

“Faster infrastructure delivery is the key to unlocking recovery in our building industry.’’

The principal economist at BIX Oxford Economics Tim Hibbert said he believed the slide in the residential building sector had another year to go, taking dwelling commencements to an expected trough near 153,000 in the 2019-2020 financial year.

“While the stimulus is now flowing positively to the established property market, it’s not until the second half of

2020 that it is expected to wash through to new dwelling construction,” he said.

Mr Hibbert also noted that apartments are driving the decline in starts the same way they triggered the boom.

“They are where most of the downside risk resides. Highlypublicised building defect issues have caused a crisis of confidence for potential offthe-plan buyers that has the scope to deepen or prolong the downturn in residential construction,” he said.

EY chief economist Joanne Masters said she believed the weakness in detached homes, along with separate figures last week that showed new dwelling approvals for standalone houses declining in August, indicated there was more weakness to come.

“We haven’t reached the low yet,” Ms Masters said. “There’s further moderation in the level of activity to go.”

CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman said the amount of work entering the pipeline is declining, having peaked a year ago.

Even so, there are signs the slowdown in detached housing construction is easing. An industry survey on Monday showed the pace of decline was slowing down.

Queensland-based ASXlisted home builder Tamawood, which sells homes in the $250,000 to $300,000 range (excluding land) to first and second-home buyers and some investors, said this week its number of signed contracts for the September quarter were up 30 per cent on the same period a year earlier “We’re seeing increases just about everywhere we do business,” executive chairman Robert Lynch said.

“We will get back where we were,” he said. “It’s just taking longer to get into construction.”

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

Builders back boost for first home buyers MASTER Builders Australia believe a boost for first home buyers will be delivered by the Government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme which has been passed by Federal Parliament.

“Aspiring to home ownership is fundamental to the Australian ethos. This measure will support thousands of first home buyers realise their ambition every year and boost residential building activity and economic growth,” MBA CEO Denita Wawn said.

“It will lift the confidence of residential builders who are enduring a contraction in house building activity and will support the burgeoning recovery in the housing. In particular it will add momentum to the gradual return of First Home Buyers to the market that we have witnessed in the past few months,” she said.

Master Builders were strong and vocal supporters of this initiative as a targeted and practical step to help aspiring home owners overcome the deposit gap.

It believed it would also complement other moves by the Government to tackle housing affordability by supporting an increase in the housing supply to help keep home ownership within reach of all Australians.

“The reinvigoration in the roll out of city deals is welcome as are the Government’s initial efforts to fast track the construction of urban, social and transport infrastructure, including outside Sydney and Melbourne, where capacity constraints are less and bang for your buck is more,” Ms Wawn said.

“Master Builders will continue to be vocal in our call for governments to work together to advance infrastructure construction and to implement policies such as the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme because they will the economic growth that is essential for a stronger economy and our member’s business success.”

Interest rate cuts starting to support home building THE HIA believes the housing industry could be seeing the early signs of the positive impacts from recent policy stimulus with lending for both new and existing homes up for the month and the quarter.

HIA Economist Tom Devitt said the ABS data on Lending to Households and Businesses for August showed that the decline in lending, which had been evident since late 2017, had started to reverse since the RBA started to cut interest rates in June.

“Lending to households building and purchasing new homes expanded by 1.1 per cent in the month of August and 0.4 per cent for the quarter. Lending for establishing dwellings also climbed by 0.6 per cent in the month and 4.4 per cent for the quarter.

“First home buyers are continuing to take advantage of the improvement in affordability with lending to this group expanding by 5.2 per cent in the month and 7.6 per cent in the quarter. This is the highest number of first home buyer loans since November 2017,’’ Mr Devitt said.

“First home buyers now account for 30.1 per cent of the total market, the highest share since the start of 2012, so continued growth in this segment is important for the broader housing market.

“The first two RBA interest rate cuts, along with income tax cuts and APRA’s loosening of lending restrictions appear to have started supporting the housing market with market confidence slowly returning.

“Given the lag between loan applications and final approval, it is likely that the full effects of recent stimulus is yet to play out in the data and will provide further support to the market as the year progresses,” he said. www.timberbiz.com.au

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cladding problems

■■ Timber cladding of any form on three-storey apartments have effectively been banned.

Timber cladding ban lacks logic BRUCE MITCHELL

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RECENT regulatory decision regarding the use of timber cladding on three-storey apartments will have a detrimental impact on the local wood products industry, according to Boris Iskra from Technical Promotion & Consulting Solutions from the FWPA. He said that following the devastating and tragic building façade fires (Lacrosse Building, Melbourne; Grenfell Tower, London), there has been a public outcry regarding how combustible cladding products have been allowed to be used on high-rise buildings.

As a result, politicians and regulators had stated that

combustible cladding products will not be permitted for use on buildings.

Dr Alistair Woodard National Residential Construction and Fit-out manager with the FWPA has described the situation as a political decision in response to all the issues around noncompliant cladding products in high-rise buildings.

“What we’ve seen is this concern about combustible products flowing into other markets such as three-story low-rise markets,’’ Dr Woodard said.

He said there was no logic behind the decision.

“It’s just ridiculous. There is no logic to it,’’ he said.

“We’ve said to the ABCB show us one situation where there has been a major issue or a loss of life.

“And there isn’t one. Timber has just been swept up in the who high-rise cladding issue.

“This is a flow-on effect for low rise from an issue in highrise,’’ Dr Woodard said.

“It should have nothing to do with us.’’

Mr Iskra said that industry discussions with the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) had not been able to persuade the regulators that the construction sector’s compliant use of timber cladding on lowrise apartment buildings has not seen an increased risk of building fires; and that there is a major difference in fire safety risk between a 30-storey highrise tower and a 3-storey lowrise building.’’

Mr Iskra said that the ABCB had issued an out-of-cycle

amendment to the National Construction Code 2019 (NCC).

“The aim of the out-of-cycle amendment is to provide clarification of existing concessions for low-rise Class 2 (apartment) and 3 (hotel/motel) buildings which, if accepted, would effectively see the “banning” of the use of timber cladding on low-rise buildings under the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions of the NCC,’’ he said.

“This would then require a developer or builder wishing to use timber cladding on a 3-storey apartment building, to engage the services of a fire engineer to prepare a Performance Solution which is both costly and offers no guarantee of acceptance by a Building Surveyor/Certifier.’’

Dr Woodard said it was unu-

sual for the ABCB to make changes like this without making an assessment of the impact on the market.

“How can they have an impact on all these people who are providing products into a market where there doesn’t seem to be a problem without some sort of clear fact to show there is an issue,’’ he said.

“It’s also unusual for the NCC to do an out-of-cycle amendment but they seem to be going ahead with it.

“They are saying we can build a case to bring it back in between now and the next scheduled NCC changes in 2022,’’ he said.

But Dr Woodard said there was no guarantee that anything would change in two years’ time anyway.

‘Blanket ban’ not based on any specfic evidence TIMBER cladding has been banned due to its inclusion in a “blanket ban” of combustible products and not due to specific evidence it is a safety risk on low rise buildings, according to a NSW company which specialises in safety and compliance, particularly in relation to building maintenance.

Sarah Dimitrievski, who with her husband Peco has been in the building industry with Chandolin Constructions for more than 15 years, said there was a major difference in fire safety risk between a 30 and a three-story building.

