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Optoppen is a Dutch word which translates as “topping up”. It is also the name of an online resource that will help anyone interested in airspace development – adding storeys to a building’s roof. Source: Timberbiz Using timber to extend upwards makes sense: it is a much lighter construction material than most. This means it can potentially add storeys without the need for strengthening the building’s foundations. The Optoppen website hosts an interactive tool to help clients identify the opportunity of their site for additional floors. This tool allows asset owners and urban planners to quickly assess the potential a building has for a rooftop extension. It provides a high-level structural assessment and reports the possible amount of floor space that could be created – together with the amount of carbon sequestered in the mass timber, as well as the structural embodied carbon of the construction. It also provides useful examples of existing Optoppen extensions, and it has a fascinating library of timber-based rooftop extension projects from a healthy mix of countries. You can also read about the various policies in Europe that are relevant to this kind of project. One intriguing part of the Optoppen site is its interactive ‘City Opportunities’ page. There you can read about the new units that timber rooftop extensions could create in the cities of London, Rotterdam and Barcelona. The existing buildings in those cities were assessed in terms of numbers, heights and typologies; numbers were crunched; and some promising conclusions were reached about Optoppen’s potential. In London, Optoppen could deliver 515,000 new flats. That amounts to 45,752,900m2 of internal area: an increase of some 7.7%. The timber used would sequester 4,330,400 tonnes of CO2e, that’s the equivalent of over 5.5 million Sitka Spruce trees. Similar studies found that up to 125,000 flats could be added to Rotterdam’s rooftops; and over 195,000 to Barcelona’s. London has a hugely varied range of building typologies, from low-rise terraces to Edwardian mansion blocks, to more modern office buildings and high-rise blocks of flats. All of these typologies have potential for adding storeys, with different boroughs presenting different scales of opportunities. The study breaks that 515,000 total down by borough. You can select a particular London borough to see at a glance what Optoppen gains could be made there. Southwark could gain 24,800 new flats (2,010,200m2), while Westminster could gain 48,300 (4,059,200m2). The assessment of all this for London was based upon available information on parameters for urban density, for each borough, to assess opportunities for adding flats to those over 3 floors. “We took our data from public information published by the Greater London Authority (GLA) on buildings in each London borough,” explains Kelly Harrison a Director at Whitby Wood. “Using information on building heights, we could determine the number of storeys. We then used available statistical data on each borough’s building use and typologies. “A borough might be comprised of 20% residential and 80% commercial or industrial, for example. For each borough, we took the average building height and number of storeys for each use type, to estimate how much timber you could add on top using the Optoppen tool.” The information is therefore based on a few assumptions, but with some conservatism, the overall picture that it gives remains a reliable estimation. “For Rotterdam, we could calculate that Optoppen could provide a 16% increase in units,” Ms Kelly said. “But for London, we had to be very conservative in our assumptions, as the data wasn’t as good, and the size of the city much greater.” The conclusions about London’s Optoppen potential were based on buildings of three storeys or more, and less than 20. That is because buildings lower than that would likely require foundation strengthening, and those over could give large additional area results, which could be unreliable and skew results. “That limitation assumes we don’t touch any foundations,” Ms Kelly said. “You could add many more if you were strengthening or adding new foundations, but this adds embodied carbon and is almost impossible to quantify, so is a limitation of the study.” While the Optoppen website does talk about these numbers in terms of “flats”, the point is more about the sheer amount of new useable space that Optoppen could provide. “Really, it is about adding a percentage of floor area, but talking purely in terms of square metres is not necessarily meaningful to everyone,” Ms Kelly said. “So, we’ve tried to contextualise it for people by suggesting how many tw obedroom flats that space could be.” The particular use, and the viability, of an Optoppen project will vary from area to area. “Viability is of course a crucial part of any development,” Ms Kelly said. “The whole point of the Optoppen website is to demonstrate that it can be done: to show what it could mean for a building asset in terms of unlocking all that space. “The tool helps early decisions making, to give a clear brief to the design team, who need to all be on the same page to make this work, as found in our stakeholder roundtable discussions. “ The case studies give precedent, and the deep dive research studies in the Netherlands show how you can overcome the detail. We have recently also included a Swedish Design Guide, also translated to English to give further detail.” Ms Kelly suggests that councils in particular are increasingly interested in this work. They have ambitious new housing targets, and many of them are already stretched in terms of need. The organisation Trust for London has highlighted that every London borough (bar Hounslow) has a higher proportion of households in temporary accommodation (TA) than the England average. In nine London boroughs, the proportion of residents in TA is five times the rest of England. For a council, adding storeys to a four-storey council block would be much more cost-effective than the enormous monthly costs of housing those without homes in TA or hotels. Ms Kelly also points out that in areas […]

