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Forest & Wood Products Australia is evolving its strategic focus in response to member feedback, with an increased emphasis on broader stakeholder and community engagement. Source: Timberbiz FWPA says the shift is designed to strengthen understanding of the forest and wood products industry’s role and value across the communities in which our members operate. To support the new direction, FWPA will create a new Stakeholder and Community Engagement Manager role. FWPA says the position reflects an evolution of its engagement approach, aligning resources to deliver more integrated outreach across education, community engagement and stakeholder relations, while building greater awareness, understanding and support for the industry. As part of this transition, Beth Welden’s ForestLearning Program Manager position has been made redundant as FWPA moves to a broader, organisation-wide engagement model. Beth will finish with FWPA at the end of June, after nearly nine years leading the ForestLearning program. “We thank Beth for her dedication to forest and wood product education and her significant contribution to ForestLearning,” FWPA said in a statement. “Through her work, Beth has helped strengthen educational engagement with Australia’s forest and wood products sector and establish ForestLearning as a valued national resource for teachers, students and FWPA members, including through nationally award-winning education initiatives.” ForestLearning will continue as FWPA’s dedicated forest education brand and will be supported as an important component of the organisation’s engagement activities. FWPA says it remains committed to working closely with members, educators, communities and stakeholders to ensure its programs continue to deliver value and strengthen confidence in Australia’s forest and wood products industry.

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Two of New Zealand’s leading forestry businesses are celebrating the completion of their successful merger with the launch of a new name and brand identity to support ambitious growth plans. Source: Timberbiz PF Olsen and Forest360 announced their merger late last year, backed by new investment from Adamantem Capital’s Environmental Opportunities Fund, and the support of PF Olsen cornerstone investor Quayside Holdings. Uniting under the Stand brand marks a new chapter for the business which combines 75 years’ experience, a workforce of more than 200 skilled professionals and 480,000ha of forestry under management on both sides of the Tasman. Stand Forestry Group CEO Dan Gaddum says the new name proudly reflects the business’ practice and principles. “While a stand is a unit of trees it also speaks of taking a position, standing for something. It reflects our commitment to managing each stand with care, skill, knowledge and discipline and encapsulates our commitment to forestry with purpose – growing natural capital for good,” he said. “The new name also symbolises how we’re bringing together the people capabilities and cultures of PF Olsen and Forest360 under a shared identity and common purpose. “By merging two leading New Zealand forestry businesses, Stand is now stronger than its parts. We’ve not only strengthened our core forest and harvest management expertise; we’re also well positioned to accelerate growth.” As an example, Stand sees opportunities to grow its carbon consulting business on both sides of the Tasman. It recently launched a new carbon joint venture model in New Zealand making it easier for farmers and landowners to partner with specialist Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) expertise for mutual benefit. “Stand’s ambition is to lead the sector in navigating emerging opportunities, be at the forefront of new technology and smart thinking and deliver responsible outcomes to secure financial and environmental resilience for generations to come,” Mr Gaddum said. “Standing together as one united team is an important part of that. Clients and industry participants can now expect to see the Stand brand roll out across all of our communications.”

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Timber buildings have long defined Brisbane. From the classic Queenslander home to the bones of the Teneriffe woolstores, wood has been at the heart of the city’s-built environment for over a century. With the eyes of the world turning to Brisbane for the 2032 Games, we have an opportunity to combine this heritage with cutting-edge construction technology to demonstrate mass timber construction to a global audience. Timber is a renewable resource, it stores carbon rather than releasing it, and when a timber building is designed and built properly, can be disassembled and reused for future projects. It is one of the few ways the built environment can actively reduce emissions. But the window to influence the design and procurement for Games construction is closing. The barriers to building infrastructure projects out of timber are no longer technical, they are commercial and procedural. Instead, the holdup is now in ensuring decision makers have the confidence across five key areas: program and delivery certainty, cost escalation and commercial risk, supply capacity and sequencing, procurement integrity and compliance, and risk allocation across design, manufacture and construction. These are problems the industry can solve but require a different approach than showcasing designs. The Australian Research Council Research Hub to Advance Timber for Australia’s Future Built Environment (ARC Advance Timber Hub) researchers are creating new and innovative ways of utilising timber to increase modularity, to be designed for better disassembly, as well as improving procurement frameworks and supply chains. The proof that timber works for major buildings already exists locally and globally. In Australia, the new Sydney Fish Market, University of the Sunshine Coast’s Moreton Bay Campus, and Boola Katitjin at Murdoch University (the southern hemisphere’s largest timber building) have been leading the way. On a smaller scale, projects like QFES North Coast Regional Headquarters – Maryborough Fire & Rescue Station and Inala Infill Apartments show modern timber construction is taking place in government infrastructure and social housing across South East Queensland. Globally, the Paris Games proved that timber was a viable product for Olympic infrastructure. The Paris Olympic Aquatics Centre is a timber-led hybrid structure that successfully hosted major sporting events in a high-humidity environment. We have already convinced designers. It is the decision makers, who tend to navigate back to the materials they are used to, that we still need to convince. We are moving from a period of education and advocacy to enabling decision making. Changing the conversation from ‘can timber do this?’ to ‘this is how you manage a timber build.’ To help change this conversation, The University of Queensland is hosting the Queensland Timber Trajectory forum in June. It will feature presentations and discussions from architects, engineers, designers and suppliers that answer the questions clients ask – why timber, and how to resolve any cost and procurement challenges. Brisbane has been building with timber for over a century. In 2032, it has the chance to show the world what that looks like at its best. We have the technology; we just need to make the decision. The Queensland Timber Trajectory forum will take place at the University of Queensland on 30 June 30 12:00pm – 5:00pm at the GHD Auditorium, University of Queensland, St Lucia. This article was originally written as a Thought Leadership piece for the Property Council Australia by Dr Paul Matthew, The University of Queensland, School of Architecture, Design and Planning.

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