“While It is certainly understandable that regulators see a need to move towards more consistent fire safety stand8

combustible products not due to specific evidence it deems a safety risk on low rise buildings,’’ she said.

“Understandably the Government needs to examine where does the risk starts and stops.’’

She said there were many elements that came into play with a decision to ban a product; the National Construction Code (NCC), the length of time the product had been on the market, the effect of its ban on the construction industry, avail■■ Sarah Dimitrievski ability and practicality of alterards, - perhaps this is necessary nate products and the question for other elements of construc- of what will ensure the safety of tion code as well - it could be those utilising the building.

“The question being raised argued that timber cladding has been banned due to its in- seems to be if blanket bans clusion in a “blanket ban” of of products like timber clad-

ding, in a bid to ensure safety, as well as consistency across codes and standards, are the ideal option or should the use of combustible products be allowed on a case by case basis,’’ Ms Dimitrievski said.

“If the advantage of using timber cladding was bigger than the safety risk it posed in a specific low-rise build, should there be further regulation processes implemented to permit this?

“Of course, the safety of building occupants should be the priority, however there is an element of risk in any product, depending if it’s being used according to best practice.’’

Ms Dimitrievski said the Government’s response to the use

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

of combustible materials following fires such as Grenfell Tower in London and the Lacrosse Building in Melbourne, was necessary as blatantly unsafe products and practices should not be allowed and it’s imperative to ensure the safest building practices possible exist.

But she said the longer the ban was in place and as alternative products became the norm, the more evidence would be available of the impact of this ban on the construction industry.

“And just as importantly, if the banning of this specific product will significantly reduce the fire safety risks in low rise buildings,’’ she said. www.timberbiz.com.au

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building supplies

Truss maker goes big to embrace technology Footers wants room to expand BRUCE MITCHELL

I

N 2018 timber supplier Foot-

ers upped its suburban roots and headed north of Adelaide to bigger, much bigger, premises.

The company moved into a new state-of-the-art, purposebuilt factory in Edinburgh after 33 years in Regency Park. And it came with a new name and some sparkling new machinery.

Third generation family operated Footersville, which has been in business since 1956, but formally adopted the name Footers when they moved to Edinburgh, was started by Lawrence Footer in 1956, expanded by Graeme Footer from 1965, and further developed by Mark Footer from 1990.

And the new machinery?

With the move the company installed the SF022 AutoEye Truss System, the world’s most advanced automatic roof truss production system.

Footers is one of only three companies in Australia, and the only one in SA, to introduce the Swedish technology which can assemble trusses up to twice as fast as the equipment used in most plants, and with unprecedented accuracy.

Roof trusses were introduced into the business in 1990 and over the past two decades have developed into the core business of the company.

Managing director Mark Footer said the Edinburgh facility was purpose-built with a view to expansion in the future.

Footers currently employs 60 staff, with growth anticipated.

“We deliberately found a property that had room for expansion,’’ Mr Footer said.

“Particularly for further automation which is possibly the way of the future.’’

■■ Footers' Zach Guest prepares a roof truss at the company's new Edinburgh factory.

At present the vast processing centre is divided evenly between cut timber storage and the truss processing area, with part of the facility and outside areas leased to Stora Enso.

Some truss machinery from Regency Park was brought to Edinburgh as the new equipment was being installed “just in case” but Mr Footer said it has not been needed.

The new equipment hasn’t really missed a beat since being commissioned.

Mr Footer said the building industry faced an uncertain immediate future.

“The industry is cyclical and we are at the bottom, as far as I can tell,’’ he said. “I certainly hope it is.

“It’s tied to the economy, population growth and monetary

policy and all the things that shape the cycle.

“We always hope that population growth is around the corner.’’

But the lack of population growth in South Australia was “a massive issue”.

“It explains the size of our market and the relative inactivity compared with Melbourne in the past 10 years which has been the stand-out in terms of population growth and the construction industry,’’ Mr Footer said.

“Before that it was South East Queensland and that is still a very active market.’’

Adelaide was lucky it did not experience the volatility in the market that some other cities did but overall, activity was lower than it should be and lower

that it would be if there was population growth comparable to the rest of the country.

Footers supplies mainly South Australia – which is typical in the industry – because long distance transport transportation is a prohibitive expense.

“You can only fit one house on a truck. If you could fit ten houses you might get somewhere.

“But there are also established industries in the all the metropolitan markets,’’ he said.

The residential building market is Footers’ bread-and-butter.

“The commercial industry here is still a concrete and steel industry.’’

Occasionally Footers supplies trusses and floor frames for some low rise apartments or aged care and child care-type buildings.

“But the ratio is overwhelmingly supported by residential construction.’’

Footers does deliver stick timber for wall frames to be built on site.

“If we expand further into prefabrication I would expect wall frames would be the next thing for us. How that happens, if that happens and when that happens are very big questions,’’ Mr Footer said.

“Wall frames typically in Adelaide are stick-built on site.’’

That provided the builder with some flexibility with slab accuracy.

“We have enough tradesmen in Adelaide who still know what they are doing, how to build in stick,’’ he said.

“In parts of the east coast you would find tradespeople who just don’t know; those skills are just no longer within the trade.’’

Timber used by Footers is both imported and locally sought.

The imported timber is generally used in wall frames, particularly studs, but not in roof trusses because locally sourced radiata was a better product.

The future?

“We must be optimistic,’’ Mr Footer said.

“We must hope that the low cost of living will eventually lead to a re-balancing of population and we will get growth in some small way.

“But the problem there is that we have been saying that for a long time, and it hasn’t necessarily happened.

“We have an industry and it is what it is.

“It’s all about how many players there are.

“I think our industry is overserviced. How that gets fixed, I don’t know.’’

Building system high-tech and super quick THE SF022 AutoEye Truss System at Footers is fast. Very fast.

The fully automated system’s extreme capacity delivers a nine second per nail plate cycle time; high industrialised quality; and adaptive pressing force according to the nail plate and timber thickness.

“With many manufacturers needing to increase levels of production while also improving overall manufacturing efficiency, simply throwing more people at a problem is not always the best way to solve it,’’ Wolf Systems Sales and Marketing Director Karl Foster said.

“The Randek AutoEye is 10

press was hugely effective, decreasing the manpower necessary to manufacture roof trusses in significant volumes and to the highest quality standards.

“When we have a serious discussion with potential customers for the AutoEye, we can prove to them that an investment in the SF022 makes more financial sense than the alternative machinery on the market,’’ Mr Svensson said.

■■ A roof truss is assembled using Footers' new SF022 AutoEye Truss System.

“Add to that improved qualunique in our industry be- of setting up, pressing and fected by truss type or truss ity from the automated procause it combines volume stacking a truss is completely shape as it is with more con- cess, plus the ability to log manufacturing and measure production caproduction capabilities with automated. High production ventional pacity automatically and we rates are entirely achievable. equipment.” automated processes.

Randek’s Managing Direc- think our equipment has a lot “With one machine and just But most importantly the two operators, the process cycle time isn’t adversely af- tor Ola Svensson said the to offer.”

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

www.timberbiz.com.au

demands

hyne expansion

GLT plant built by Hyne from top down Expansion delivers $5m work to Maryborough region BRUCE MITCHELL

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OLLOWING the sod turn in January this year, construction of Hyne Timber’s Glue Laminated Timber plant development in Maryborough is almost complete, showcasing 1374 of the company’s own timber beams in the structure.

