News & Events

The ARC Future Timber Hub is proud of Hub/UQ PhD candidate, Harry Mills, who has been featured in a publication by Australian Institute of Architects (AIA). Michael Croft from AIA interviewed Harry about his passion for regenerative, and environmentally responsible design and how Harry's project looks at resource recovery of marginalised and under-utilised timber for use in the built environment. Harry's important research is finding ways to maximise the amount of wood we can extract from each tree for timber building products. Harry's PhD is centred around two Hub projects: Alternative uses for under-valued sawmill products in innovative timber structures and Prefabrication and digital fabrication strategies for large-scale timber construction.

Over the Summer of 2020/21 four lucky UQ Undergraduate Engineering students were selected to complete a Summer Research Program which entailed 6 weeks of learning supervised by Dr Cristian Maluk, Abdulrahman "Abed" Zaben (ARC Future Timber Hub PhD Student) and Dr Henri Bailleres (industry partner at Hyne Timber). The project which is now finished was crowned "The Jolly Jumper".  A rig that helps to demonstrate the strength granted by reinforcing timber beams in a kinaesthetic manner for users.

Associate Professor Minghao Li, chief investigator of Hub project "The behaviour of critical connections and core wall systems in tall timber buildings" has featured in a video by 1 NEWS which showcases how the New Zealand building industry is in for a shake-up as the New Zealand Government adopts a timber-first policy to help combat climate change. New research shows the building industry needs to halve its emissions in a decade if New Zealand wants to hit its 2050 carbon target. 

Very thoughtful article by Chief Investigator of the ARC Future Timber Hub, Dr Paola Leardini, who is CI for Hub Project "Pathways to Net Zero Energy for Engineered Wood Multi-storey Buildings in Australian Tropical and Sub-Tropical Climates [eWoodZEB]". Dr Leardini describes the essential elements of a comfortable house for the subtropics. “Passive House” works in all climates: hot, cold, humid and dry.

A contract to deliver Maryborough’s new $12.1 million fire and emergency services station has been awarded to timber manufacturer, and Hub Partner, Hyne Timber and building firm Hutchinson Builders. This will be the first mass-timber fire station in Australia. The UQ Centre for Future Timber Structures (CFTS) and the ARC Future Timber Hub are very proud to be involved in getting this project off the ground. See Timberbiz Article

The ARC Future Timber Hub is featured in this special feature article by The Fifth Estate "The wood from the trees: what we all need to know about nature’s gift". It showcases the issues we need to tackle if we are to grasp the full potential of this most beautiful and natural of our building materials. Thanks to Hub Chief Investigators Joe Gattas and Rob McGavin who contributed to the article. Special mention to Hub Partners Hyne Timber, Arup, Lendlease and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Queensland). 

The ARC Future Timber Hub project "Impact of continuous drying on key production and performance criteria of engineered wood structural elements", led by Dr Chandan Kumar is currently completing a large scale trial with the Forest Product Innovation team at Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to investigate the impact of continuous drying kiln (CDK) technology on various quality parameters of Australian Southern Pine timber.