Weeks before the Tasmanian government introduces legislation to fast-track construction on Macquarie Point stadium—the world’s largest timber-roofed stadium—Australia is well and truly “punching above its weight” in delivering some of the world’s most interesting timber projects. That is, according to Gianluigi Traetta and Florian Hitthaler of Italian-based Rubner Holzbau GmbH, who, through Theca Timber, have delivered some of the country’s biggest projects – including the Sydney Fish Markets, which clicked into place earlier this year.
“We have delivered more than 7,500 (timber) projects over the last 50 years from all over the world,” Hitthaler said – from Canada to Australia, Africa, Europe, Russia, South America, the Maldives and the Caribbean – “equating to 150 new timber structures every year.” Starting in Australia nine years ago, Traetta said the Italian giant is noticing “more projects are being tendered, which shows increasing interest in mass timber building, obviously due to the many advantages the material provides.”
Traetta and Hitthaler – who will travel from Brixen, Northern Italy, to Brisbane for the World Conference on Timber Engineering next month – said timber elements could be packed and shipped from ports in Northern Italy to Sydney and Melbourne in a matter of weeks: “When I started, it was just 32-35 days from La Spezia to Sydney or Melbourne,” Traetta said. However, he said, “due to the conflict in the Red Sea, the journey across Africa adds about 10 days to the trip. But even with this, it’s not much more. It’s very easy to coordinate.”
Speaking to Wood Central as part of a yet-to-be-aired podcast ahead of the World Conference on Timber Engineering, Traetta and Hitthaler said that Rubner Holzbau GmbH has been busy working on several global projects, including a large-scale vertical extension (where timber levels are added to a building) in preparation for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
The Italian giant has been building timber-framed stadiums for decades.
Another is a new basketball stadium in Tortola, near Milan: “We covered the whole stadium with 4,500 square metres of timber, including trusses measuring up to 46 metres in size,” Hitthaler said. Originally planned to be built in steel, Hitthaler said the developers opted for timber as the preferred material, given wood’s predictability in the face of fire. According to Traetta, a Partner Investigator at the Australian Government ARC Advance Timber Hub, timber is a proven commodity for fire safety: “60-minute fire ratings can be achieved with common structures.”
Please note: Wood Central will cover its exclusive interview with Gianluigi Traetta and Florian Hitthaler in the coming days. Click here for Wood Central’s interview on vertical structures from last week.