World class equipment has been arriving concurrently and the shiny new plant is nearing completion but is not expected to be commissioned until early next year.

“The development is complex and the design, construction and equipment installation work is a story of Queensland jobs and growth,’’ the company’s general manager for Engineering, Innovation and Technology, Simon Prebble, said.

“We have always maintained that every part of this development will celebrate and showcase Queensland businesses and skills as so many businesses and people have supported us over our 137 years of operations “I am pleased to confirm that to date, more than 40 local businesses within the Wide Bay region successfully won the contracts for more than $5million worth of work.

■■ Some of the GLT beams used in the Hyne plant construction.

“Contracts vary from design, demolition and earthworks, through to floor coverings, roller doors, painting, mechanical works and everything in-between.

“It is estimated approximately 80 people have been employed in construction alone with 42 Hyne Timber positions created once the plant scales up production,” Mr Prebble said.

News of Hyne Timber’s massive capability expansion in Maryborough broke in October

last year after the company secured a grant through the Queensland Government’s Jobs and Regional Growth Fund.

The Member for Maryborough, Bruce Saunders, said it was great the construction of the facility was progressing well with such a high level of local industry involvement and local jobs being supported.

“The Hyne facility is exactly the sort of project the Jobs and Regional Growth Fund is

designed to support – private sector expansions creating new jobs and encouraging sustainable economic development in regional communities,” Mr Saunders said.

Where supply couldn’t be secured within the Wide Bay, a focus on Queensland was the next priority with Stirling Machinery supplying the new production equipment which is made up of 14 different machines.

Brisbane based project man-

agement company, MCD were the overseers on the site development, working with the Sunshine Coast branch of BADGE Construction and Hervey Bay Architects, Bloc Design.

A number of other Queensland-based specialist consultants have been engaged as part of this $20+million expansion.

Feedstock to meet the increase in capacity is secured from Hyne Timber’s own sawmill, also located near Maryborough, employing over 200 people. The timber is all sourced from Queensland grown, certified softwood plantations.

“Having over 40 local businesses able to share our journey of expansion and keep our investment here in the Wide Bay is essential for our collective regional progression,’’ Mr Prebble said.

“I hear nothing but praise for the work which has been completed and this development stands as testament to local capability and collaborative efforts. I thank all those who have provided their services and expertise.

“This development also stands as testament to Hyne Timber’s commitment to investing in growth and jobs for the future here in Maryborough,” he said.

Build based on Hyne’s own GLT, and 40 years experience THE building’s structure will be made up of the company’s own GLT, demonstrating their capability, backed by over 40 years of GLT manufacturing experience.

Cross Laminated Timber from Australian supplier, XLam will also make up some of the internal building and the internal stairs.

Robert Mansell, Hyne Timber’s Business Development Manager, Commercial said construction of the new plant represents innovative, sustainable and quality construction, “We know plantation pine is completely renewable but it is always refreshing to learn just how quickly a construction project’s volume of timber will grow back based on Australia’s plantation footprint.

“The volume of timber being used for this new construction project will grow back in under 8 minutes. Now that’s renewable!”

“The structural strength to weight ratio achieved by using high grade Queensland grown softwood means the GLT beams, currently under manufacture, are 690mm deep and 210mm wide.

12

■■ A aerial shot of the new factory extension in Maryborough.

“To give some further context, the equipment this structure will house into the future will be capable of manufacturing GLT up to 1200mm deep and 240mm wide.

“We are also able to use our automated CNC machine for all the cutting and drilling making the manufacturing process significantly more efficient and 100% accurate for the connection detailing.

“We have been using our own GLT for our own commercial construction projects in Australia over many years

and where GLT has been used in rafters, they bring light and space to work areas,” Mr Mansell said.

All the GLT being used for the new plant is softwood Hyne Beam 17, locally grown by HQ Plantations and Responsible Wood certified in accordance with Australian Standards.

The timber is first milled and termite treated at Hyne Timber’s Tuan Mill near Maryborough before arriving at the GLT Plant for the final stage of manufacture and prefabrication ahead of installation.

Image: Badge Engineering The project’s Architect from Hervey Bay, Bloc Design, has also benefitted from Hyne Timber’s recently introduced GLT Building Information Modelling (BIM) content.

This BIM content was uniquely developed for Hyne Timber’s GLT as one of the deliverables for a proposal to the Queensland Government to design and build the new Maryborough Fire Station using engineered timber, a proposal which remains underway.

Bloc Design’s BIM Manager, Matt McKechnie said they were

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

able to model the new structure using the Hyne Timber BIM content, “Having BIM content specific to the manufacturer’s products makes our life easier especially when the content, such as Hyne Timber’s, is thoroughly set up,’’ he said.

“There is no guess work and we can be confident the beams are designed for manufacture.

“We used a drone for the external site scanning and a laser scanner for the inside of the existing buildings to improve accuracy of the integration between the old and the new.

“This integrates into the BIM model seamlessly, making it completely accurate and derisking the need for variations during construction.

“Further, the point cloud scanned data from the inside of the existing buildings calculates every bit of the interior space, even a corrugation in the roof to provide accurate cubic metre calculations.

“This provides accurate measures to comply with regulations such as fire compartment size compliance.” Mr McKechnie said. www.timberbiz.com.au

hyne expansion

Project a $5m winner for Wide Bay contractors

■■ Simon Prebble, Hyne General Manager Engineering, Innovation & Technology, with Sam

McGarvie from Sam’s Plumbing & Gas at the company's Maryborough plant expansion.

Stirling playing huge role installing new machinery

S

“Increased GLT manufacturbeen a major player in ing capability has been on our the expansion of the horizon for a number of years, Hyne facility, and in a very big to increase our volume and delivery speeds,” Hyne CEO Jon way.

The move has involved the Kleinschmidt saqid.

“Given the size of the investpurchase and installation of 14 new machines supplied by Stir- ment, we needed to be sure of ling Machinery, part of the Accu- from the best service delivery and support from machine serate Group.

With the rise of the use of GLT lection and customisation to in Australia for an increasing ar- installation and beyond.

“We look forward to workray of construction types including high-rise, Hyne Timber iden- ing with Stirling and Managing tified an opportunity to increase Director, Craig Honeyman to bring this project to fruition competition in this market.

The simultaneous emergence over the next few months.” Mr of Stirling, the machinery arm Kleinschmidt said.

Hyne Timber’s investment of the Accurate Timber Products business, along with support involves a complete automatfrom the Queensland Govern- ed, state-of-the-art machinery ment Jobs and Regional Growth solution from Stirling.

Accurate Timber Products Fund meant Hyne could build on their long-standing relation- tooling will support all machines well into the future, ship.

TIRLING Machinery has

providing a fully integrated experience over the lifetime of the hardware.

Stirling Machinery’s Managing Director, Craig Honeyman said the Hyne Timber project scope was the biggest yet for Stirling.

“We’re really excited to have been chosen for this project because it validates our capacity as a serious contender in the machinery market,” he said.

“But at the heart of Stirling’s value set is helping the industry thrive. In small centres like Maryborough, when a company expands to the degree that Hyne Timber has, it has tremendous flow-on effects for employment and the economy of the region. We’re really proud to have helped facilitate this growth for them.”

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www.timberbiz.com.au

FOR more than 40 local businesses within the Wide Bay region the Hyne project has been a major windfall with more than $5million worth of work contracted.

