News | ARC Research Hub for Advanced Solutions to Transform Tall Timber Buildings

1 year 6 months ago

The Queensland Government Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (DAF) scientists working with the Future Timber Hub, at the DAF Salisbury Research Facility, are highlighted in the article "New mass-panel product research aims to optimise connection design, performance" on page 8 of the latest edition of Timber & Forestry Enews, Issue 633. DAF scientists are currently involved in three areas of research within the Future Timber Hub – optimising wood-based, mass-panels for Australian building systems; the impact of continuous drying on engineered wood; and the structural behaviour of reinforced timber composite products.

See Hub Projects:

1 year 6 months ago

In 2019, Harry Mills, ARC Future Timber Hub funded PhD student at UQ, was awarded a Gottstein Fellowship. The fellowship enabled Harry to travel to leading areas of timber manufacturing and design in the Northern Hemisphere, where he was able to meet with professionals from forestry and manufacturing, design, research and education. The grant was used on Harry's project 'The Potential for Underutilised Timber in the Built Environment' and enabled him to investigate and bring back new ideas, learnings and insights which he has developed into a report. This Gottstein Fellowship Report by Harry Mills, on Underutilised Timber (UUT) Acceptance through North America and Europe, covers the findings from this research project.

1 year 8 months ago

The Suspended Remnants - Timber Pavilion, which received a prestigious Good Design Award Gold Accolade in the Engineering Design category of the 2020 Good Design Awards has made front cover in the Timber Forestry Enews - 17 September 2020 issue 626.

This issue also highlights the Future Timber Hub in an article, pg5, showcasing the work done by the Salisbury Research Facility team, "CLT panels project further strengthens confidence in mass timber construction”.

1 year 8 months ago

The winners of Australia’s peak international design awards – the highest honour for design and innovation in the country were announced on the 9 September 2020 during the 2020 Good Design Week.

The Suspended Remnants - Timber Pavilion, which is a structure created from a collaboration between two ARC Future Timber Hub Projects, Alternative uses for under-valued sawmill products in innovative timber structures and Prefabrication and digital fabrication strategies for large-scale timber construction, received a prestigious Good Design Award Gold Accolade in the Engineering Design category in recognition for outstanding design and innovation.

1 year 8 months ago

Future Timber Hub Chief Investigators, Dr Joe Gattas & Kim Baber, showcase the University of Queensland's School of Civil Engineering & School of Architecture in this UQ film "Can my walls talk?". The fillm has had over 56,000 views since its launch in August 2020. It demonstrates how The University of Queensland is at the forefront of two Future Timber Hub Projects that aim to reduce wastage and emissions in the timber industry, while adding value, knowledge and character at the same time. These Hub projects are:

1 year 9 months ago

Research projects and future pathways at the ARC Future Timber Hub were highlighted in the Timber Forestry Enews - 23 July 2020 issue, pg 3.

This issues cover story also highlights the Salisbury Research Facility "Welcome to Wood World: A 'Theme Park' for Research". Project Investigator, Rob McGavin, cover photo - middle, leads the Future Timber Hub Project "The optimisation of wood-based mass-panels for Australian building systems".

1 year 10 months ago

The latest large-scale CLT compartment fire test for the Future Timber Hub Project “Exploring the self-extinguishment mechanism of engineered timber in full-scale compartment fires” has been showcased on the ARC Research Highlights. There will be more large-scale compartment fire tests later this year!

1 year 10 months ago

The Suspended Remnants - Timber Pavilion, which is part of the Future Timber Hub Research Project "Alternative uses for under-valued sawmill products in innovative timber structures" has been entered into the 2020 Good Design Awards. Thank you to our research collaborators, Swinburne University of Technology (special mention to Canhui Chen), who submitted the entry with The University of Queensland.

1 year 10 months ago

On the 22 June 2020 a group of delegates from the ARC Future Timber Hub, which included delegates from The University of Queensland, Griffith University, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and Hyne Timber were showcased the timber construction of the Monterey Apartments building site at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, Australia. Simon Betteridge and members of the team at the Gardner Vaughan Group hosted the tour which highlighted the key drives and learnings for this market leading project.

1 year 11 months ago

Dr Joe Gattas, Chief Investigator from the Future Timber Hub, was interviewed by Channel Nine News, at The University of Queensland's Structures Laboratory, to showcase Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) which is being used to build the Monterey Apartments at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, Australia. The news aired on Saturday, 6 June 2020 - Brisbane's 'Timber Tower'.
The CLT supplied for the project is from XLam, and the glulam supplied by Hyne Timber.

