A six-storey Lend Lease project at Barangaroo South in Sydney is one of Australia’s first all-wooden, high-rise sites using only Cross-Laminated Timber in its construction. While a similar, prefabricated CLT apartment project underway in Kent Town, Adelaide is the nation’s second.

Construction industry commentator, Tony Arnel, is seeing timber as a new disruptive force that is poised to reshape the way we build. With climate change and economic forces pushing the industry to find and utilise efficient resources, nothing ticks the boxes of contemporary, sustainable construction, quite like timber does.

Being 30% lighter than concrete or steel, timber cuts crane, scaffolding and foundation costs. PT timber and engineered wood also offer thermal and energy efficiency advantages. Plus, with factory made precision timber construction delivered onsite, timber construction can improve the build’s quality.

Modelling from Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) suggests shorter construction times for timber buildings save project budgets up to 15% overall. A new National Construction Code (NCC) will include a $103 million economic boost over 10 years through environmental benefits, plus less construction & compliance costs.

A smarter way to treat preserved and engineered timber.

I’m a huge fan of timber, however this amazing material gets the nastiest preservative treatments. The worst chemicals like Pentachlorophenol (Penta or PCP) - creosote, copper, zinc, chromium and arsenic – it all ends up in building timber. The irony is not lost on me, that the most natural of materials is transformed into a dangerous chemical cocktail.

While we’ve engineered timber to compete in multi-storey construction against steel & concrete, smarter and safer timber preservatives are getting lost in the shadow of timber strengthening and preserving technology. The danger exists for all those who handle the timber, work with the timber, live with the timber and eventually when the timber goes to landfill, all those chemicals stay in our soil and air.

Hazardous chemicals are not the only option to preserve wood.

There are other options. Smart, safe and effective alternatives. After years developing non-toxic, waterproof & termite resistant coatings, I know there are cost effective, non-hazardous alternatives that work. What’s sorely needed is pro-active Government action - through industry standardisation like the National Construction Code - to restrict toxic timber preservatives and promote the new, safe and effective methods.

Globally, construction is seeing a movement toward safer, non-solvent construction chemicals, with a US article Global Construction Market Overview 2016 published earlier this year stating,

'Existing trends in the construction market indicate an increased use… and wider demand for non-hazardous and sustainable construction chemicals.'

Adversely however, despite the best of eco-friendly intentions, budgets are forcing construction company hands.

The exponential increase of timber equates to an equivalent rise in dangerous, poisonous preservative treatments, putting a whole range of people at risk, from factory workers who treat the timber, to the carpenters onsite, occupants, future tradesman and anyone who has to reclaim landfill where the poisoned timber lays.

What’s lacking, and all that’s needed, is the political and economic will to acknowledge, regulate and specify the safe, natural and effective treatment of timber in construction.

This way we can innovate our way to a better solution and ensure that the natural marvel of timber in construction is safe for people and the environment.