THE CELEBRATION OF TIMBER

OneFortyOne’s new NZ build

The business’s new NZ Forests build celebrates timber.

The new headquarters for the OneFortyOne NZ Forests team in Hope, Tasman is nearing completion and the build is already bringing joy.

Conceived as a timber-rich structure, it was designed by Irving Smith Architects and built by Scott Construction New Zealand with glulam posts, LVL rafters and the largest timber floor the builders have ever installed.

“As a forestry business, we wanted to show how timber could be used to achieve a carbon-neutral build,” said Wendy Norris, OneFortyOne CEO. “The amazing thing about wood is that it’s the best carbon sequestration mechanism we have available on the planet.”

For Andrew Irving, partner at Irving Smith Architects, the challenges set by the building were rewarding from the start. “This is the first client in 15 years that’s asked us for a timber building with a good carbon outcome,” he said.

“Where we’re trying to go with this is to find a way to make these buildings carbon zero at the close of construction. We take all the components we normally make from concrete and steel and we try to find a timber alternate, so at the end of it, we’re sequestering more carbon than we’re releasing.”

The extensive quantities of timber used in the building were grown literally over the hill, then milled locally, so the carbon cost added in transport is minimal. As well as the engineered wood products, other timber-related systems were used in clever ways to both deliver a good result and make the installation easier.

“Timber floors are never usually built this size,” said Ben Turnbull of Scott Construction, “but [by using] screw piles we were able to cut down construction time by almost a third in this part of the build.

“This is a better way of building. This is clean, this is green and this is the way we should be moving forward in the future.”

For Irving, the building stands as proof of the design concepts behind it. “We’ve found a way to make these buildings for the equivalent of other construction types,” he said. “This is win-win for the environment and win-win for our local industry; it’s a great carbon outcome.”

But it also represents something more profound. “No one hugs a steel beam,” said Irving, “whereas we do find people touching our timber beams and timber components, so there’s a win in that.”

Norris agrees, emphasising the way in which the building’s carbon-focused approach echoes OneFortyOne’s.

“We’re a longterm business,” Norris said. “We take a tiny little seed and grow it into a tall, powerful tree and then you embody that into the building and the spirit of that is with you as you get to live and work in these buildings. I think it’s incredibly powerful.”

To see the construction video, click here.