For plumber Sam McGarvie, nearly six months were spent on the project.

“It is great to see these types of large contracts awarded to local businesses,’’ Sam, from Sams Plumbing and Gas, said, He said this was a particularly large contract which created a lot of jobs.

“It is great to see these types of large contracts awarded to local businesses.

“It makes a big difference,’’ Sam said.

“The air conditioning people were local, the civil work was done locally, the roofing contractors were from the Sunshine Coast, the electricians were from Gympie which isn’t too far away and the concrete contractors were local.

“I was able to take on two extra plumbers and a labourer, all local residents who were otherwise unemployed.

“We were able to keep one tradie on after the project finished. The labourer moved on to the Sunshine Coast and the other plumber moved to Brisbane.

“It isn’t every day we are able to work on a brand new, large scale manufacturing plant and it helps us moving forward to be able to list this as an example of a successfully delivered, large scale contract,” Sam said.

Sams Plumbing and Gas are commercial plumbers. But the Maryborough/Hervey Bay is a small area so Sam usually only does maybe two to three big projects a year the size of the Hyne plant.

“It’s not often we get jobs that big,’’ he said.

“The Hyne job does help create a higher profile for us and helps promote us.’’

■■ Fraser Coast mayor George Seymour, Jennifer Morrice and

Louise Knol from the Department of State Development, Wide Bay MP Bruce Saunders and Hyne General Manager Engineering, Innovation and Technology Simon Prebble during a tour of the plant.

New plant represents innovative, sustainable and quality construction HYNE’S new plant represents innovative, sustainable and quality construction, according to Robert Mansell, Hyne Timber’s Business Development Manager, Commercial.

“We know plantation pine is completely renewable but it is always refreshing to learn just how quickly a construction project’s volume of timber will grow back based on Australia’s plantation footprint.

“The volume of timber being used for this new construction project will grow back in under 8 minutes. Now that’s renewable!”

“The structural strength to weight ratio achieved by using high grade Queensland grown softwood means the GLT beams, currently under manufacture, are 690mm deep and 210mm wide.

“To give some further context, the equipment this structure will house into the future will be capable of manufacturing

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

GLT up to 1200mm deep and 240mm wide.

“We are also able to use our automated CNC machine for all the cutting and drilling making the manufacturing process significantly more efficient and 100% accurate for the connection detailing.

“We have been using our own GLT for our own commercial construction projects in Australia over many years and where GLT has been used in rafters, they bring light and space to work areas,” Mr Mansell said.

All the GLT being used for the new plant is softwood Hyne Beam 17, locally grown by HQ Plantations and Responsible Wood certified in accordance with Australian Standards.

The timber is first milled and termite treated at Hyne Timber’s Tuan Mill near Maryborough before arriving at the GLT Plant for the final stage of manufacture and prefabrication ahead of installation.

13

Portsea Rebuild

BRIEFS Frames’ 2020 offsite dates THE 2020 Timber Offsite Construction Conference organised by Frame Australia will again be held at Crown Promenade in Melbourne on June 15 and 16.

The complete sessions program will be available in March 2020 with outline of topics to be included and information on session presenters.

Invitations are already open for partners and exhibition booth displays.

Joe moving on COMMUNICATIONS manager for AFPA Joe Prevedello has taken up a position as media adviser with Senator Matt Canavan, Minister for Resources and Northern Territory.

■■ The timber verandah on the new Portsea Surf Lifesaving Clubhouse, (below left) the timber decking on the lower level, and

(below right) under contruction.

Portsea Surf Lifesaving Clubhouse restored for a new generation

I

n 1960, the original Ports-

ea Surf Life Saving Clubhouse in Victoria was constructed from a packing crate.

Now, more than 60 years later, it has been transformed into a once-in a generation clubhouse. Situated right along the beach, this $9 million dream project required a full demolition and rebuild that has taken more than two years to perfect.

The new, two-storey clubhouse now stands as a testament to the tireless community service of the Portsea Surf Live Saving Club membership.

Built by Ireland Brown Constructions, the clubhouse sits in what is arguably one of the most unforgiving environments in Australia. They required a superior timber that could withstand salt, water

14

and wind. The specifications of the design and extreme weather conditions called for large, commercial grade Blackbutt timber, renowned for its durability and modern look.

Timber is the real highlight of this building. Blackbutt battens, hand cut from Boral Blackbutt F27 timber (supplied by Bayswater Timber), wrap around the entire façade. Bowens’ Commercial Development Manager, Danny Lamb managed the project and was on site weekly.

“It looks like the old bunkers that protected the coastlines in the past,” said Danny.

“When the public see this, they’ll be amazed at the textures and colours that natural timber brings to this project.”

The Portsea Surf Lifesaving

Club was determined to showcase quality Australian wood species. Boral worked closely with timber seller, Bowens, in providing all the timber decking and beams required for this mammoth project.

“They needed a very large quantity of quality Blackbutt, which we were able to deliver from Melbourne to the Bowens warehouse in Hastings without any hitches,” area manager for Boral Chris Mooney, said.

“When they ran out of timber during the project, we were able to deliver more product straight to the site.”

The pergola is also constructed from Blackbutt battens and features enormous laminated Blackbutt beams overhead. The beams are made from Class 1 durable

timber compliable with the bushfire BAL- 29 requirement.

Portsea is one of the most affluent areas in the country, situated on the end of the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. The clubhouse is uniquely located on cliff face of Mt Levy Beach, better known as Portsea Back Beach.

This distinctive location wasn’t without its challenges, as access to the cliff was limited and uneasy. There was only a single, and extremely steep ramp leading to the site.

“Deliveries to site were tough,’’ Mike Bullows, site manager from Ireland Brown Constructions said.

“We had very limited access down to the beach, so we had to coordinate different-sized trucks just to be able to fit down the road.”

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

Fibre materials business sold to Japan AUSTRALIAN packaging maker Orora Ltd is selling its local fibre materials business to Japan’s Nippon Paper Industries for $1.72 billion, simplifying its operations and sending its shares up 20 per cent.

The business to be sold includes the B9 Paper Mill, fibre converting, specialty packaging, cartons, bags, functional coatings and Orora WRS packaging distribution.

New Borg MDF plant BORG Manufacturing Pty Ltd, Australia’s leading producer of melamine-coated boards, has ordered a new MDF forming and press line for its Oberon site in New South Wales.

Borg will replace an old multi-opening line with the MDF forming and press line including ContiRoll in 8′ x 18.8m format with lightboard package.

The order also includes a Siempelkamp Compactor, which provides effective protection for the steel belts in the press and provides plant operators with significant capacity and quality improvements, especially for the production of thin MDF boards. Also included is the connection to the existing high-bay warehouse, which retains the existing fiber preparation of the old plant. www.timberbiz.com.au

01–04 April 2020

Coming to you live!

We are excited to announce it will be a Dr Karl double feature.

Dr Karl is bringing his enthusiasm for science and his colourful shirts to AUSTimber2020.

He will be joining us as our guest speaker at our Welcome Dinner and making a special appearance onsite Friday morning bringing his infectious excitement about all things science.

Bookmark our website or join our email list and stay up to date with all the action!

Whether you are planning to be an Exhibitor, Sponsor or Attendee, join us and participate in this timber industry Show. Come and speak personally one-to-one with Dr Karl.

Tickets on sale now for Field Trips, the Welcome Dinner and Show days.

