More than 70 stakeholders in the ARC Advance Timber Hub participated in a strategic planning day at the University of Queensland on November 26.
Established and new partners in the initiative exchanged points of view and gave short presentations on their projects to be presented at the World Conference on Timber Engineering in Brisbane next year.
Chair Professor Keith Crews again emphasised the hub’s importance and aims—to develop resources, drive and advance sustainable timber as a natural resource, and lead towards a net zero future for Australia’s built environment.
“The expected outcomes will kickstart the change process, supported by growth in advanced manufacturing across the value chain,” Professor Crews said. “This should provide significant benefits in stimulating an opportunity for regional development and resource diversification while helping Australia’s timber and construction sectors transition to a circular and net-zero economy.”
The ARC Advance Timber Hub is administered by the University of Queensland’s School of Civil Engineering and is funded by hub partners with major funding support from the federal government through the Australian Research Council.
Professor Crews said the ARC Timber Hub aimed to develop the resources, enablers, and drivers to advance sustainable timber as a natural resource and to make it the material of choice, leading towards a net zero future for Australia’s built environment. Its intention is to support the transformation of Australia’s timber and construction sectors by:
- Stimulating growth in innovation.
- Increasing the uptake of sustainable timber products used in buildings.
- Establishing a roadmap for change.
The full scope of hub projects outlined by its partners included:
- New ‘green’ methods to support forest and wood products advocacy in the built environment.
- Fire safety of open-plan timber compartments.
- Influence of CLT manufacturing variables on vibration and acoustic performance.
- Autonomous screw-fixing robots for CLT panel building assembly.
- An open-data framework for forest-to-building value chain mapping.
- Socio-economic opportunity projects and economic modelling of the timber industry and synergy and interaction with systems.
- Dynamic model and EWP industry audit and economic scenario modelling, aligned with supply chain modelling tools.
- Innovative long-span timber and wood-based hybrid floors for vibration performance and acoustic compliance.
- Connection systems for extended building life.
- Development of moisture monitoring, assessment and management systems for the Australian mass timber construction industry.
- Role of moisture in the long-term performance of mass timber building elements.
- The bio-hygrothermal performance of mid-rise non-residential timber-framed façade systems.
- Improving resource availability and utilisation for residential timber manufacturing and construction.
- Digital and physical systems design for optimised design-to-delivery of prefabricated timber housing.
- Adaptive product design, fabrication, and optimisation from variable fibre feedstocks.
- Constrained utilisation of low-value fibre.
- Establishing viable product and market solutions for hardwood plantation thinnings and small-diameter logs.
- EWPs to maximise forest wood fibre recovery and utilisation.
- EWP supply and chain modelling tools.
- Hybrid timber load-bearing solutions.
- How people respond to a timber-rich environment.
- Optimisation of sawmilling processes for integration with prefabricated timber systems.
- Advanced technologies for adaptive assembly of smart timber products and systems.
- Performance-based architectural design and optimisation using biomaterial and AR-assisted discrete assemblies.
The ARC Advance Timber Hub strategic planning day was a timely precursor to next year’s World Conference on Timber Engineering in Brisbane which will be hosted from June 22 to 25 by the University of Queensland, with support from the Australian Research Council’s ARC Advance Timber Hub.
WCTE 2025 chair Professor Keith Crews said more than 750 speaker abstracts had so far been received, all addressing the theme ‘Advancing Timber for the Future Build’. He said abstract submissions embraced three focus areas – architectural, engineering and practitioner skills.
“The conference will highlight the advances and carbon benefits of timber construction, particularly for Queensland Government stakeholders as they plan the 2032 Olympic venues and athlete accommodation,” Professor Crews said.
