Post and beam construction – where workers work to build hundreds (or thousands) of two-by-four-framed houses in state-of-the-art factories – could be a silver bullet for Australia’s housing crisis – with new research revealing that 25 metro and regional markets “are critically undersupplied.”
That is according to Simon Love, director of Japanese Timber Australia, a leading supplier of Japanese timber in the Australian marketplace: “The Japanese post-and-beam system is highly efficient, and a house can be completed, absolutely completed, in seven weeks.”
“The system is efficient, accurate, and easy to install on-site. Everything is delivered on time,” Mr Love said. However, he said they do (some) things differently from Australia: “They only deliver one or two days’ worth of material to the site. It’s all pre-cut, so no waste. They get a lot more deliveries and, thus, can complete the construction in fast time.”
And whilst the model could be a challenge in some rural areas – Mr Love said it could be a winner in cities – like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane…and even Newcastle, where builders can drive up volumetric construction: “We built display homes in Newcastle – we invited all the local builders and developers, no one had seen frames and construction go up that quickly.”
According to Graham Sayer, director of Japanese Lumber – a native New Zealander with entrenched relationships with sawmills and merchants across the country, Japan is the world’s fourth-largest market for timber construction, home to some of the world’s most important projects: “Bricks weren’t introduced here until the 1860s (via the Germans); it’s not a civilisation built on bricks (or stone) like many European civilisations.”
Mr Sayer – who has been living on and off in Japan for 50 years, will join Simon and dozens of Australian architects, engineers and developers on Andrew Dunn’s Wooden Architecture Tour. First drawn to Japan to chase an Olympic dream in judo, he is a top-ranking kendo instructor at a Japanese dojo, featured multiple times in Japan’s national media.
“I guess that makes a tour guide,” Mr Sayer said. “Attendees will see how deep the wood culture is in Japan – they will witness first-hand the modern Japanese industry (touring a state-of-the-art house-building factory), the ancient industry (visiting Horyuji Temple – the world’s oldest wooden structure), and how it is earthquake and fire resistant.”
“We will even visit the World Expo,” Mr Sayer said. “It’s got the world’s largest wooden construction, the Grand Ring, which is an interesting story because it’s all going to be reused or repurposed after the expo.”
Pegged by The New York Times as one of its 52 places to visit in 2025 and by Lonely Planet as one of the world’s top 30 go-to destinations, the World Expo will see large numbers of exhibitions built out of Japanese timbers. “Starting with the Tokyo Olympics and more recently the World Expo, what we are seeing coming out of Japan is remarkable,” according to Mr Dunn, who said the Grand Ring is “without question, one of the highlights of the seven-day tour.”
“We will delve into the rich traditions of Minka (Kominka) construction – exploring the intricate building methods that have defined the Japanese architectural identity for decades,” Mr Dunn said. “Visiting forests and fabrication facilities, we will understand traditional construction techniques from root to roof, including expert carpentry demonstrations.”
