South Australia is emerging as a major hub for mass timber buildings, with SA Premier Peter Malinauskas committed to building “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.
Built onto the stadium facade, the Oval Hotel, which spans over 20,000 square metres, was built from prefabricated cross-laminated timber during COVID-19 and now has 138 rooms over five floors.
It comes after the Premier, last month, launched NexTimber’s first cross-laminated and glulam plant on the border of South Australia and Victoria, with South Australia’s Green Triangle already an engine room for Australia’s timber and wood processing industry.
“South Australia’s forest products industries are already building the nation through growing and processing 35 per cent of the nation’s locally produced house framing timbers,” according to Nathan Paine, CEO of the South Australian Forest Products Association, who added that “25% of the country’s particleboard, and now this new facility offer a greener, more sustainable alternative to steel and concrete in mid and high-rise construction projects.”
Demand for tall timber buildings is growing, with NeXTimber and a suite of Australian manufacturers, including Xlam, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH), and Cusp, adding to more than 20 importers that now service a ballooning market of Australian buildings expected to surge in the coming years.
And South Australia is no different. Last year, Wood Central exclusively revealed that a delegation of SA government regulators, key developers and builders flew 955 km from Adelaide to Brisbane to pay homage to mass timber ‘royalty’ – 25 King.
Led by South Australian Minister for Regional Development and Forest Industries Clare Scriven, Timber Queensland – the peak body for timber in the state – hosted delegates on a two-day inspection of engineered timber structures and research facilities across Brisbane – with developers now bringing the “tall timber building boom” to Adelaide.
This includes veteran Adelaide Barrie Harrop, who was on the tour, who will 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.
The 31-level CBD hotel, rising 100 metres, will be built from cross-laminated timber and ‘green steel’ at Victoria Square. Due to being open in 2024 and having an end value of $170 million, the carbon-neutral timber tower designed by Cox Architecture will feature 324 rooms, 22 residential apartments, a sky terrace, and a rooftop bar.
Announced in mid-2022, Mr Harrop, who owns Thrive Construct, said, “Our hotel development plan will provide an unprecedented boost to the South Australian tourism sector, driving domestic and international visitor spending into the state.”
Following the NexTimber facility’s opening, the next generation of buildings in the so-called “City of Churches” can be sourced from locally grown and manufactured South Australian timber!