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Misiones, Argentina, is home to the world’s only edible tree: The Yacaratia, a species that you can eat as it is perfectly safe for human consumption. Source: Columbia One According to a Misiones local tour guide and expert naturalist, Gloria Gomez the yacaratiá is a plant that belongs to the papaya family, native to the Paraná jungle. “Here we call it mamón del monte. I understand that might be a rude word in Spain [sucker], but here papaya is known as mamón,” she said. Wood from trees is not edible anywhere else in the world, this phenomenon is exclusive to the Jacaratia Spinosa tree in Misiones, Argentina. What makes this more intriguing, however, is the fact that its wood is edible because it doesn’t contain cellulose, and it also has a high water content (moisture). Its high concentration of water does not make it automatically edible, however. Ms Gomez explains that before consumption, the wood has to be harvested for 24 hours in order for it to be safe for humans. This is what makes the Yacaratia so unique, as there are trees whose bark a human can eat, like the willow, pine, or poplar, but not the wood. The Yacaratia tree was discovered by Argentina’s Guarani indigenous people. This tree was rediscovered relatively recently. In 1991, Argentinian forest engineer Roberto Pascutti found a manuscript written by a Jesuit named Basaldua, which mentioned a rather odd custom from the Guarani people, which involved eating worms off the Yacaratia’s wood. “The Guaraní used to eat it raw or lightly roasted over embers,” but it was “the forestry engineer Pascutti who patented the project for making this wood edible,” Ms Gomez said. Mr Pascutti spent five years in the jungle with Guarani communities. He created and patented the process in which the wood of the Yacaratia tree became edible. According to the tourist guide from the El Soberbio municipality, the Yacaratia wood is prepared in the middle of the Argentinian jungle by removing the outer bark and cooking the inner part of the wood. Others claim, however, that boiling the wood is enough. There are some who eat it raw. People often eat the wood with caramels and other sweets. It is also commercialized as a sort of wood jam. Recently, influencers from Argentina went viral as they prepared the Yacaratia as a Milanesa, a national dish, naming it “Wooden Milanesa” (Milanesa de Madera). According to the tourist guide from the El Soberbio municipality, the Yacaratia wood is prepared in the middle of the Argentinian jungle by removing the outer bark and cooking the inner part of the wood.

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FSC and Assurance Services International (ASI) have concluded the Vietnam Forest Management Transaction Verification (TV) loop. The TV loop introduced an additional level of scrutiny, leading to the voluntary exit or mandated removal of non diligent organizations by certification bodies. Source: Timberbiz FSC and ASI launched the Vietnam Forest Management TV loop in 2023 to trace the trade patterns and volume of timber-based feedstock originating from FSC-certified forests and ending in wood pellet manufacturing certificate holders. ASI collected transaction data between January to December 2022 from 56 Forest Management and 368 Chain of Custody certificate holders, covering an area of over 241,600 hectares of forest in Vietnam. Based on the high-risk volume mismatches and other integrity risks identified in the first phase of the TV loop, ASI conducted further investigations into 10 supply chain clusters, taking into consideration information earlier submitted to ASI by whistleblowers and insights from previous investigations in the regional pellet market. During the TV loop, six certificate holders were terminated by their certification body because they did not respond to the request for transaction data submission. A handful of certificate holders also voluntarily withdrew their certificates, particularly in cases where withdrawal potentially helped them avoid scrutiny. Main findings and actions Actions resulting in blockage: ASI has recommended FSC to suspend and block three certificate holders from the FSC system. FSC is currently examining the evidence ASI has provided to initiate the blockage process. Additionally, one certificate holder who deliberately impeded the investigation is also being considered for blockage. Self-billing integrity risk: Many of the Forest Management certificate holders participating in this TV loop were group entities. ASI observed that some of these group entities let the group members handle sales with buyers directly, with the buyer preparing the invoices and associated documents. However, the group entity (who holds the FSC certificate) is not aware of the sales and does not manage them as required. While sales by group members are permitted under FSC-STD-30-005 V2-1  (Standard Forest Management Groups), certain risks may arise as identified in this TV Loop, particularly in ensuring full conformity with FSC requirements. Clarification on harvesting practices: FSC standards require that harvesting of products and services be conducted at levels that are permanently sustained. In this investigation, ASI identified that some acacia plantations in Vietnam are operating on shortened harvest cycles. While these operations may be certified, FSC acknowledges the potential environmental considerations associated with shortened rotation period and emphasizes the importance of consistent interpretation and application of the requirements by both certification bodies and certificate holders. Further exploration of this issue may be warranted where relevant. The wood pellet sector is dynamic and fast growing. With a global push on emission reduction, especially from fossil-fuel generated emissions, government policy is encouraging energy companies to switch to wood pellets and other biomass fuels. In the Asia Pacific region, both the Republic of Korea and Japan have provided subsidies to further this agenda. While the Republic of Korea revoked their policy in January 2025, Japan continues to incentivise the use of biomass fuels. Vietnamese wood pellet manufacturers trade extensively with Japan, hence the demand for FSC-certified wood pellets is high. Therefore, it is very important for FSC and ASI to monitor trade and volume patterns of FSC-certified wood pellets – from forest to pellet. The insights gained from the Vietnam Forest Management TV loop present an opportunity to further strengthen transparency and reinforce good practices across supply chains. FSC will continue to engage with stakeholders, certification bodies, and certificate holders to support the consistent implementation of FSC requirements and promote ongoing system improvements.

