WOOD FOR THOUGHT
Bringing about change
beyond individual buildings
T
he South African built environment faces numerous
challenges and risks. According to Marloes Reinink,
sustainable building consultant and founder and director
of Solid Green Consulting, this includes cities that are riddled
with spatial planning issues, projects currently underway that
inadvertently reinforce spatial injustice and scarcity, and the
mismanagement of valuable resources.
This is a future that many professionals cannot accept and are
actively seeking to change. Read our feature on page 26, titled ‘The
role of Timber in the Living Building Challenge’ to find out more
about the Living Future Collaborative SA’s vision of bringing change
beyond individual buildings, integrating urban systems and
communities with nature, and what this means for timber
construction in South Africa.
Replacing cement and steel in urban construction with wood could
avoid greenhouse gas emissions from cement and steel production
and turn buildings into a carbon sink, the Potsdam Institute for
Climate Impact Research in Germany (PIK) announced in early
February – read more on page 19.
In keeping with the theme of the need for faster change in terms of
ecological building solutions, read our 10th Annual Wood
Conference review on page 8, where disciplines from all sectors of
the building industry attended one of the most important
2
APRIL / MAY 2020 //
conferences in sustainable construction. The programme line-up of
timber experts offered delegates the opportunity to expand their
knowledge and gain inspiration for wood and sustainable building
solutions, and most encouraging was the student attendance, which
augurs well for the future.
Speaking of students (and the youth who are our future),
Stellenbosch University is instrumental in educating our future
scientists. It is the only university in South Africa offering a
comprehensive four-year BSc degree programme in both Forest
Science and Wood Product Science, thus covering the entire
forestry value chain. Students get to enjoy the advantages of a
stimulating and diverse programme of study involving research and
study in the forests, winelands and mountains of Stellenbosch, as
well as versatile employment prospects both nationally and
internationally. Read more about the university’s new Computer
Numerical Control (CNC) training facility, which forms a part of the
latest programme offering in the wood product science degree
course on page 37.
This month, Timber iQ features wooden flooring, and touches on
some of the reasons to love hardwood floors – not least of which is
the fact that natural colours and beautiful grain on the wood planks
add a charming appeal and the uniqueness of wood can’t be found
in any other man-made or natural hard surface flooring options.
On that note, we also look at timber interiors as low-carbon options
for healthy buildings (page 30), and what can be done to make
buildings healthier and more sustainable from the inside.
I hope you find this issue interesting and informative!
Tarren
www.timberiq.co.za