Recognising “the continued growth and maturity of NZ’s timber sector”. By Michael Smith
After a keenly felt three-year absence, the New Zealand Timber Design Awards made a triumphant return to the spotlight – part of a full day in Auckland “dedicated to learning, collaboration and celebrating excellence in New Zealand timber design and construction”.
The day began with ‘Timber Delivered’, a seminar that involved teams behind fi vee leading mass timber projects sharing the lessons that don’t necessarily make it into case studies.
Proceedings concluded in the evening with a gala dinner at which 17 Category Award Winners and 11 Highly Commended projects were recognised.
Daniel Scheibmair, Chair of Timber Unlimited (presenter of the awards), says what stood out “wasn’t just the quality of the winning projects, but the willingness of our industry to share knowledge so openly throughout the day. That’s how we continue to grow confidence in timber and deliver even better outcomes for clients and communities.”
SUPREME AWARD
The evening’s highest honour, the Resene Supreme Award, went to Air New Zealand’s Hangar 4, by Studio Pacific Architecture (also a joint winner of the Nelson Pine Commercial & Industrial Building Design Award).
The judging panel described the project as “a benchmark achievement, demonstrating both innovation and exceptional engineering elegance in timber design and construction”. A combination of LVL and CLT, under an EFTE envelope, the project illustrates timber’s environmental benefits, seismic resilience, corrosion resistance and structural efficiency – and its viability for large-scale infrastructure through precision manufacturing, complex logistics and connection design.
(Timber Trader News first reported on the plan for Air New Zealand’s Hangar 4 in our Mar/Apr 2023 edition. An interview with lead architect Patrick Thompson followed in the May/Jun 2024 edition as the project got under way. And in our Nov/Dec 2025 edition we reported on the opening of Hangar 4, attended by Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.)
211 HIGH STREET
The Simpson Strong-Tie People’s Choice Award went to 211 High Street, by Ignite Architects. More than 700 votes were cast over the 48-hour voting period, highlighting the strong interest in and enthusiasm for timber projects across the wider industry and community.
Located in the Christchurch CBD, 211 High Street is a four-level commercial building whose structure is defined by the selective use of timber. As noted by Timber Unlimited, “A regular grid of spruce glulam columns and European spruce CLT floor and roof slabs create open floor plates that maximise tenant flexibility and adaptable fit outs.”
Key internal timber elements include white ash battens and decorative plywood linings, which enrich wall treatments … while spruce CLT forms the atrium stair, risers and landings.
Tectonus friction dampers provide ductility and low-damage performance to achieve seismic resilience, and measurable sustainability outcomes include reduced embodied carbon, lower structural weight, and a recently achieved Green Star 6 rating.
CONRADI HOLZHAUS
Above: Conradi Holzhaus: “The home’s form and layout are shaped by timber’s ability to provide structure, enclosure, and interior finish in one element.”
Winner of the Spec Toolbox Innovative Timber Manufacturing & Technology Award was Conradi Holzhaus, by PTL Structural & Fire – a three-storey family home in Wānaka “that brings together natural living, advanced timber engineering, and precision manufacturing”.
The aim was to create a “healthy, toxin- free, warm and nurturing home, simple in form, natural in materiality, and efficient in performance”.
With that in mind, the holzius system was chosen as the method of construction – a merger of traditional solid timber know-how with modern CNC machining that resulted in a glue- and metal-free mass timber building. 
The judges were impressed with the advances in precision timber fabrication of mechanically interlocked systems on display in Conradi Holzhaus. “A timber-only option for a building like this is a big step forward when environmental considerations are a priority, and the technology used makes this a viable concept which has previously been difficult or impossible to achieve.”
LIVING HOUSE
The Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZIA Residential Design Award for Single Family Dwelling went to Living House by RTA Studio – a modular system that demonstrates the potential of mass timber to transform affordable housing.
The judges admired the use of exposed cross-laminated timber, which brings warmth, character and a strong sense of solidity whilst supporting low embodied carbon outcomes.
“Through close collaboration with manufacturers and suppliers, the project delivers a fast, efficient and accessible housing solution. And despite its compact footprint, the high-volume exposed timber interior spaces show how sustainable, net- zero design can be both affordable and inspirational.”
RTA Studio has been working with a New Zealand engineering firm, Tonkin + Taylor, to adapt the Living House for co-housing, communal living and papakāinga housing (housing created by Māori iwi/tribes) that can be built on climate-adverse land.
It involves adapting the two- and three- bedroom designs with foundations specific to sites impacted by extreme weather and climate change. This allows the low-cost house to be easily built on bad soil types and to be relocated if necessary. The collaboration provides local authorities and iwi with a solution for building in precarious places.
(A comprehensive profile of the Living House, including an interview with RTA Studio founder Richard Naish, can be read in the Sep/Oct 2025 edition of Timber Trader News.)
SUMMERSET MILLDALE
Winner of the XLAM Residential Design Award for Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (up to three levels) was Summerset Milldale, by Summerset Group Holdings Limited.
This three-storey Regional Main Building (RMB) is at the heart of the six-hectare Summerset Milldale retirement village on the Hibiscus Coast, north of Auckland – and provides communal amenities, care, serviced apartments and memory care facilities for the wider village.
As noted by Timber Unlimited, “the project utilised engineered timber systems, including CLT for floors and roof structures, alongside LVL, glulam and panelised timber framing for walls and structural support. These materials were selected for their structural performance, seismic resilience, and suitability for prefabrication.”
The judges felt the strength of the RMB was in the scale of using timber for such a large building – and being bold enough to use timber for a project that would typically be done in other materials. “Projects like this set a precedent for what can be achieved with timber on a large scale and help to provide a pathway for the future where buildings of this type become the norm rather than the exception.”
KAI TAHI, PORIRUA
A joint winner of the Nelson Pine Commercial & Industrial Building Design Award was Kai Tahi, Porirua, by Dunning Thornton. This public arcade and food hall marketplace makes a significant contribution to the reshaping of Porirua’s waterfront by reusing an industrial warehouse and dead- end service lane.
The judges noted the human-scale features of the building, where the warmth and lightweight characteristics of the engineered timber roof, mezzanine floor and walls have been used to create a transformational space for the city.
“Timber has been used to great effect to create an attractive landmark out of an old industrial space that connects a broad range of functions – business, art, shelter and hospitality – and does so with a people-first approach.”
Above: Te Whare Hononga: the timber structure is central to establishing the building’s identity.
TE WHARE HONONGA
Commissioned by the Taranaki Anglican Trust Board, Te Whare Hononga by Tennent Brown Architects won the Techlam Public & Community Building Award. The project is an offering to the community, and in particular to mana whenua (a tribe’s territorial rights), who have long endured a painful alienation. The judges were impressed and intrigued by the architecture – a contemporary, parallelogram planned and overtly Māori whare (house) used for hui (meetings) and exhibitions.
They noted the importance of the timber structure (a lattice of interdependent pinus radiata LVL and shaped glue-laminated elements) in establishing the building’s value and identity.
“The structure is held together simply with a combination of CNC housing and connections, so the focus is on the timber elements.”
Although small, the building embodies a modern mass-timber approach – “integrated architecture versus structure with strength through form, digital modelling, careful use of CNC processing, and modern technologies.” Thanks to Kate Smart at Timber Unlimited for her help in compiling this material.