Contact Us

Increase your market visibility with a Partner opportunity

austimber2020@afca.asn.au www.austimber.org.au Dr Karl Kruszelnicki appears by arrangement with Claxton Speakers International.

Tickets on sale now!

Be one of the 100+ Exhibitors

new technology

Saw line training goes VR for safety and speed V EISTO Oy, Finnish the

manufacturer of sawn timber production lines, has adopted ABB’s virtual commissioning to safely train customers on how to use equipment – weeks before it is installed and commissioned.

The company, which produces HewSaw automated sawn timber production lines, has developed its training system using the ABB Ability Virtual Commissioning for drives. The tool utilizes existing 3D designs to create virtual models of saw lines including the various PLCs, motors and drives.

HewSaw lines are customized and built to order. Customers had to wait for their new equipment to be fully installed and commissioned before they could start operator training. The delay before full production meant lost income.

Now operators can start training offline, resulting in a much shorter ramp up to full productivity.

“It was the capability of the ABB Ability Virtual Commissioning concept to capture the complexity of our saw line that impresses me,” said Tuomas Halttunen, Vice President, Veisto Oy. “Safety considerations and

the speed of operation make it hard to show customers how the equipment operates in real-life. But in the virtual world we now can show everything in slow motion, and with the guards off.”

Originally, Veisto Oy planned to use the virtual model primarily as a sales and marketing tool. However, it soon became clear that customers could benefit from off-site training, especially younger workers who have grown up using game systems.

“It is rewarding to see how ■■ Saw line training: A trainee using virtual reality to train on a Veisto Oy is using our Virtual saw line.

Commissioning for drives solution to help customers effortlessly learn how to use saw line equipment,” Jarkko Lalu, global software product manager, ABB Drives, said.

“Virtually replicating the line for training is a safe way to learn, it improves productivity and saves time and cost.”

The next step for Veisto Oy is to develop the model as a full ‘digital twin’ that mimics the exact operation of the saw mill equipment. This will accelerate production line development and testing at the design stage to provide full virtual commissioning as well as help■■ Screen Robot: A screen shot of the view the trainee sees. ing with fault diagnosis.

Gilbert planers: designed for all types of sawmills THANKS to its team of highly qualified engineers, Gilbert manufactures planers that exceed industry standards.

Different models have been introduced to the market over the past 20 years to meet the needs of different sawmills, including the High Speed Planer, 6 Roll Planer, Moulder Planer and more recently, the S Series Planer.

For nearly 4 years, the S Series Planer has been available for customers who want a planer designed with the same quality standards for which Gilbert planers are renowned, but in a smaller machine.

Indeed, the S-Series Planer is designed to run at feed speeds from 100 to 550 meters per minute and thanks to its compact design, it can be easily installed in an existing plant.

This planer is designed for different types of customers specializing in value added manufactured wood products such as moulding and millwork, remanufacturing, finger jointing and small to

16

this type of equipment is growing and Gilbert is pleased to be able to offer its customers a state-of-the-art equipment.

■■ Since its entry on the market, nearly 20 S Series planers have

been sold worldwide.

signed to meet the high expectations of the engineered wood industry for the production of glulam timber, CLT timber and all types of beams. The equipment has a heavy-duty frame A mass timber planer In addition to its high speed and is designed to plane mass equipment, Gilbert has devel- timber up to 16 inches thick oped a mass timber planer de- and 54 inches wide. Interest in mid- sized lumber operations.

Since its entry on the market, nearly 20 S Series planers have been sold worldwide.

Installations in Australia, NZ In recent years, with the help of Acora as a dealer, Gilbert Planers have been installed in New Zealand at Redstag in Rotorua and Carter Holt Harvey in Kawerau as well as in Australia at AKD Sorftwoods in Caboolture and Timberlink in Tarpeena. « The Gilbert planers we have installed have surpassed the expectations of our customers, they are intuitive and very safe to operate and are next level in terms of performance and strength, when one of our clients were doing due diligence on the Gilberts’ extensive users list, they were told by one client ‘just buy one! » said Roger Timms, Managing Director at Acora. Gilbert is proud to have Acora as a dealer and encourages customers in these territories to contact them for more information on Gilbert Planers.

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

Stirling new hardwood CLT plant for Tasmania A BRAND new, purpose-built plantation hardwood CLT plant will be constructed in the Tasmania’s north-west industrial centre of Wynyard, due to be completed before the end of the year.

Stirling Machinery was selected by CLTP Tasmania to supply state-of-the-art machines for stage 1 of the project.

Both a domestic and international game changer, this new partnership will help deliver the first commercially available hardwood cross laminated timber panels. Several significant innovations were established as a result of the project including: • ‘Whole of log’ sawing to deliver the entire spectrum of structural characteristics from all parts of the tree, not only low grade, delivering a superior engineered outcome over softwood panels.

• Creation of a new structural product from a plantation species that is otherwise only processed as high-quality chips for the pulp and paper industry.

• A ‘plantation to project’ approach by utilising 15-to-20 year old sustainably grown Tasmanian plantation hardwood Eucalyptus nitens (shining gum).

With Australia currently running an annual wood and wood products trade deficit of nearly $2billion; replacing presently imported wood products with Australian grown and processed plantation hardwood timber will support a sustainable timber industry and assist in Australia becoming internationally competitive.

Stirling is proud to be involved with this historic development and has been hard at work compiling the comprehensive portfolio of machines required.

The project will require crosslamination timber building systems, CNC to specification cutting and glue lamination and finger jointing lines.

“We are obviously delighted to be on board with this project,” Stirling Machinery MD Craig Honeyman said.

“It’s going to bring huge benefits to this regional community, and it will reinvigorate the manufacturing industry. Our partnership with CLTP Tasmania is important not just to us but to investment in Australian business as well.”

The Wynyard plant will involve a considerable capital investment in laminating machinery at the outset and with a strong focus on technology and automation, employee costs will be significantly reduced. www.timberbiz.com.au

industry award MBQ to ‘raise bar’ in training and knowledge A MASTER Builders proposed plan to “raise the bar’’ and improve education and knowledge in emerging Queensland builders has been given the nod by Housing and Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni and his Ministerial Construction Council.

Long having concerns and armed with anecdotal evidence that suggests that newly licensed builders often aren’t provided with the necessary skills and support network to set up successful building businesses, Master Builders Queensland recently put forward a proposal that supports new builders to put in place the right business systems that will help them do just that.

Master Builders CEO Grant Galvin said the proposal centres around helping emerging builders to profitably price work, ensure on time payment, track finances, meet the range of ever-changing compliance obligations, and resolve the disputes that will inevitably arise.

“We’re recommending that newly licensed house builders in the Self Certification 2 category be required to successfully complete a New Builder Program within two years of gaining their Builder Low Rise Licence, and prior to advancing to financial category 1,’’ he said.

Preliminary discussions with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission indicate that the largest number of building business failures fall within this category.

“So it makes sense to focus attention on this group and provide practical business systems, processes and skills that can be really embedded within their business early on and genuinely make a difference to outcomes in the industry,” Mr Galvin said.

“We were delighted to hear that Minister de Brenni and the MCC members saw merit in our proposal and have agreed to establish a subcommittee to progress an education program.

“However, what we must do now is ensure Queensland remains at the forefront of building legislation in this country,” Mr Galvin said. www.timberbiz.com.au

■■ Queensland Training Award winner Kennedy's Timbers' Michael Kennedy.

