Prepare to embark on a truly global experience as we traverse the ins and outs of Mass Timber Construction, touching down in various continents to examine the most fascinating developments in the field. Your dedicated guide, Paul Kremer, takes you on an enlightening journey, starting in the United States where we look at the captivating images of concealed fixings for beam sections by Ralph Austin. We also zip to Singapore, where a project involving giant GLT beams is taking shape in the most intriguing way.
In the latter part of our tour, New Zealand welcomes us with the newly opened Otago Polytechnic University, a model of forward-thinking teaching space, crafted with Mass Timber. Then, we glimpse into the future at the British Columbia government's upcoming building due to open in 2026. We wrap up by focusing on a recent study that touts the seismic benefits of mass timber buildings in mining sectors. Plus, I share some personal news about my appointment to the World Conference for Timber Engineering Committee for Australia 2025. So, get comfortable and let's delve into the incredible world of Mass Timber Construction.
Production by Deeelicious Beats Music "Game Play" by Quality Quest Podcast is a Mass Timber Construction Journal Production www.masstimberconstruction.com
Sponsors of the Podcast:
International Association for Mass Timber Construction (IAMTC) The International Association for Mass Timber Construction aims to promote and deliver value to its members and associated stakeholders through an all-encompassing approach to advocacy, thought-leadership, development for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing sectors, provide education, training/teaching and research in establishing a global mass timber construction sector across the five contents of the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are 5. This is the moment you all have been waiting for. It's 5. 4. The global sensation, the one, the only, the oldest you say that anyway Podcast in the world, the past Timber construction podcast. And now here's our driver, your host. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening wherever in the world today. Welcome to the Last Timber Construction Podcast. My name's Paul Cramer, your host, and I'll be walking you through all of the global Mass Timber news in the next few minutes. So sit back, relax, grab a drink, take some time out of your day and listen to what I have to say to you. And thank you very much, bruce Buffer, veteran voice of the Octagon, doing the introduction. Once again, don't forget, if you don't want to never miss an episode is what I'm trying to say Of this podcast please go and hit the subscribe button and make sure that you download us on a frequent basis so you get an understanding of what's happening on the global stage.
Speaker 1:
Let's take a look at what's making news around the world in Mass Timber Construction land and coming out of the US right now, and Ralph Austin, who's the founder of Seagate Mass Timber Structures, has been posting some pictures of concealed fixings for beam sections that are going up in the Charm City project. If you go to our Mass Timber Construction Journal LinkedIn feed you'll be able to see the project there, impressive images, some quite amazing connection details, including some pixel connections and some other connections that are related to the joining of the beams to the columns. And good friend to the podcast out of Singapore, kevin Hill, has posted some impressive images of the amazing project that he's working on, which is a large GLT, 1.4-metre square by 19-metre volume, about 1.3 cubic metres per run of these monsters 15 tonne they are, and they're going into a project which we're not really too sure about. The post doesn't say but it's a canopy project in Singapore, so look out for that. If you go to the Mass Timber Construction Journal LinkedIn feed, you'll be able to see the impressive images of the beams being lifted, rotated and transported ready for installation.
Speaker 1:
And a project or a series of projects that are associated and very closely linked to the work and my time at XLAM is the Otago Polytechnic University or vocational TAFE type institution and it has just opened its new teaching space. So the building that they have opened is called a hub. It shares spaces with other degrees and certificate level programs in civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, and is the NZ Diploma of Construction. It's a primary degree that's taught out of there. The building itself is future focused design thinking, including living building challenge principles. It's got laminated the near lumber as well as cross laminated timber, and if you go to our LinkedIn feed, you'll be able to see the opening of the trades training school that recently occurred just about a week ago.
Speaker 1:
We've previously reported on the BC, british Columbia's government new building, which will open to the public in 2026, which is a 15,200 square meter state-of-the-art facility which will house the provinces archives and collections, and so construction is now underway for the Royal BC Museum, and this is a mass timber building in Colwood's new Royal Bay neighborhood. We have reported on this previously, and it's really great to see that there's more coverage coming through, with the Minister of Tourism, arts and Culture speaking to the Vancouver Island CTV Newsca. That is Vancouver Islandctvnewsca. If you go there, you'll be able to see the full interview, and there's also some great renders for the project. So if you're interested in having a look at that, please check it out, or head to the Mass Timber Construction Journal LinkedIn feed and you can see the article there, and finally, this week, a study has been released which suggests that people should use mass timber buildings rather than traditional construction methods around mine sites, and this is generally due to its seismic volatility in those areas, and so the report that was supported by the Thunder Bay based Centre for Research and Innovation in Bioeconomy focused on the use of using CLT for the mining sectors infrastructure. So that's it, folks. That's all we've got time for this week in mass timber construction land.
Speaker 1:
Just a couple of announcements for you.
Speaker 1:
I have been very privileged to be asked to sit on the World Conference for Timber Engineering Committee for Australia 2025.
Speaker 1:
As you may know, the conference was in Norway this year and in 2025 it will be in Brisbane, australia, and I have been asked to be part of the steering committee to be on that panel to support efforts to make this a world-class event. So if you are thinking about planning a trip and it's in two years time and it needs to be something that's written off for work specifically around engineering, construction or architecture, consider Brisbane 2025 and the World Conference for Timber Engineering, and if you are out there and you're thinking about a sponsorship for such an event in a lovely place as Brisbane. Please reach out to me masstimberconstructionjournalcom, or you can hit up me up on a DM through the mass timber construction journal LinkedIn feed, and I would be very pleased to support and facilitate a conversation about how we can make that happen. So, good morning, good afternoon or good evening. Wherever you are in the world today, have a great time and I'll speak to you next week. This is Paul Kramer signing off.