Prepare to be enlightened on the trailblazing advancements in Mass Timber Construction that are set to reshape our urban landscapes sustainably. We kick off this episode with a celebration of UTS Sydney's Associate Professor Feeney's grant victory, pioneering adhesive-free cross laminated timber—a move that could catalyze a green revolution in our buildings. Moving north, the Canadian Wood Council's fire compartment tests showcase mass timber's resilience, a testament to its reliability in the most extreme scenarios.
Venture further into our discussion, and you'll discover the strategic moves shaping the future of mass timber globally. Australia's commitment to expanding forestry plantations is a bold step towards meeting the softwood log production demand by 2050. We also spotlight Oricon's generous backing of the University of Queensland's Industry Transformation Research Hub, set to foster innovations for a low carbon and circular economy. And we can't forget the HushLucker Group's strategic tie-up with Element 5, heralding a new dawn for North American cross laminated timber and glulam structures. Wrap up with us as we explore Andrew Ball's innovative project at 960 Howard Street in San Francisco, embodying the potential of mass timber to revolutionize urban development.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are live. This is the moment you all have been waiting for. It's a compile for the global sensation, the one, the only, the all-disguised Anyway Podcast in the World, the past Timber Construction Podcast, and now here's what's right around you, your host. Good morning, good afternoon all. Good evening. Wherever you are in the world today, welcome to the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. My name is Paul Cramer, your host.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to week number seven in 2024. It is mid-February right now and not too far away now from the International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, oregon. So please do get your tickets, do get your hotels booked Time is running out fast and get yourself to Portland in March. Don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode of this podcast, and we look forward to bringing you news each and every week. Let's have a look at what's making news around the world this week in Mass Timber Construction Land, and to some news out of Sydney, and the University of Technology in Sydney is celebrating the finally released results for a federal grant that has been provided to Associate Professor Feeney from the Built Environment, who has set a research grant to understand how to commercialize Dow based cross laminated timber using low grade material timbers and removing effectively the adhesive component. So congratulations to the whole team at UTS in Sydney, Australia, and we look forward to seeing how the project comes about with you and your four industry partners and some impressive research coming out of the National Council for Research in Canada and the Canadian Wood Council. Using federal and provincial government funding, they were able to do recent tests that looked at mass timber construction in demonstrated fire compartment tests to show the very worst fire case scenarios where extreme conditions and sprinklers have failed and the firefighters are unable to reach the fire and the Mass Timber Buildings similarly performed to non combustible construction in these tests. If you'd like to have a look at that in more detail, please head to the LinkedIn page for the Mass Timber Construction Journal.
Speaker 1:
And back to Australia now, and the second round for grants for the $74 million Australian support plantation establishment program is now open. So farm foresters, first Nation businesses and forestry industry among those who will benefit from the funding to support new or more plantation forest services in Australia. The program aims to reduce the deficit, which is about 3.4 million cubic meters, in the domestic log production for softwood logs by 2050. And this is based on the 2015-2016 production level. So if you are interested in having a look at how you can plant more forestry to support an amazing industry sector such as the mass timber sector, please head to the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and Agriculture and you'll be able to see the grant details available there and some news coming out of the Advanced Timber Hub which is hosted by the University of Queensland. I'm actually a participant in the hub here in Australia and Oricon has just committed $200,000 to support projects as part of the 16.5 million ARC industry transformation research hub that's the Australian Research Council is ARC. The Oricon is involved in various projects which are under nodes based on performance of building components, manufacturing innovation, and all of this is towards a low carbon and circular economy and building performance for occupants, and it is great to have Oricon on the team. If you'd like to read more about that, please head to the Industry Transformation Research Hub for the advancement of timber in Australia's future built environment through the University of Queensland.
Speaker 1:
A news report out this week that the HushLucker Group has acquired a stake in Element 5, with an office in Toronto and manufacturing plant in St Thomas, and, if you have not heard the news, element 5 has over 100 employees and produces cross laminated timber and glue laminated structural solutions for the Canadian and the US market. So, based in Austria, hushlucker is one of the world's largest, most prominent timber companies and a global innovator in the industry, with production sites across Europe. It's a family run enterprise and has about 2,000 people in its workforce. The leadership of both Element 5 and HushLucker will remain unchanged and both companies will continue under their current names and brands. Business and projects will continue as usual and will be executed as contracted.
Speaker 1:
And oh wow is added again, andrew Ball is making moves. New permits have been filed to increase the residential expansion of 960 Howard Street in Soma in San Francisco. The updated plans used recently passed Assembly Bill 1287 to achieve 100% density bonus, creating a 19 story tower rising from an existing office building. The residential proposal is long sought second phase of the 952 to 960 Howard Street project and oh wow filed plans for the office for the light industrial structure in 2020, for which its construction wrapped up last year. Phase two was filed in 2021 and will create a 14 story building with 130 apartments, and the revised plans are available now for viewing.
Speaker 1:
If you'd like to see more about this amazing project in San Francisco, please head to our mass timber construction journal LinkedIn feed. And that's it, folks. That's all we've got time for this week in mass timber construction land. We look forward to catching up with you next week. Don't forget all the special guest episodes that we have interlaced with our weekly updates throughout the podcast, and we thank you for tuning in. Make sure you hit subscribe button, leave a comment like post, share. Anything you'd like to do to engage with us on our various platforms would be appreciated, and we look forward to catching up with you next week. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening. This is Paul Kramer signing off wherever you are in the world today on the mass timber construction podcast.