From toxic employment to award-winning workplace S

EVEN years ago, Brisbane-based sustainable timber specialist Kennedy’s Timbers had stagnated, were facing issues on all fronts in a tough competitive market and at a risk of closure.

However, a commitment to creating a positive workplace environment has proven successful for Kennedy’s Timbers in turning the business around and culminating in being named Queensland’s Small Employer of the Year at the Queensland Training Awards.

Kennedy’s, whose projects include the Howard Smith Wharves, has found that with a positive workplace culture, both staff and productivity can thrive, which has been the case for the timber business.

Owner Mr Michael Kennedy attributes the success of the business to creating an engaging culture which he said was an important formula within the business structure.

“You can spend time on other areas of your business like continuous improvement, lean manufacturing, but nothing works without getting your culture right,” Mr Kennedy said.

“I can make money by slashing costs, being pushy and demanding, but that is a mis-

erable way of doing business.

Invest in your culture on an ongoing basis, it needs to be in your veins, you have to live it,” he said.

Investing in the company’s culture has not only retained staff numbers, it has also increased productivity levels and turnover.

Twice as profitable as other similar companies within the industry, Kennedy’s Timbers now has 600 per cent lower staff turnover, three times lower staff absenteeism, fewer lost time injury days and one of the lowest Work Cover premiums in the Queensland manufacturing sector.

The average length of service of staff has substantially increased from 1 to 6.7 years.

Kennedy has also been able to expand and purchase competitors in Victoria and New South Wales and also establish distributors in Western Australia and New Zealand.

While Kennedy’s has always been profitable, there had been staff-retention issues, absenteeism, product complaints and until culture was addressed nothing worked over a sustained period.

“The entire staff turned over every year, staff absenteeism

was through the roof, workplace accidents all too common and profitability well below industry average. We knew we had good people, but we were struggling to manage them well, get the most out of them and retain them,” Mr Kennedy said.

Dubbed the “Aussiest” of timber guys, Mr Kennedy had heard of the importance of workplace culture, but wrote it off as “fluffy” and intangible.

However, with everything else failing, he engaged workplace culture specialist Dr Tony Watt after hearing him speak at a business event.

Staff are encouraged to lead the workplace culture program, something Mr Kennedy said was a little scary and alarming to begin with.

“You lose control to a certain degree. It is confronting as you think you are a decent boss, but perception is reality,” he said.

The Culture Doctor’s program identified the values and beliefs of the staff and aligned them with those of Kennedy’s company policy.

With a new focus on safety; a continuous improvement to customer service; family; respected, work ready teams, Kennedy’s instilled micro-

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

strategies to implement this new commitment to workplace culture.

The program assisted Mr Kennedy to identify the changes he needed to make as a manager and as a result, the culture has been transformed taking the business from strength to strength both doubling in size while improving productivity with just half the staff. It has future proofed the business against market downturns and external shocks.

“You can’t see values and beliefs, but you can see the behaviours of people and the behaviours of companies. So what matters is not what you say, but how you behave,’’ said Dr Watt “It is my strong belief that looking after the culture of your business is as important as doing your tax and must be a foundation stone to have a successful business in today’s ultra-competitive and ever evolving market,” said Mr Kennedy.

After winning the 2019 Brisbane and Queensland Training Awards for Small Employer of the Year, Kennedy’s Timbers will compete for the national Australia Training Award on November 21.

17

associations - acfa awards

■■ Kieran Ball, Germax Interiors Pty Ltd with his

■■ Best Kitchen Renovation $60-$80K winner Martin

■■ Christina Elvin, State Sales Manager Queensland,

■■ Blake and Kimberly Cugley from Planit Cutting

■■ Dean Brakell, Chief Executive Officer, ACFA.

■■ Cabinetmaker of the Year winners Adam Cordy

Outstanding Achievement of the Year award with Scott Hickey, Woodtech Group.

Edge Solutions.

Vinter from Husk & Co, with Best Kitchen Design Award winner Jessica Schlaak from Husk & Co.

Polytec.

and Luke O’Shea from COS Interiors.

Winners - ACFA Industry Awards Best Alfresco Design Kitchens by Peter Gill, Victoria Best Bathroom Design Lynne Bradley Interiors Pty Ltd, NSW Best Bathroom Project – New Northern Kitchens and Joinery Pty Ltd & Justine Hugh Jones Design, NSW Best Bathroom Project – Renovation Archertec Interiors & Acumen Artisan Builders & TOK Joinery, ACT Best Commercial Project - Hospitality/Retail Indetail in conjunction with RCON Shopfitters, Victoria Free Standing Furniture Award Boomerang Cabinets, WA Best In-Built Furniture de Wacht Cabinets & Design with Troy Robinson - Developer & Craig de Wacht – Designer, Victoria Best Kitchen Design Carrera By Design, NSW Best Kitchen – New Build - Up to $35k Space Craft Joinery, SA Best Kitchen – New Build - $35,001-60,000 COS Interiors, Victoria

Serving independent timber and

Best Kitchen – New Build - $60,001-80,000 Northern Kitchens and Joinery Pty Ltd, NSW Best Kitchen – New Build - Over $80,000 COS Interiors, Victoria Best Kitchen – Renovation - Up to $35k de Wacht Cabinets & Design & Studio 11:11, Victoria Best Kitchen – Renovation - $35,001-60,000 Evolve Interiors, Victoria Best Kitchen – Renovation - $60,001-80,000 Husk&Co, NSW Best Kitchen – Renovation - Over $80,000 COS Interiors & Flack Studio, Victoria Best Laundry Design, Cobbitty Grove Kitchens, NSW Best Soft Furnishings/Interior Design Award Lynne Bradley Interiors, NSW Design of the Year de Wacht Cabinets & Design with Troy Robinson - Developer & Craig de Wacht – Designer, Victoria Cabinetmaker of the Year COS Interiors & Flack Studio, Victoria

Legal and HR

Timber Advisory Service

hardware businesses by providing valuable back of house services...

National Support Centre 1800 888 479 (Option 1) www.mgatma.com.au 18

Training

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

Member Benefits

Advocacy

www.timberbiz.com.au

Victorian Government delivers on new training course O VER two years ago, Phil

Ladson and I began investigating the training, or lack thereof, for designers within our sector.

We looked at the traditional names of estimators and detailers and were informed by government departments that they didn’t help in creating a career pathway as no one knew what the job was by the titles.

It was at this stage that we spoke with many fabricators and decided to sexy up the title and we began referring to estimators and detailers as Timber Systems Designers. Most of the time I refer to these roles as designers when speaking to people within the industry but when I speak to people from outside our industry and you refer to Timber Systems Designers (TSD’s), they automatically understand the positions we are talking about.

That was the first step. The second step was to identify what was needed to train people effectively to increase the skilled designers available for our sector. We have 276 fabricator plants in Australia and I have no doubt if I had 276 qualified TSD’s I would find them all a job today.

The problem was the National Qualifications were outdated and no one was taking up the training which has resulted in a serious problem of threats of losing funding all together at the federal level for all training within the forest and wood products sector.

Again, the problem associated with the National Qualifications is the process is a long one and doesn’t provide a quick outcome.

So, with the assistance of ForestWorks a meeting was organised with the Victorian Skills Commissioner to discuss the development of a short course in Timber Systems Design. A group of passionate people from our sector including representatives of the

“We support you!”

