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Chain of Custody Forestry Certification |
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 00:00 |
Timber merchants and resellers need to become more aware of the impact of timber certification on their business. You may not be too concerned whether the timber you sell is Australian or imported but you should be aware of the effect of certification on your capacity to sell your timber.
As the influence of Green Star (or similar) building ratings spreads, timber certification will become a very important factor in the selling process. For those merchants or resellers who do nothing more than stock and on-sell the timber in its certified form this may not add much overhead. You will, however, have to be able to demonstrate "Chain of Custody". Given that most merchants will break packaging, repackage, relabel and sell pieces that are not necessarily identifiable, you may then also require Chain of Custody Certification.
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Read more... [Chain of Custody Forestry Certification]
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Verification of structural timber properties |
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 00:00 |
 Over the last 12 months there has been much conjecture regarding the supply of some visually graded softwood products. As you may recall, the supply of visually graded treated F7 and some F5 and heart in F5 began to reduce at about this time last year. This resulted from widespread concern over the assurance of grade compliance.
The difficulty which suppliers have faced in verifying the structural properties of visually graded timber led the Australian Plantation Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P) to issue an Information Bulletin in April 2007 to try and explain the situation.
At that time they advised that producers of all structural timber products need to have appropriate quality assurance processes in place to ensure that their products are suitable for their intended applications. They also indicated that producers who were supplying mechanically stress-graded products would certainly be required to have a suitable structural property monitoring and verification system built into their manufacturing process.
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Read more... [Verification of structural timber properties]
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Fire research and regulatory reform |
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 00:00 |
The TDA is about to embark upon another round of Forest and Wood Products Australia funded fire research and testing. This may be expected to have a big impact, in time, on building regulations.
Much work in this area has been carried in recent years by TDA and other organisations. It is clear, nonetheless, that additional research and testing is required to fill in the gaps in the available information and to bring some of the material up to date and into a useable format.
The use of timber in bushfire prone areas and in commercial applications is greatly restricted by current regulations. Although our fire research has provided significant market openings, it is obvious that more work needs to be done to maintain the role of timber as an acceptable building material. There are at present only a limited number of timber species that can be used for building in bushfire prone areas - and their use is restricted to certain profiles and applications.
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Read more... [Fire research and regulatory reform]
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Recycling power poles and bridge timbers |
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 00:00 |
TDA has commenced a project funded by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change to increase recycling of redundant hardwood power poles and bridge timbers in NSW. The project was motivated by reports from NSW and Queensland timber recyclers that road managers and certain NSW power distribution companies were throwing away rather than recycling perfectly good hardwood.
TDA has found that there are currently more than 68 kilometres of timber road and rail bridges in NSW, with 60% managed by local government and 40% managed by the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC). Only a small number of timber bridges are managed by the RTA. On average, 3% of timber road bridges and 6-11 rail bridges are replaced each year.
TDA is working with one of the major timber recyclers on the North Coast of NSW to educate the RTA, local councils and other power distribution companies in best practice recycling.
The best quality treated and untreated redundant hardwood poles are first 'shorn' of any creosote and CCA treated outer sapwood. They are then recycled into high value flooring products. Some of the finished products have taken pride of place in Integral Energy's head office in western Sydney. |
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NSW Cypress industry regroups / Help needed |
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 00:00 |
Over the last few years the NSW Cypress Industry has undergone major restructuring. This was in response to reduced cypress logging in what are now western division national parks.
Many sawmillers have taken industry exit packages offered by government; those that are left must obtain the best return from, what is now, a small but very valuable state timber resource. Government has developed industry assistance packages to help these remaining sawmillers to maximise the aesthetic value of the available cypress.
TDA has been awarded project funding to assist with the marketing and promotion of NSW cypress. Over the next two years this project will involve TDA in many aspects of the cypress industry. We will assist producers with technical problems, with development of new market strategies and with promotion of the unique aesthetic characteristics of cypress.
To help TDA in the initial stages of this project we have developed a simple survey that we would like architects, building designers, builders, interior decorators, engineers, floor layers - in fact anyone with an interest in specifying or installing timber - to complete.
The survey should not take any more than a couple of minutes of your time. Although we would like to know where you fit within the industry, we don't need your name, just your feedback. Please fill in the survey. |
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Australia Timber Design Workshops 2008 |
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 00:00 |
Accredited development for professionals working with timber
The 2008 Australian Timber Design Workshops are on again and will be held in more locations than ever this year.
These workshops have been presented by the University of Tasmania's School of Architecture since 1997. This year, they will be hosted in Melbourne, Perth, Hobart, Brisbane and Sydney in June and July.
This year's intensive, accredited program will focus on achieving economic success in sustainable timber design and construction, with specialised case studies and technical sessions discussing how to achieve this.
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Read more... [Australia Timber Design Workshops 2008]
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