Linda Sewell

Carter Holt Harvey Futurebuild

The Australian engineered wood products (EWP) industry began almost 20 years ago when Futurebuild’s Nangwarry mill began production.

Today, Nangwarry remains Australia’s largest EWP manufacturing plant, with Hyspan and Hybeam now well established products in the Australian residential building industry.

Although LVL and I-joist are still a small component of the overall structural timber market, the acceptance of engineered wood products in Australia has grown rapidly.

EWP offers advantages with large dimension, long length timber options providing consistent, reliable structural strength and stiffness.

Over the past five years Australia has experienced a staggering 140 per cent growth rate in engineered wood products with new capacity becoming available through increased local manufacture and access to imported products.

Our acceptance of engineered wood products runs parallel to global demand for the product, which has increased by 79 per cent in the past five years.

As building construction continues to increase in complexity, the need for high performance timber products with specific engineering capabilities has resulted in global growth predicted to continue at around 30 per cent.

Australia’s use of engineered products is also expected to continue increasing, even during the next 2-3 years with predictions of a downturn in housing starts.

Although EWP is still in its infancy in Australia, ongoing growth is expected through substitution of traditional timber building materials and through new product development.

As construction becomes more sophisticated and design becomes more demanding there is an increasing need for products that are better engineered to suit specific customer requirements.

Residential building styles in Australia continue to change across all segments including detached houses, medium density dwellings and alterations and additions.

Land allotments are decreasing in size and the desire for larger homes is growing, increasing floor area requirements and creating the need for more multi level construction.

As a result, housing design is becoming more complex and requires flexible solutions and robust materials to satisfy design criteria.

As the engineered wood products’ industry grows and develops there is an ongoing need for manufacturers to continue investing in how products are delivered to market.

EWP requires a significant investment in technical advice and software to support users of the product, to ensure specifiers are selecting the most fit-for-purpose product option, maximising the product’s engineering capabilities and minimising associated costs.

Australia’s building industry is changing and adapting to land size restrictions, changing household compositions and trends toward open plan living.

Futurebuild views these changes as opportunities for the development of more sophisticated, high performance building materials.

As the market changes, engineered products evolve to support these changes, with local manufacture enabling fast turnaround and short lead times for customers.

Local investment in innovation has also enabled new developments to reach the market quickly, supporting changes to building requirements, such as treatment options for termite resistance.

As market leader, Futurebuild has been actively involved in Australia’s engineered wood products’ industry from its beginnings, 20 years ago and continues to invest in innovation, creating solutions to support the future of building in our country.