By Kersten Gentle Executive Officer FTMA Australia

three nail plate companies and fabricators came together and over a course of 4-5 months created the short course content.

The Victorian Skills Commissioner has not only now deliver a new short course for our sector titled 22522VIC Course in Timber Systems Design but has also provided funding so industry can now create the deliverables to ensure, once again, that this is an industry driven training package and delivered in a way that we know will create skilled TSD’s for our future.

We wanted the training course to go back to basics and teach the underlining core skills needed.

The course has 7 Core Units covering: Work effectively as a timber systems designer Develop sketches and drawings for costing timber floor, wall frame and roof systems Communicate and interact effectively in the workplace Follow WHS policies and procedures Take-off material quantities Read and interpret plans and specifications Carry out measurements and calculations FTMA’s training consultant, Phil Ladson is working closely with Timber Training Creswick and TABMA Training to finalise the training material and assessment work plus the classroom deliverables and we believe that by early 2020 we will be able to introduce this training in Victoria.

Best of all the Victorian Government will fund the course ensuring it is cost effective for people

to enrol and once the course has been delivered in Victoria, other states and territories can write to the Victorian Skills Commissioners office seeking permission to deliver in their states which we have been assured will not be an issue.

We could not have achieved this without the unbelievable commitment by Sarah Fitzpatrick who was representing ForestWorks, Andrew Donnison of the Victorian Skills Commissioners Officer and the committee existing of Anita Day (Multinail) who was the chair, Phil Ladson (FTMA), Anita Weller (Pryda), Nathan Quarrell (Dahlsens), Cathy Fraser (MiTek), Wendy Kimpton (Dahlsens) and the consultants used Teresa Signorello & Susan Fechner.

In the meantime, a new committee has been formed through ForestWorks to address the National Qualifications so stayed tuned for more information on this as it is important that fabricators have input in to the qualifications to ensure they meet their needs.

Training is vital to all businesses and we all know the old saying of “what if I train them and they leave?” …What if you don’t and they stay?! Let’s hope our sector continues to buck the trend and continues to upskill our employees.

Once again, a huge thank you to the Victorian Government and FTMA looks forward to working with TABMA Training and Timber Training Creswick to deliver this training in 2020.

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AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

associations FRAME & TRUSS MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA

FTMA Australia is an independent, national organisation representing fabricators of and suppliers to the timber prefabricated truss and wall frame industry in all Australian states & territories providing a unified voice, to protect and advance our mult-billion dollar industry.

FTMA Australia thanks our dedicated supporters and encourages you to support those who support your industry GOLD SPONSORS

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For a full list of the conditions of membership and a downloadable application form visit: www.ftmaaustralia.com.au 19

associations australasian

Looking Back

Annual close down: a timber industry employer guide I t is approaching that time

of the year and whilst the traditional timber industry Christmas period close down isn’t as long, consistent or widespread as it was 20 years ago and beyond, many companies in the timber industry still close down their business over the Christmas-New Year period and send their employees on annual leave.

For many timber employers, it makes sense, as the building industry that they directly service slows down at this time of the year ,and clients and suppliers are often closed. For others, the stop/start nature of working over the period with the sprinkling of public holidays is impractical. For many employers, it is an opportune time to perform necessary maintenance of plant and equipment as well as the fact that it coincides with school holidays and many employees wanting to spend time with family and friends.

The legal right of a company to enforce the close down is in the relevant award (i.e. Timber Industry Award 2010), enterprise agreement or, in the case of award free employees, the National Employment Standards.

When implementing a close down for employees classified under the Timber Industry Award 2010, the key points to remember are as follows: • you must give not less than 4 weeks’ notice of the close down to your employees.

It is recommended that you

20

Brian Beecroft Chief Executive Officer TTIA

put a memo about the close down on noticeboards in the workplace and also provide a copy of the memo to each employee with their pay slip.

The Clerks - Private Sector Award 2010 also provides that 4 weeks’ notice is required for a close down. Always check the applicable award because the modern awards have different close down provisions and different notice periods too; for example, the annual close down provision in the Joinery and Building Trades Award 2010 provides that 2 months’ notice must be given to employees; • the close down provision provides you can close down an enterprise or part of it. This means you have the option of closing your business completely or leaving a part of the business operating during the close down. For example, you may wish to keep your office open for orders between the Christmas and New Year period, or have your maintenance

team working during that period.

• an employee who has sufficient leave to cover the period of the close down is allowed leave and paid for the leave; • an employee who does not have sufficient leave to cover all of the close down period will be on unpaid leave for the period of the close down after the leave is exhausted; • casual staff are on unpaid leave for the whole period of the close down. Permanent staff who have no leave accrual can also be on unpaid leave during the close down; • an employer may close down for one or two separate periods in a year. In circumstances where an employer closes down their enterprise for two separate periods in one year, one of the close down periods must be for at least a period of 14 consecutive days; • an employer and a majority of employees may agree to the enterprise closing down for three separate periods in one

year, provided one of the periods is for at least 14 days.

The National Employment Standards provide that an employer may require an award/ agreement free employee to take a period of paid annual leave but only if the request is reasonable. The NES provides examples of a reasonable request, including the employer’s business being closed down for a period (for example, between Christmas and New Year).

It is worth noting that under the Fair Work Act, if the period of close down includes any other form of leave such as public holidays, personal/carer’s leave (previously known as sick leave), compassionate leave or community service leave, the employee is NOT taken to be on annual leave (even during the close down) during the other periods of leave.

In my experience, a well-managed Christmas closedown is an important tool for any business to manage their staff leave obligations and leave accruals.

Finally, it is good practice to inform a prospective employee during the recruitment phase that he or she may be required to take annual leave during the company’s close-down period.

If you have any queries about implementing your end of year closedown, I urge you to contact the Timber Industry’s best and dedicated in-house advisory Hotline on all aspects employment related issues on (02) 9264 0011.

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

2018: Integrated Australian forestry and timber processing company Associated Kiln Driers Pty Ltd (AKD Softwoods), based in Colac in South Western Victoria, is scheduled to take ownership of the New South Wales timber mills and distribution centre currently operated by Carter Holt Harvey Timber Pty Ltd on November 1 2018.

The sale includes the Tumut sawmill and Gilmore treatment facility, a 50% interest in the Highland Pine Products (HPP) joint venture in Oberon and the Berkley Vale Distribution Centre.

2015: Question: How can a timber manufacturer increase line production by 54 per cent in 12 weeks?

Answer: Lean up. Work out where there is waste; wasted time. Wasted material, wasted resources and being excessive.

That’s precisely what Maryborough-based Queensland manufacturer Baywood Products did when they partnered with leading training provider Lean Skills Australia.

In less than three months, Baywood saw its process line capability increase from 9700 metres of product per day to 15,000 – an output exceeding customer demand.

“We knew there was room to improve but we had no idea just how much,’’ said Baywood Operations Manager Jonathon Pederson said.

2010: The increased use of wood in building structures, especially those up to 10 storeys, has significant potential to help in combatting the issues of global warming, a recent conference in Brisbane was told.

The Wood Solutions 2010 one-day forum, held also in Melbourne and Sydney, for architects, engineers and building design professionals, heard this message repeated by almost all of the seven speakers who addressed it.

Several of the speakers showed innovating and challenging uses of timber in major buildings around the world. However they and others reinforced the message that the timber industry needed to better tell its environmental sustainability message.