1 year 11 months ago

The Future Timber Hub are appreciative of Hyne Timber and Lendlease, who are both Future Timber Hub interdisciplinary partners, being involved in the ‘Building Greener Cities’ episode by ABC Catalyst.

2 years 3 weeks ago

The Future Timber Hub is proud of this 2019 TEDxUQ presentation by Carmen Gorska Putynska on "Self-extinguishing timber buildings: a climate change solution?".

Carmen is a Fire Safety Engineer, and recently finished her PhD at The University of Queensland. During her PhD studies she assisted on the Future Timber Hub Project "Exploring the self-extinguishment mechanism of engineered timber in full-scale compartment fires".

2 years 1 month ago

Please see news article from Timberbiz promoting our recent CLT fire test for the ARC Future Timber Hub project "Exploring the self-extinguishment mechanism of engineered timber in full-scale compartment fires".

2 years 1 month ago

The ARC Future Timber Hub are proud of Mr. Faircloth who has been a researcher on the Future Timber Hub project titled “Non-destructive evaluation of elastic material properties and acoustic characterisation of wood based massive panels" under the supervision of Dr. Chandan Kumar a Senior Scientist and the projects leader at the Queensland Government Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (DAF) Forestry Research team at the Salisbury Research Facility.

2 years 2 months ago

The timber pavilion that was exhibited last year in Barcelona for the IASS ‘Advanced Manufacturing and Materials’ Competition was on display at the Melbourne School of Design’s Future Prototyping Exhibition as part of Melbourne Design Week 2020.

Chief Investigators of the Future Timber Hub, Kim Baber and Dr Joe Gattas presented during the week. Kim Baber presented at a floor talk on the opening night and Dr Joe Gattas was on the panel at the Symposium on the 18th March.

2 years 2 months ago

The inaugural Responsible Wood Civil Engineering Prize for excellence in timber design has been awarded to Bridget Scanlan, a graduate structural engineer at The University of Queensland.

Bridget was investigating computational tools for residential timber design for her final-year thesis at The University of Queensland which has assisted with the Future Timber Hub project "Prefabrication and digital fabrication strategies for large-scale timber construction".

2 years 2 months ago

The second stage of the char fall-off study fire test at the QFES' White's Island Live Fire Training facility was completed on the 26 February for the Hub Project “Exploring the self-extinguishment mechanism of engineered timber in full-scale compartment fires”. This is the fourth test in the experimental series of large-scale tests in the ARC Future Timber Hub. The aim of the test was to demonstrate the occurrence of CLT self-extinction for a limited fuel load.

Additional Articles

TimberBiz - 1 April 2020 - Determining self-extinguishment characteristics of CLT

2 years 2 months ago

On the 13 February the ARC Future Timber Hub at The University of Queensland (UQ) held a tour for the Honourable Mark Furner MP (Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries), and Senior Managers of the Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (DAF).

The tour highlighted the research that the Future Timber Hub has been invested in since its launch in 2017, and the strong collaboration between UQ and DAF research.

Additional Articles

Timber & Forestry Enews - Issue 598, 5 March 2020 - Future Timber Hub tour highlights commitment to research investment

2 years 3 months ago

On the grounds of The University of Queensland (UQ), near the Advanced Engineering Building, there is a Tiny House on display until the end of Feburary 2020. This house was erected to demonstrate 3E panels which was invented from a collaborative research project on hybrid FRP-timber thin-walled structures between UQ, the Queensland State Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Additional Articles

UQ's Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology News - Published 3 Feb 2020 - UQ’s Tiny House based on a big idea

2 years 3 months ago

The Future Timber Hub has featured in the Built Offsite Magazine - Issue 18
Dr Joe Gattas, one of the Hub's Chief Investigators, showcases how the Hub has reached a number of milestones in its research on digital fabrication, prefabrication and manufacturing automation technologies.

2 years 3 months ago

On the 9 & 10 December 2019, the Future Timber Hub at The University of Queensland held a 2-day continuing professional development course on integrated design of timber buildings where an old friend from TRADAC days, Geoff Stringer presented on timber durability. Other subjects were fire safety (expert Professor José Torero) and building physics (expert Samantha Anderson). The 16 year old Ferry Boardwalk OSA designed at UQ was used as part of the workshop exercise.