IFI Magazine Feb March 2019 International Forest Industries Magazine Feb March | Page 20

LUMBER PROCESSING NEWS
New wood panels prefab operation for Australia
Quintessential Equity has hailed
the opening late last year of a
new Cross Laminated Timber
(CLT) processing and offsite
manufacturing factory at Avalon
Airport’s new industrial precinct,
as a major win for both the City of
Geelong and the building industry’s
march toward more sustainable
methods of construction.
Executive Chairman of
Quintessential Equity, Shane
Quinn, said the launch of Cross
Laminated Offsite Solutions’
(CLOS) factory will create local
jobs, support sustainable
development and bring significant
potential to grow an advanced
manufacturing industry in Geelong.
“Green design is no longer
an option, it’s an expectation.
We believe every new building in
Australia from today onwards has
to be designed with sustainability
top of mind. The CLOS factory in
Geelong will be a game-changer for
the construction industry in Victoria
and beyond. Local, accessible mass
engineered timber will help put
Australia in contention to meet and
exceed global standards like WELL
Ratings and the United Nations’ 17
Sustainable Development Goals.
“We’re excited about CLOS
because Quintessential Equity
wants to use CLT technology – we’d
love to construct our first CLT
building in Geelong. Building with
CLT is sustainable and efficient.
Eight times the amount of carbon
is emitted to produce a tonne of
concrete compared to a tonne of
timber, and building costs can be
reduced by up to 20 per cent during
construction,” said Mr Quinn.
Quintessential Equity has a
strong track record of green design
and supporting local economies.
“One of our earlier projects in
Parramatta set the benchmark for
exemplar sustainability winning
the Energy Efficiency Council (EEC)
Best Commercial Building Energy
Efficiency Project.
We’ve also halved the carbon
footprint of the NAB’s headquarters
building in Adelaide and recently
achieved global best practice at 1
Malop Street right here in Geelong,
which also created hundreds of
local jobs,” he said.
The CLOS factory, set to open
mid-2019, will “pre-fabricate”
engineered timber products into
walls, floors, roofs and other
building components, adding the
necessary cladding, insulation
and plasterboards. The materials
will then be sent to building sites
where they are assembled and
used in construction, using a
similar principle as IKEA flat pack
furniture.
While CLOS will initially import
the cross laminated timber (CLT)
used, the company aims to become
Australia’s second CLT producer
within five years, which would
create around 100 direct local jobs
as well as secondary employment
in areas such as transportation.
Along with CLT processing and
offsite manufacturing, CLOS will
process laminated veneer lumber
(LVL) and glued laminated timber
(glulam).
CLOS Founder and Managing
Director, John Fitzgibbon, was
previously part of the building
team for the new WorkSafe
building in Geelong, where he saw
an opportunity for Geelong to lead
the way in mass engineered timber
manufacturing.
“Mass engineered timber like
CLT has so much potential. When
you look at places like Europe
and parts of the US, it’s clear
Australia isn’t doing enough of it,”
Executive Chairman of
Quintessential Equity,
Shane Quinn
said Mr Fitzgibbon. The current
prefabricated housing market
in Australia is a AU$4.5 billion
sector, or 3 per cent of the AU$150
billion construction industry,
whereas Germany and Sweden’s
prefabricated modular housing
accounts for about 20 per cent
and 70 per cent of their respective
industries.
“There’s real opportunity for
a major advanced manufacturing
industry in Geelong – we have the
space, the local workforce and the
lifestyle that makes workers want
to stay and live in the area. With
the demise of hard manufacturing
and the resurgence of white-collar
jobs, I see advanced manufacturing
as the next stage of Geelong’s
economic growth.”
Renholmen gets new owner
Together with the companies
ALMAB and Arivislanda,
Renholmen AB is part of the ARAT
Group. Now ARAT Group has been
acquired by Storskogen AB from
Provator AB.
“Storskogen invests in
companies that are stable and
profitable. It gives us great
opportunities to continue our
journey with development and
expansion of the company,” says
Renholmen’s CEO Per Jonsson.
“We look forward to continuing
to develop our three leading
companies in a positive spirit
together with Storskogen, which
also enables further acquisitions to
the group,” says Johan Andersson,
CEO of ARAT Group.
ARAT Group delivers high-tech
equipment to sawmills and further
processing industry. The three
companies operate freely and have
together a turnover of SEK 300
million and have 100 employees.
Bergs Timber appoints Jan Liljegren as CEO for
Bergs Timber Production
Jan Liljegren will January 1, 2019
take the position as CEO for Bergs
TimberProduction AB, and will
be responsible for the Swedish
operations.
In the autumn, Jan held the
position as Production Director and
now stands up as CEO.
Bergs Timber produces and
sells sawn and further processed
wood products. It operates its
production facilities in Sweden,
18 International Forest Industries | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019
Estonia and Latvia. The Group also
includes its own port and logistics
operations in England.
Per Jonsson,
Renholmen’s CEO