Dr Christophe Gerber from University of Technology in Sydney said that many common types of building structure which currently used concrete could be replicated with timber. www.timberbiz.com.au

associations

Ordering codes help to avoid disputes T HE Timber Veneer As-

sociation is sometimes asked to sort out complaints where a veneer user – specifier, home owner or joinery works – feels they haven’t got the right quality veneer for their job. Often it’s a matter of one side of a veneered panel being a different quality from the other side.

For panels to be ‘balanced’, a veneer needs to be applied to both sides. If this isn’t done, moisture may be absorbed into the raw side causing the panel to bow. However, if only one side will be seen in the finished job there is no point in applying a top quality veneer to the concealed side.

Australian/New Zealand Standard 1859, Reconstituted wood-based panels – Specifi-

By Peter Llewellyn Technical Representative, Timber Veneer Association of Australia

cations, acknowledges this In Part 3 of the Standard which states that Backing Grade Veneers “may be of lower quality than face grade veneers”.

Minor faults such as gum veins and knots, overlaps, mismatching and splits are allowed.

On the other hand, if both sides of a panel will be seen in the finished job the client is likely to want a quality finish

front and back. This can occur when the veneered panel is to be used for doors.

To ensure that a suitable quality panel is supplied there needs to be communication between specifier and panel supplier. To assist in the ordering process, AS/ NZS 1859.3 sets out Ordering Codes that clearly define what is required, as shown in the extract below.

Ordering Code

Face Veneer

Backing Veneer

SSB

Face grade

Backing grade of same species

F2S

Face grade

Face grade

Legend SSB = same species on back (or “Good One Side” – G1S) F2S = face two sides (or “Good Two Sides” – G2S) MOB = manufacturer’s option on back (or “Backs at Manufacturer’s Option” BAMO) CNB = customer nominated veneer on back

MOB

Face grade

Backing grade at manufacturer’s option

Use of Ordering Codes and clear communication between all parties will help to avoid unnecessary disputes.

CNB

Face grade

Grade & species nominated by customer

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AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

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21

associations What’s On 13-14 November 2019 ForestTECH, Melbourne

19-20 November 2019

ForestTECH, Rotorua, New Zealand

11-15 NOVEMBER 2019

PEFC Forest Certification Week 2019 – Würzburg, Germany.

More info: www. pefc.org/ events-training/pefcforestcertification-week-2019

How Virtual Reality is being used to launch forestry into the future WoodChat Episode 11

F

A SCINATING new pro-

jects are seeking to bring the seemingly opposing worlds of Virtual Reality (VR) and forestry together, as outlined in the latest episode of the Forest and Wood Products Australia’s (FWPA) WoodChat podcast series.

Listeners will hear about an initiative demonstrating how field operators can accurately perform assessments in an immersive, VR environment, with benefits ranging from improved safety, to ease of access and reduced labour costs.

As part of an FWPA-supported research project, a team at the University of Tasmania has used data acquired by helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to investigate the potential of VR to replace current forest inventory fieldwork approaches.

Lead researcher Dr Winyu Chinthammit, of the University of Tasmania’s College of Sciences and Engineering, said the project was prompted by the fact forests are becoming more difficult to evaluate manually, due to increasing safety concerns and access problems.

“We were looking to work with people who didn’t have any experience of VR, but who would traditionally go into forests to assess trees, in order to test how people who already have skills in forestry might perform inside a VR environment,” Dr Chinthammit said.

“This project provided evidence that a field crew can indeed operate inside a VR environment and perform some of the same basic tasks they would normally complete as part of their everyday operations on the ground.”

In addition, the WoodChat hosts learn about a series of recently launched VR tours for teachers and school children, which could completely change the way young people learn about Australian forests.

Teachers from across the

country were given the opportunity to experience and learn about innovative VR teaching resources developed by ForestLearning, a program of FWPA. The ForestVR™ toolkit for schools will educate students on the renewable cycle of forestry and wood in an immersive and engaging way, while overcoming the problems around the inaccessibility and safety of visiting physical forests and manufacturing plants.

Beth Welden, ForestLearning Program Manager, said these virtual tours have been designed specifically for school students, to tell the renewable “seed-to-shelter” pine story and the “forest-to-fine-flooring” Spotted Gum story in a fully immersive way.

“This is a novel way of engaging students, allowing them to visit places they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to access as a school field trip. We hope to provide meaningful educational experiences, aligned to the Australian Curriculum, that truly engage students on sustainable and renewable forest and wood products,” Welden said.

“We are wanting today’s young people to grow up with an appreciation of the sustainable and renewable nature of our forests. As the decision makers, voters and consumers of the future, it is important that today’s school children have an affiliation with wood and are fully aware of the benefits,” Welden said.

This episode is part of the second series of the WoodChat podcast, following topics including initiatives to engage the future leaders of the industry, how Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking is being used to improve the on-site processes associated with prefabricated timber, and how 3D printing can turn timber waste into high performance construction materials.

WoodChat represents FWPA’s commitment to engaging new ways of communicating industry news and innovations. Each episode includes in-depth conversations with experts on recent discoveries, innovations and initiatives.

You can listen to WoodChat on SoundCloud and iTunes.

18-30 NOVEMBER 2019

CLEM2019, IV Latin American Conference on Timber Structure – Montevideo, Uruguay, LATU, Latitud, the Architecture faculty of Universidad ORT Uruguay, and the Engineering faculty of UDELAR. More info: www. clem2019.uy/

19-21 NOVEMBER 2019

Malaysian Wood Expo 2019 – Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur. Email: info@malaysianwoodexpo. com.my or visit www. malaysianwoodexpo.com.my

20-21 NOVEMBER 2019

Exploring pathways to verified sustainable tropical timber Conference – Berlin, Germany.

More info: www.europeansttc. com/

3-4 DECEMBER 2019

Climate change and new challenges in the production of high quality and well adapted forest reproductive material – Jastrebarsko, Croatia. More info: www.efi.int/ events/climatechange-andnew-challengesproductionhigh-quality-andwell-adaptedforest

24 December 2019 Christmas Eve (SA)

25 December 2019

Christmas Day (National)

26 December 2019

Boxing Day (Nation except SA) Proclamation Day (SA)

28 January 2019

Australia Day (as January 26 falls on Saturday the following Monday is observed)

16-17 DECEMBER 2019

Forest Landscape Restoration and the Bonn Challenge in Eastern and South-East Europe – Belgrade, Serbia. More info: www.unece.org/

30 March - 4 April 2020 AUSTimber, HVP Flynn site, Latrobe City, Victoria

3-5 APRIL 2020

FORESTlive, Forestry trade fair – Offenburg, Germany. More info: www.messeoffenburg.de

To be included in Whats On

please send events listings to b.mitchell@ryanmediapl.com.au 22

AUSTRALASIAN TIMBER November 2019

www.timberbiz.com.au

How we do business at AKD We work with you as true partners, seeking to understand the drivers of value for our product in your business.

When we commit to something, we deliver on it.

We’re here for the long haul.

We are always approachable and contactable – and are easy and fun to do business with.

Well, and we may be

! o o t n a g o b t i b e l t t a li Taylor

Shane

Jonathan

Dylan

Liam

David

AKD Victoria Sales Team - Christmas Party 2018 COLAC

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YA R R A M

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BERKELEY VALE

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OBERON

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TUMUT

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C A B O O LT U R E