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High electricity costs and the insecurity of future gas availability are key drivers for the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association of NZ (WPMA) to provide support for the Protecting industry, jobs and household budgets as the gas runs out research report released by the Green Building Council. Source: Timberbiz While various options to solve future energy shortfalls have been mooted, this report goes a step further and outlines a well-defined case based on the acceleration of heat pumps in our homes to free up gas and electricity for industry growth. “The uncertainty created by energy demands is a serious threat to manufacturing growth within New Zealand and we need to ensure there is positive action, especially from Government,” said Mark Ross, WPMA Chief Executive. “The closure of three wood manufacturing mills in 2024 due to escalating electricity and gas prices has scarred local communities and the economy leaving our industry energy exposed.” Although not outright future energy solutions on their own, the recommendations within the Green Building Councils’ report, such as requiring new buildings to be ‘all-electric’ and expanding the Warmer Kiwi Homes to include a wider range of insulation products and retrofit for the least energy efficient low-income homes, are well argued and require further consideration by Government. “Enabling secure and affordable energy for our industry will assist in encouraging further investment in pulp, paperboard and value-added wood processing production within New Zealand,” said Mr Ross. “It is pleasing to see the Green Building Council rise to the Prime Ministers challenge of finding new energy solutions, potentially freeing up additional electricity and gas for our industry.” New Zealand’s energy prices for manufacturers are significantly higher than in countries where our major competitors reside. The opportunities to fix the energy problem are out there, with WPMA promoting this report and a long-term dual-party energy strategy to keep our businesses open, protect jobs, and build a more secure and affordable future. The full report can be found at https://wpma.org.nz/assets/Reports/NZGBC-Protecting-Our-Gas-Supply-Report-Single-Pages.pdf

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Responsible Wood has renewed its support for WoodSolutions’ Renewable Timber Framing Campaign for the year ahead. The campaign provides builders and construction businesses with free promotional resources to bridge the gap between industry knowledge and client understanding. Source: Timberbiz By highlighting the sustainability, wellness, sturdiness and durability benefits of timber, the campaign helps architects, builders and other timber users empower clients with a powerful ‘why’ for selecting timber framing for their home or project. “We’re proud to support WoodSolutions’ Renewable Timber Framing Campaign, particularly given its capacity to communicate the benefits of timber from responsibly managed forests,” said Responsible Wood CEO, Simon Dorries. “By promoting the use of certified timber framing, the campaign encourages sustainable choices that benefit both the environment and the quality of construction. “This aligns with our goal to grow awareness around sustainably certified timber, from Sustainable Forest Management through to Chain of Custody Certification that gives industry and end users the confidence they’re making a responsible choice with their material selection,” he said. The Timber Framing Campaign offers a wide range of free resources—from client brochures and social media assets to videos and case studies—all designed to help construction professionals confidently promote timber as a superior framing material. With growing awareness of timber’s environmental benefits and proven performance, the campaign strengthens the connection between sustainable forest products and modern building needs. To learn more about the campaign, and access the suite of free materials, here: https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/timber-framing.  

