Australia’s largest wooden beams, by weight and volume, will be installed over the Adelaide Aquatic Centre next week – a major milestone in the $135m project which remains “on track to open next summer”. That is according to Tom Koutsantonis – South Australia’s Infrastructure Minister – who revealed that the giant beams and columns had been paraded through the streets after arriving via Austria, Belgium, and Melbourne.
Installed over the pool halls, the twenty beams and thirty-two columns, which weigh 143 tonnes, are so large that the government had to specially mill the timber in Austria (using Hess Timber) because the Australian supply chain could not manufacture the beams to meet the centre’s enormous size.
Requiring a midnight police escort and blocking off several streets, Wood Central understands that the largest beam measured 22.85 cubic metres and weighed 10,282 kilograms – the heaviest ever used in Australia. At pains to build the new centre with locally sourced, low-carbon materials, Minister Koutsantonis was at pains to point out that the industry did not have the current capacity to produce the beams:
“These enormous wooden beams being lifted into place helps us better visualise how this new centre will look once it’s complete. It’s very pleasing to see it on track for opening next summer.”
Tom Koutsantonis – South Australia’s Infrastructure Minister – on the $135m Adelaide Aquatic Centre.
Last year, Wood Central reported that the state was emerging as a hub for timber buildings, with Premier Peter Malinauskas committed to “a smart, sustainable and inclusive path” to build “taller and more complex timber buildings.”
Already, Adelaide developers are looking to cross-laminated timber for mid-rise construction, with the city’s iconic Adelaide Oval turning to mass timber produced by Xlam to build a new hotel connected to the stadium. Whilst veteran Adelaide developer – Barrie Harrop – in 2022, revealed plans to build the world’s tallest timber hotel in the centre of Adelaide as part of a $300 million investment in tourism infrastructure in South Australia.
- To learn more about the push to build timber buildings in Adelaide, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
