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Building Nesting Boxes for Canberra’s Bushfire Affected Wildlife

As fires clear, we begin to see the extent of damage caused by this summer’s bushfire crisis.

Critically affected were our nations wildlife. An estimated 1 billion animals perished across the country, with countless more losing their habitats and food sources.

Since early this year, urgent work has begun to restore bushfire-stricken areas, regrowing native vegetation and rehabilitating areas to make them safe for animals – now and into the future.

COX’s Canberra studio were moved by these efforts, with a local project of making wildlife boxes growing out of a desire to aid with recovery. COX Associate Vanessa Judge put out the call in January to host carpentry events at her home, using scavenged and reclaimed materials to make the boxes. Word travelled, and other staff wanted to lend a helping hand. To speed up the process and maximise the number of boxes they could produce, Vanessa teamed up with COX 3D Visual Artist Tim Kreibig to find contacts willing to help.

From the studio, Vanessa and Tim designed the boxes. They coordinated businesses donations and supplies, capitalising on their fellow staff’s good-will and enthusiasm by giving them tasks to complete. Vanessa and Tim interpreted the required wildlife guidelines, drawing the design and producing a prototype brush-tail possum wildlife box. Capital Veneering cut the design to test that it all worked – and it did.

They then set their sights on producing 100 boxes. Staff from Capital Veneering and COX got together one Tuesday afternoon, assembling the three different boxes for Crimson Rosellas, Brushtail Possums and Sugar Gliders. Tasks included screwing the boxes together, lightly sanding sharp edges and painting.

This week, the boxes were delivered to the Eurobodalla Shire Council. They will now be distributed across damaged forests across the Eurobodalla Shire, all GPS mapped and monitored to ensure their success.

COX Director, Chris Millman

In our line of work it takes years, if not decades, to go from a concept to a finished building.  It was therefore rewarding with these wildlife boxes to turn an idea into a built product in a couple of weeks.  This was especially the case given we were hands-on during the fabrication process alongside Capital Veneering. Offering up our staff’s skills and time to this effort was the very least we could do.

The turnout was excellent, but there is still much more to be done. COX are hoping to extend this venture – continuing to source materials to construct more boxes for the Eurobodalla Shire Council and beyond. With five basic box designs now programmed in Revit, other studios can also jump on board and begin to build!

To see COX’s commitment to bushfire recovery, click here.

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