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  Forestry Corporation is deploying early fire detection cameras across NSW State forests in the largest rollout of this groundbreaking technology in Australia. The network will be installed across the state’s major softwood growing regions, covering 1.2 million hectares of land from Northern NSW to the NSW-Victoria border with cameras installed at 22 strategic locations. Source: Timberbiz Key regions monitored by the cameras include Tumut, Moss Vale, Bombala, Walcha, and Bathurst, including three wind farm development zones near Bathurst and Tumut. The cameras will not only help protect critical plantation assets but also neighbouring communities, national parks and privately-owned agricultural land. The cameras will be provided by technology provider Pano AI. Powered by artificial intelligence, these cameras scan the landscape, track changes in pixel colour detecting smoke columns, delivering real-time alerts to fire crews and allowing rapid fire response. Land Management & Innovation Manager Jamie Carter said the cameras will enhance Forestry Corporation’s existing fire tower network, which is the largest in the country, by providing additional coverage and extending fire detection during overnight hours and in low-visibility conditions. “This is a significant milestone after four years of trialing and refining our approach to early fire detection,” Mr Carter said. “Following the significant impact of the 2019–2020 Black Summer fires where 25% of the pine plantation estate was burnt, Forestry Corporation has focused on aligning technological advancement with the needs of the NSW softwood estate. “This solution provides a critical edge in the crucial first 30 minutes after ignition, which is hugely important from a firefighting perspective,” he said. Fire detection technology has been extensively trialled in the US, South Africa and Europe and here in Australia trained to local conditions. Pano AI’s Head of Australia GTM Andrew Prolov said the partnership with Forestry Corporation was a clear signal that the technology is now mature and accepted by industry and emergency services, playing a key role in protecting lives and livelihoods. “Pano’s solution is trained on billions of images from diverse landscapes, micro-climates, and seasons across Australia and internationally,” Mr Prolov said. “By combining AI detection with advanced geospatial insights, it helps Forestry Corporation understand the full context of each fire detected,” he said. Research shows that 80–85% of the area monitored by Forestry Corporation’s fire towers also includes surrounding private property and public lands providing a significant and wide-reaching community benefit. In regions like Bathurst, tower operators detect and report more than half of all fires, often placing the first call to emergency services across these land tenures. “This technology won’t replace our highly skilled fire tower operators, but it’s a powerful addition to our early detection suite. We’re proud to lead the way in this field,” Mr Carter said. The rollout directly responds to key recommendations from the Independent NSW Bushfire Inquiry that followed the 2019 /2020 Black Summer fires, calling for enhanced remote fire detection capabilities. Over the last two decades, approximately 70,000 hectares of softwood forests in NSW have been impacted by fire. With State forests producing enough timber each year to build 40,000 new homes, strengthening early fire detection is critical to safeguarding the state’s timber supply. For more information visit www.forestrycorporation.com.au

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The Australian Forest Products Association is renewing calls for governments nationally to maintain more multiple-use public forests, better recognise their community amenity benefits and their critical provision for sustainably sourced timber and wood-fibre resources to build the nation. Source: Timberbiz “The NSW Parliament has been inquiring into access restrictions to public lands and waterways. This is a timely opportunity to remind policy and decision makers of the benefits multiple-use public forests provide for the community, through recreation and other uses and through sustainable forestry,” Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AFPA, Richard Hyett said. “It’s also an opportunity to call out the worrying trend of more forest lockups and conversion to national parks.” NSW [1] has a very large conservation reserve network including a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve network encompassing more than 7.5 million hectares of national parks and reserves. In NSW alone over the past 30 years, more than 1.2 million hectares of state forests have been converted to national parks, meaning nearly 10% of NSW’s total area has become national park. At the same time, Australia’s total forest area grew by 2.8 million hectares from 2008 to 2021, while total multiple-use public native forest area, has more than halved since the mid-1990s, equating now to about three per cent of Australia’s total forest area. “This is miniscule compared with the European Union where 84% of the Native (Natural) forest is available for sustainable wood production and it needs to be considered in that context,” Mr Hyett said. “Despite this, activists continue to demand that well managed multiple-use public native forests be locked up instead of demanding that under resourced National Parks be better managed to deliver the appropriate protections for biodiversity and threatened species for which they were created.” Multiple-use public forests provide an enormous array of benefits, including: Sustainable timber and wood-fibre resources Recreational and educational opportunities for bush users An active management style that encourages carbon sequestration Flexibility to manage for fire, disease and other risks Often, better biodiversity and habitat outcomes “In many cases, the revenue generated from activities in these forests, helps contribute to their conservation and ongoing management. We should also remember and acknowledge that many of Australia’s private forestry estates are made available for recreational activities, broadening the benefits these forests provide to the community,” Mr Hyett said. Furthermore, the recently released Federal Government’s Timber Fibre Strategy points to the growing gap between domestic sawn timber demand, for activities like housing construction, and domestic supply capacity – already exacerbated by reduced access to sustainable native forest timber. “Sadly, multiple-use public forests have become a soft target for governments to satisfy misguided activists who irresponsibly demand that forests sit under lock and key,” Mr Hyett said. “It’s time for governments to better recognise the value of forests that are open for use, including sustainable forestry, and give them better consideration, rather than the lazy approach of lockups and conversion to national parks.” [1] https://www.forestrycorporation.com.au/about/our-strategy

