Could Aussie Bluegums hold the key to addressing Australia’s shortage of structural timbers? That is the question posed by researchers who have created the world’s first engineered wood product made from Aussie Bluegum (Eucalyptus Globulus), a milestone that could save thousands of dollars in construction.
The new type of timber—dubbed “as strong as steel”—is part of a push by the Australian forest products industry to turn low-value pulp into high-value mass timber products.
It was developed by WTIBeam, which, working with forest managers Australian Bluegum, Midway, and New Forests—one of the world’s largest forest managers—has unveiled a first-of-its-kind GL17 timber product that can be used in everything from flooring to roof framing.
“Historically trials (for Aussie Bluegum) only looked at structural framing, which failed in a commercial setting because of challenges in sawing,” according to WTIBeam owner Edwina Vulcz, who said that hardwood species was traditionally shipped off as pulp to the volatile Chinese and Japanese markets.
“But this is a completely different scenario. Bluegum (Eucalyptus Globulus) lends itself to GLT (glue laminated timber) production because of its suitability in a more hands-on manufacturing application.”
“This product has the potential to save thousands of dollars in the construction of a home because you have a smaller beam that can be utilised further because of its strength, reducing the need for other materials.”
WTIBeam Edwina Vulcz on the importance of the two year trial in establishing a new market for Australian Bluegums.
As reported by Timberbiz, the new mass timber product is an output of the GTFIH’s Splinters to Structure project, delivered in conjunction with Forest and Wood Products Australia and the Green Triangle Forest Hub. The project uses softwood and hardwood fibre as the core product base, with no specific domestic application. Work is now underway to test the durability of the new type of glue-laminated timber for domestic export opportunities.
And with global timber demand set to quadruple by 2050, Australian Bluegum Plantations CEO Russ Hughes said future glue-laminated timber products made from Aussie Bluegums could reduce the imbalance between supply and demand, making up the shortfall in Victoria’s native hardwood market (now Australia’s largest importer of structural timbers – making up 40% of supply).
“A portion of our resource could be used in this potential (glue-laminated timber) product,” Mr Hughes said, “supporting highly skilled jobs, increasing local and export income, ultimately strengthening the forestry sector value chain. Importantly, this will provide additional domestic timber supply, supporting the Victorian State Government’s plan to supply more housing stock.”
For Tony McKenna, Midway’s Managing Director, the new product could provide a new domestic product with a low carbon profile: “While our core business remains export, mass timber has grown from an emerging technology to a structural building solution. This sustainable building product can be used instead of steel or concrete to create durability with less embodied carbon.”
Earlier this week, Victorian Minister for Jobs and Industry Natalie Hutchins Jacinta Ermacora met with the group to understand how the new timbers could be used to meet the state’s demand for housing:
“This new world first wood product has the potential to address timber demand and help our booming construction industry who are working around the clock to build more homes across Victoria.”
Victorian Minister for Jobs and Industry Natalie Hutchins Jacinta Ermacora who is looking to reduce Victoria’s depedence on imported structural timbers – and looking to use more engineered wood products in future conventional and prefabricated housing.
“These commercial trials will help us understand how we best replace native hardwood with plantation hardwoods with a product that already has a broad domestic base,” said Tony Wright, the Green Triangle Forest Hub CEO. “Ultimately, it’s envisaged that this bluegum GL18 product could be utilised in both domestic and commercial builds and is perfect for use in a prefabricated building, acting as a replacement for concrete or steel.”
“The outcome for the sector is reduced reliance on exports, the creation of new local jobs, a cost-effective building material with a positive carbon outcome that can fix a shortfall in the domestic market.”
From Pulp to CLT, is Aussie Blue Gum Key to Timber Shortage?
In February, Wood Central reported that Tasmanian researchers were working to develop glue-laminated timber and cross-laminated timber from trees otherwise destined for pulp and woodchip.
Speaking to ABC News, Louise Wallis, the deputy director for the University of Tasmania’s Centre for Sustainable Architecture, said she is working on new research that will create high-value structural timber products from pulp trees.
“We’re looking at what sawn-board products we get out of plantation bluegums,” she said, before adding that “we have a lot of them in Australia, but currently something like 80 per cent of them, or more than 80 per cent, are destined for pulp.”
More than 75% of timber used in Australian housing is now imported from overseas. The rush for imported wood has motivated researchers to see if pulp trees could be engineered into structural timber products and used in construction.
“A lot of processes are looking at the opportunities for engineered timber products,” Dr Wallis said, adding that “because there isn’t the supply available in native forestry sources, we’ve had to look at how you can generate other products such as engineered flooring, cross-laminated timber, or glue-laminated timber.”
Dr Wallis on the push to develop new types of engineered wood products from Australian tree species.
Dr Wallis and a team of researchers are working with WA softwood mill Wespine to create new timber products, which, according to Wespine Resource Manager Brad Barr, is crucial for the mill’s long-term prosperity.
“The bigger issue that we’re trying to address is the shortage of timber looming in the 2030s,” Mr Barr said. “We don’t have enough to build houses at the current rate using our sources.”
“It’s going to have to come from innovation using resources like the blue gum that we hadn’t considered in the past or through imports from overseas.”
