TDA Newsletter 2011 No. 2

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18-Dec-2011
The second TDA newsletter for 2011.

CEO Christmas message

Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:00
Andrew Dunn, TDA CEO, wishes all TDA members, staff, friends and their families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Please note that the TDA offices will be closed between December 23 and January 9, 2012.

EXPAN in 2012

Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:00
Excitement is building up to the release of the revolutionary EXPAN timber technology suite into the Australian market in 2012. At this stage only a few of the main EXPAN products are available -- but these products permit innovations not seen before in multi-storey developments in this country. Central to this new product suite is the EXPAN Timber Concrete Composite (TCC) flooring system. This uses timber beams as joists to support a timber slab overlaid by a reinforced concrete slab. Designers are showing a lot of interest in this system, as it combines the acoustic benefits of concrete with the ease of building with timber. Moreover, the 8.5 x 2.4 m floor module size (with a maximum depth of 540 mm) allows for wide span timber floors -- a big leap forward in timber design.
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A big year for the Australian Timber Design Awards

Wednesday, 25 January 2012 04:06

Saffire by Circa Morris-Nunn Walker

Winners in the various categories of the 12th annual Australian Timber Design Awards (ATDA) were announced in October, at Chapter House, Melbourne. Circa Morris-Nunn Walker snared the main prize with Saffire, a lavish 20 suite resort overlooking Great Oyster Bay, Tasmania. The People's Choice Award went to SKM-S2F for the AIIM Processing and Devices Building at the University of Wollongong. All entered projects -- winners and non-winners -- may be viewed at www.timberawards.com.au

Australian cricketing legend Max Walker served as Master of Ceremonies on the big night. The audience -- a Who's Who of the very best of Australian timber design -- greatly enjoyed his anecdotes about life, cricket and, yes, architecture (Max is a registered architect). The presentation night was a great end to what has been a very good year for the Awards.

See the 2011 Awards Winners Gallery for a full list of all category winners and runners-up. And don't forget to become a fan of the ATDA Facebook Page.

Chook bedding opens new timber markets

Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:00
Research by TDA indicates that a national shortage of chicken bedding has created a new market for reused timber - and a means of reducing skyrocketing timber waste disposal costs. Rising consumption of chicken meat has seen bedding demand increase by 4% p.a. over recent years. Sawdust from sawmills, the main source of chicken bedding, will soon be unable to meet this demand. This is already a problem for chicken farmers in certain areas of the country. An apparent solution to this lies in reuse of end-of-life wood pallets and packaging that otherwise would be disposed of as landfill. TDA is part of an extensive project to determine the viability of this solution. Key components of the project include analysing bedding moisture levels, particle size, product storage and the risks that non-wood contaminants pose to chicken and human health.
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Election of TDA Directors and Office Bearers

Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:00
TDA members have determined the make-up of the TDA board for 2011. Voting took place at the 74rd Annual General Meeting on October 25. The results were as follows: Directors for 2011 Mr D. Anderson -- Forests NSW Mr P. Cotton -- Softwood Sector (Alternative) Mr B. Frost -- Importer Sector Mr I. Halliday -- Timber & Building Materials Association (NSW) Ltd Ms L. Hurford -- NSW Forest Products Association Ltd Mr P. Michaels -- Panels Sector Mr M. Murphy -- Engineering Wood Sector Mr T. Rossiter -- Engineering Wood Sector (Alternative) Mr J. Simon -- Importer Sector (Alternative) Mr C. Skeoch -- Softwood Sector
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New faces at TDA

Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:00

TDA Intern Tim Willatt

We talk a lot to industry about the importance of scouting talent and promoting timber via student internships. Leading by example, we run an active internship program, one that welcomes students from many of the disciplines essential to the future development of the Australian timber industry.

The latest face of our internship program is civil engineering student, Tim Willatt. Tim is about to enter his final year of university and is currently undertaking his 12 week practical experience placement with us. If you've visited us lately, you might have seen him around the office.

Since most of Tim's studies concern steel and concrete, this placement gives Tim a chance to become familiar with the construction and design possibilities of timber. Tim tells us that his time at TDA has opened his eyes to the diverse structural uses of timber. He has also gained an improved understanding of the environmental benefits of timber -- knowledge that we hope he will fruitfully apply in his future career.

Specialist web design for the timber industry

Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:00
Some examples from our portfolio of websites If you’re running a business these days, you need to be online – and if you’re running a timber products business, there’s no better organisation to establish your online presence than TDA. We know timber and we know web design: we’ve got the datasheets and images your site needs, the expert advice that our bird’s-eye view of the timber industry affords – and we’ve got the contacts to push your search engine ranking towards that elusive #1 spot. Whether you need a basic corporate website (such as tdansw.asn.au), an attractive gallery site (see, for instance, timberawards.com.au) or a large information warehouse (such as timber.net.au), TDA can get you there.
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Take advantage of our #1 Google ranking

Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:00
The timber.net.au website Our timber.net.au website still holds the #1 spot for a Google Australia search on "timber" (relegating Wikipedia to second place). As a result, links from that website confer very considerable page rank benefits to a timber-related website. And with over 16,000 unique visitors per month to timber.net.au, you should at least consider listing your company on our Suppliers Guide, the most popular section of that website. Standard plans start from as little as $240 pa (+GST) and display your logo, all contact details (with hyperlink and email) and 3 category classifications.
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