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Trade with China and Thailand will become easier following an agreement with the Federal Government to transition to paperless certification on agricultural goods. Source: Timberbiz The move will allow for faster processing at the border, while creating greater information security. China and Australia signed a memorandum of understanding during the Prime Minister Mr Albanese’s recent visit to China, which will see paper sanitary and phytosanitary certificates replaced with paperless eCertificate exchange. In 2023-24, exports of agriculture, fisheries and forestry products to China were valued at over $17 billion dollars, with this modernisation to simplify and help grow exports with our largest trading partner. This reflects the benefit of the Federal Government removing trade impediments with China, including lobster, wine, barley, coal, cotton, timber logs, oaten hay, copper ores and concentrates and red meat exports. The agreement with Thailand will initially extend to plant imports to both countries, with the new e-certification system to support future implementation of Australia and Thailand’s commitments to paperless trade, as part of broader trade cooperation. This includes under the Thailand Australia Free Trade Agreement, which has seen two-way trade more than double during its 20 years in force. The streamlined certification process will support Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry exports to Thailand, worth $1.5 billion in 2023-24, to grow. These two new paperless certification agreements are part of the Federal Government’s ongoing work to strengthen agricultural productivity, improve two-way trade, and to unlock more export opportunities for Australia’s farmers and producers.

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Timber Queensland has backed the release of the Prosper 2050 blueprint at the Ekka in Brisbane this week. “What we like about the blueprint is that growing the primary industries sector for both food and fibre also creates direct downstream benefits for the built environment,” Timber Queensland CEO Mick Stephens said. Source: Timberbiz “This is not only about producing the best clean, green food across the state, but also the best timber as a renewable and green building material for housing and infrastructure projects,” Mr Stephens said. Launching the blueprint at the Ekka, set to become the site of the Athletes’ Village and a major precinct upgrade for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, reinforced the case for Queensland timber as a cornerstone of iconic, sustainable infrastructure that delivers value well beyond 2032. “The launch of Prosper 2050 and the draft Queensland Future Timber Plan by the Primary Industries Minister during Ekka week is laying the groundwork for the timber industry to work collaboratively with the Government on long-term solutions to meet growing building demand,” Mr Stephens said. “The announcement on the transformation of the Brisbane showgrounds and development of the Athletes Village at the Bowen Hills site as part of the 2032 Olympics represents a significant opportunity for such collaboration. “Queensland has a long and rich heritage of using durable and sustainable local timber for its housing and public building needs. Incorporating this heritage into new iconic projects such as the Athletes Village and sporting venues can showcase both modern innovation with timber building systems and their biophilic health benefits for athletes and future occupants alike. “At the Paris Olympics for example, the Athletes Village and Aquatics Centre were both built using mass timber systems as part of a dedicated program for sustainability.” Mr Stephens said that procurement policies that preference sustainable construction materials such as timber could play an important role in delivering future infrastructure solutions in terms of sustainability, on-site workplace safety and total project cost-savings through prefabrication systems. “These opportunities will be fully explored as part of the proactive agenda with the Government for the forestry and timber construction industry,” he said. Industry trends and opportunities from farm forestry incorporating timber and beef production through to housing demand and modern methods of timber construction will be a focus of the Doing Timber Business in Queensland Conference to be held in Brisbane September 2-3, 2025. Watch the video here.

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