The future of Brisbane’s built environment [AU]Friday 12 Jun 2026
With the eyes of the world turning to Brisbane for the 2032 Games, we have an opportunity to combine this heritage with cutting-edge construction technology to demonstrate mass timber construction to a global audience. Timber is a renewable resource, it stores carbon rather than releasing it, and when a timber building is designed and built properly, can be disassembled and reused for future projects. It is one of the few ways the built environment can actively reduce emissions. But the window to influence the design and procurement for Games construction is closing. The barriers to building infrastructure projects out of timber are no longer technical, they are commercial and procedural. Instead, the holdup is now in ensuring decision makers have the confidence across five key areas: program and delivery certainty, cost escalation and commercial risk, supply capacity and sequencing, procurement integrity and compliance, and risk allocation across design, manufacture and construction. These are problems the industry can solve but require a different approach than showcasing designs. The Australian Research Council Research Hub to Advance Timber for Australia’s Future Built Environment (ARC Advance Timber Hub) researchers are creating new and innovative ways of utilising timber to increase modularity, to be designed for better disassembly, as well as improving procurement frameworks and supply chains. The proof that timber works for major buildings already exists locally and globally. In Australia, the new Sydney Fish Market, University of the Sunshine Coast’s Moreton Bay Campus, and Boola Katitjin at Murdoch University (the southern hemisphere’s largest timber building) have been leading the way. On a smaller scale, projects like QFES North Coast Regional Headquarters – Maryborough Fire & Rescue Station and Inala Infill Apartments show modern timber construction is taking place in government infrastructure and social housing across South East Queensland. More >> Source & image credit: Advance Timber Hub  | ||
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