Exploring Timber’s Role in Sustainable Building Practices: COX Timber Hackathon 2024
Last month, COX hosted the 2024 Timber Hackathon—a dynamic two-day workshop held in Melbourne, centred on the innovative and sustainable use of timber in architecture and construction.
Who’s who at the Hackathon?
The Timber Hackathon, organised by Senior Associate Bastiaan Kolff, Head of Sustainability Dr. Matthias Irger and Regenerative Design Lead Laura Turner, brought together COX’s in-house timber experts from across our seven studios. Over two days, they welcomed a diverse group of attendees to contribute to the event, including representatives from manufacturers Theca, ASH, Rothoblaas and Binderholz, and engineers from ARUP, Aecom, and Schlaich Bergermann Partnership (SBP).
What is a ‘Timber Hackathon’?
The Timber Hackathon was born from a desire to connect our people with industry leaders, furthering the conversation and practical use of timber in architecture and construction. This event featured presentations, panel discussions, workshops and site tours with designers, engineers, and suppliers. It fostered an environment to share knowledge, ideas, and cutting-edge advancements in timber construction, including mass timber and timber-hybrid systems.
Day one was held at Sculptform, where the focus was on the new Macquarie Point Stadium in Hobart. Teams broke into individual groups to discuss specific aspects of the stadium’s design, with focus on the roof structure; applying perspectives from the events diverse expertise to find enduring solutions.
Day two saw the team head to Wurriki Nyal (Geelong Civic Centre) to witness the benefits of hybrid timber construction first hand.
Wurriki Nyal
COX Associate Wesley Perrott took participants on a tour of Wurriki Nyal as part of day 2. Wurriki Nyal is a hybrid structural system, integrating Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) floor panels and Glulam columns and beans, ‘a decision that saved 32% in carbon emissions,’ Wesley revealed. The choice also allowed for local production of most primary structural elements.
Regenerative Design Lead, Laura Turner
Walking around, it’s a building that feels good to be in – timeless and honest in its expression. Wurriki Nyal is a true showcase of how designers can advocate for sustainability through embracing the warmth of natural materials to create amazingly beautiful spaces.
Sustainability of Timber
Timber is celebrated for its environmental benefits, primarily its carbon sequestration and lower environment impact of its production compared to steel or concrete. Discussions at the Hackathon reinforced this, highlighting its strength-to-weight ratio and the innovative use of mass timber in reducing overall building mass, which can significantly decrease foundation requirements.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite its benefits, the adoption of mass timber comes with challenges. The perceived cost premium associated with timber was a focal point, with insights on how early manufacturer involvement, standardisation of components, and detailing for durability can mitigate both capital expenditure and life-cycle costs. The event also sparked a dialogue about the need for improved industry knowledge on sustainable timber procurement and the potential for architectural process adaptations specific to mass timber projects.
Key opportunities identified included:
- Engineering Collaboration: Incorporate timber-specific engineering early as a distinct discipline.
- Design Phase Investment: More upfront design investment can yield downstream savings and higher quality.
- Adaptive Reuse: Timber’s strength-to-weight ratio enhances Gross Floor Area with less load, ideal for urban densification.
- Responsible Material Use: Sustainable sourcing with certifications like FSC is crucial, often requiring a hybrid structural approach.
Joanne Andrade, National Sustainability Lead
From a sustainability point of view, mass timber is a low-carbon, renewable material, and it’s great to see COX building in-house expertise in timber design and construction.
Lessons Learned
The Hackathon highlighted the essential nature of early collaboration and integration across disciplines to fully leverage the advantages of mass timber. Learning from the detailed case studies presented, participants recognised the importance of considering acoustics, fire safety, component standardisation, species selection and treatment, and material movement in timber applications.
What did the event bring to the team?
It’s not often that we get to bring people spanning disciplines, borders, and experiences together to brainstorm ways to better our industry.
For Sam Chua, an architect from our Adelaide Studio, he expressed how powerful it was to connect: “The hackathon presented a unique opportunity to connect with a diversity of minds on a single, crucial topic. Meeting external experts, structural engineers and fire engineers in person allowed for direct interaction and detailed questions. With the amount we covered I couldn’t believe it was only two days!”
Director Chris Foy from our Perth Studio furthered Sam’s sentiment, adding: “Working together in a national studio boosts innovation, problem-solving, communication, and a sense of belonging. Input from external parties enhances the process and validation of using timber structures in new projects. Encouraging open discussions on ongoing projects is beneficial and fosters strong relationships between staff, studios and industry.”
And for James Sekoranja, a trip from our Auckland Studio was made all the while thanks to the inspiring conversations: “The calibre of speakers and experts made the travel and time commitment worth it (even from NZ!). Timber is a material most of us at some point in time have tried, and often failed, to see through to construction due to the perceived extra-over cost. To hear that our industry is changing is exciting. No doubt we will see more COX timber buildings soon!”
A matter of urgency
The urgency to decarbonise the built environment has put timber, a renewable and low carbon construction material, in the spotlight. COX is dedicated to reducing the embodied carbon footprint of our projects by 50% by 2030, with timber playing a pivotal role in this endeavour. Timber’s benefits are vast, including reduced CO2 emissions, healthier spaces, and sustainable forest management—core principles of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, timber construction offers faster build times, reduced labour costs, and a compelling alternative to steel and concrete.
COX has designed several landmark projects featuring timber, such as the CB Alexander College in Tocal, Wurriki Nyal (Geelong Civic Accommodation Building), and the Adelaide Oval Hotel. These projects stand as early examples of successful timber structures, but through events like the Timber Hackathon we hope to expand this list and continue pushing the boundaries of timber construction.
The Timber Hackathon showcased COX’s commitment to sustainable design practices, underscoring the significance of timber in achieving a low-carbon future.
For more on timber at COX, access our capability statement below: