Against a backdrop of spiralling building costs and a growing global shortage of housing, a low-cost engineered wood system to be showcased at the World Conference on Timber Engineering in Brisbane later this month “promises to be an eye-opening game-changer for industry,” says the NSW-based inventor, owner and developer Pat Thornton.
Mr Thornton’s Loggo IP Pty Ltd at Wollongong has been awarded a ‘special commendation’ by the WCTE25 organising committee. The Loggo exhibit aims to “promote, capitalise and create a ‘lower-cost affordable accommodation alternative for housing and mid-rise multi-residential construction,” he said.
This will introduce Loggo’s new suite of round wood EWPs, including products such as I-Log and B-I-Log beams, and construction concepts in an active housing scaled module presentation at the WCTE exhibition.
Loggo has been historically and specifically designed and patented to utilise ‘waste peeler cores, a low-value redundant, mostly problematic bi-product of the ply industry or very low-value sustainable juvenile plantation ‘thinnings’.
“This will be an awakening at least that there is a genuine low-cost alternative to both concrete and steel as well as other burgeoning timber systems in ‘affordable accommodation,” Mr Thornton said. “We are ‘new kids on the block’ capable of producing genuine lower-cost ‘affordable accommodation buildings. So this revolutionary showcasing will be a landmark for future timber construction,”
Mr Thornton said the Loggo system should be viewed as a new, exciting, low embedded carbon warrior in the war for a greener future and lower-cost accommodation, quite unlike other mass timber products such as CLT and glulam which are already entrenched in high-end market construction such as high-rise buildings, airports, stadiums and office blocks. He added:
“Let me put it this way … the Loggo concept is an innovative, novel, worldwide, multi-patented ‘virtual new science’ in timber construction, still in its infancy, that will amaze some engineers, architects and other conference delegates alike in its ingenuity, simplicity, predicted lower costs and low carbon embedment.
Loggo is also promoting the potential for cooperative partnerships to develop and expand the Loggo building system globally. “Having amassed more than 70 worldwide patents, trademarks and know-how over the last 15 years, Loggo has become the only ‘conceptual pioneer’ in establishing viable product and market solutions for hardwood plantation ‘thinnings’ and small diameter logs,” said Mr Thornton, a pharmacist for more than 50 years.
“Loggo is open for partnerships from any source.”
“We want to invite manufacturers that are primarily ‘vertically integrated’ or willing to connect into their own value-chain operations, or other interested parties that recognise its huge profit generating potential and can key into different chain nodes such as foresters and ply companies who could be suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and builders.
“The system is most suitable for vertically integrated businesses that already have established paths to the built environment such as architects, builders and surveyors. Companies with best access to durable hardwoods will be a priority.
“Manufacturing can be manual, semi-automatic or, looking to the future, robotic.”
Mr Thornton said scaling up and testing by individual parties of their own resources first was a ‘must’. He said Asian consortiums and manufacturers were mostly sought for their components of low labour costs, low initial set-up needs (vacant roof-only factory) and suitable resources – in fact, any country that can scale their production accordingly to their established downstream pathways.
“We have a pilot testing program and manufacturing and marketing protocols in place (see business proposal on the Loggo website).”
Loggo’s presentation at the conference and exhibition will be delivered by Peter Blair of Structured Projects Management Australia Pty in Session 5 , Room 5E at 12.30 – 1 pm on Tuesday June 24.
Mr Thornton says just on manufacturing alone, projected ROI’s can be well over 100%. Loggo’s presentation at the conference and exhibition will be delivered by Peter Blair of Structured Projects Management Australia Pty Ltd.
The Loggo exhibit will feature the new and innovative Lamicolumns. These 90 mm diameter Pinus radiata peeler cores will be the centrepiece of the Loggo display superstructure. Because of space and height site restrictions, the dismantable construction will be representative of a real-life 3.6 m x 3.6 m modular column system in concert with a cassette system of Lamilogs and I-logs, representing an above-ceiling/floor, above which again 2 x interfloor connections will represent an upper floor continuum for a mid-rise building. In real life, this onsite rapidly deployed system will also have earthquake and cyclone rod restraints up through the middle of the Lamicolumns.
Loggo has also designed new modelling software allowing architects and builders to scale buildings from 3D desktop modelling, presenting an ‘affordable’ 3-storey walk-up, another key solution to a shortening wood supply championed by Gottstein Fellow Adam Faircloth.
Mr Faircloth’s report notes that architects, builders and engineers must recognise that overly conservative design can lead to an excessive use of materials in building systems, particularly flooring, which has resulted in much more costly mass timber construction.
Pat Thornton said the 3D model suggests Loggo would use 41 cubic metres of Loggo timber: “If we built the same 15-unit, 3-storey walk-up from CLT we’d need to use more than 190 cubic metres of timber (preliminary estimate). If that’s ‘not food for thought’ well what is? We’ll let WCTE 25 delegates do the maths.”
