Private personal spaces. Spaces to relax in. Spaces we entertain in or enjoy wonderful times with the people who mean most to us.

What I love about bamboo the most is that it helps you create a place you really want to be in.

 A place you feel comfortable in, anywhere at home.

 A secluded little nook in your garden.

 Relaxing by the pool behind a privacy screen, safely away from prying eyes.

 It’s earthy, organic and natural.

 It’s far more sustainable than timber.

 I also love the aesthetics of bamboo.

I love how a few simple bamboo poles can transform a small part of your garden.

 How a simple bamboo screen can bring warmth and organic texture to a cold brick, concrete or metal fence.

How bamboo can bring a touch of the Orient to anywhere, making you feel like you are in the tropics.

But equally I love how it can be stylish and contemporary.

Bamboo is also amazing because it’s as much at home outdoors as it is indoors.

Its beauty lies in its natural strength, flexibility and of course sustainability.

Bamboo is everything timber wants to be. And so much more.

It is stronger, lighter, more flexible and easier to work with.

It grows 10 times faster than timber, using less water & resources. It needs no pesticides or herbicides to help it grow.

Bamboo breathes 35% more oxygen back into the atmosphere than trees do and stores 4 times the carbon of wood.

The speed with which is grows is truly amazing. A single tree, 15 metres tall, will take 60 years to grow back once you cut it down. And you will have to plant another tree to replace it.

But bamboo will grow back to 15 metres in 60 days! And there is no need to replant bamboo as it grows back from the very same place you cut it down.

No wonder people all over the world have loved using it for thousands of years.

It is perhaps the world’s most sustainable building material. Adaptable, flexible and yet strong. It’s actually stronger than steel and concrete by some measures.

And those are just some of the reasons that I love bamboo. I hope you love it too.

We can help you with one of the most sustainable materials of all time. One that we have been working with for over 45 years.

That material is bamboo.

Bamboo is simply one of the world’s greenest materials. It offers significant remediation from the effects of climate change, so specifying it for your projects contributes to them qualifying for a Green Star Rating.

Why Bamboo is Greener than Timber.

Firstly, bamboo is not a tree, it’s a grass. Which means it grows, and regrows, differently to timber.

When you cut down hardwood trees all that remains is a stump. You have to replant a new tree and this can take up to a century to regrow to the same size of the original tree.

However, being a grass, when you cut down bamboo, it simply regrows, from the same stalk. And how fast does it regrow? Well bamboo can take as little as a few months to regrow to a reasonable height, while a forest of bamboo can reach full maturity in only 6-7 years.

But this is not the only reason bamboo is a more environmentally sustainable material than timber.

It also produces 35% more oxygen than trees and stores 4 times the carbon of timber.

Regrowing plantation bamboo is better for the environment than cutting down trees as deforestation starts a cycle of drought and environmental decline that accounts for a fifth of all carbon emissions globally.

The Bamboo Paradox – Harvesting is greener than not harvesting

You probably did not realise the most amazing thing about bamboo. It’s actually a greener option to harvest bamboo than not to harvest it!?

How is this so?

When alive, bamboo does not live for as long as hardwood trees. When bamboo dies and decays, it releases carbon back into the atmosphere. That means a bamboo forest you leave growing is a poor carbon sink but if you harvest it, it becomes a great carbon sink.

New production technology for bamboo

The way that bamboo building materials are made has changed a lot in recent years and this too means it is even greener.

Bamboo is not only a renewable material but it has incredible properties.

It is as strong as steel in tensile strength.

It is stronger than concrete in compression.

And it’s much lighter in weight than timber and can be manufactured to produce almost identical products to timber.

The most sustainable material for the future – bamboo

There is no doubt that bamboo is the building material of the future.

You will find that our focus on innovation at Reknew Design and House of Bamboo means we have created refined designs that can be applied to both commercial and residential projects.

Transcending all trends, bamboo is the most conscientious building material you can choose to help you achieve a Green Star Rating. Of course that helps our planet too.

Please get in touch with us to discuss your needs for sustainable products for Green Star Rated projects or message me and I’ll respond.

Thanks for reading.

Jennifer Snyders

Recent technological breakthroughs have been applied to bamboo to create Engineered Bamboo, converting it into laminated products that improve its inherent properties and characteristics, something which was previously only done with wood.

However, the results are even more superior with bamboo due to its inherent strength, lightness and flexibility.

Strip-laminated and strand woven bamboo

The first type of engineered bamboo to be created was “strip laminated”, where narrow strips of the outer part of the bamboo are cut and laminated together into boards that can be used in a multitude of ways just like timber.

But, of course, being made from bamboo they are so much lighter than equivalent lengths of timber enabling them to be used in many new and different ways to timber.

Another form of engineered bamboo is “strand woven” bamboo, which is often used for flooring. To make strand woven bamboo, the pole of the bamboo plant is cut, stripped-down, shredded into fibres and woven together with a resin. This product is then compressed under extreme heat and pressure to form a solid block of strand woven bamboo which is then machined into planks just like timber.

Colour stains can be added to the product to create various looks and styles as well as finishing lacquers etc.

Fused, carbonised, bamboo decking

Using a patented process, the bamboo is subject to a 2-stage process of high heat which “carbonises” it, removing all the sugars and starch in the bamboo and reinforcing its inherent strengths.

New generation fused bamboo decking takes engineered bamboo to an even higher level.

The modified bamboo strands are then fused together using a very strong resin, the same kind used to make bowling balls. The resulting decking boards are extremely dense with durability levels beyond that of many hardwood timbers.

They are also far more stable than traditional timber decking and won’t shrink, warp, twist and are highly resistant to termites, fire, rot, etc

Giving a square edge to a round pole

One of the most dramatic differences between using natural bamboo poles and engineered bamboo is that the process of engineering the bamboo converts the profile of the material from a round to a square edge, opening up a myriad of new uses.

Bamboo products with a square profile can be used in so many different and creative ways in design and construction. It essentially changes the very nature of bamboo itself, further enhancing its strengths and overcoming one of its perceived weaknesses.

Effectively once bamboo has been laminated it can be machined like any timber product, giving you any type of bespoke square edge or angle design that you wish.

Additionally, by engineering bamboo, you remove the inconsistencies of bamboo poles as they grow naturally which have differences in everything from external pole diameter, pole length as well as the wall thickness of the pole, all of which can vary even from one end of a bamboo plant to the other.

By engineering the bamboo into a different format, you are able to standardise the thickness, weight, length, etc of the finished product which gives it greater consistency for building, construction, décor, fencing, screening, be that on a large scale or bespoke designs.

Engineered bamboo opens up so many possibilities you need to say to yourself at the start of any project, where timber would normally be the go-to option, “I should be doing this with bamboo”.

-Jennifer Snyders, BSc/Arch, NSW

House of Bamboo

Now, with the current consumer focus on climate change and sustainability, bamboo is set to be a key player in the construction industry (and many other industries) in the future as well.  

While this has encouraged an ever-growing trend bamboo usage in commercial and residential construction overseas (particularly in France), perplexingly, Australia has yet to fully jump on board.

The study of bamboo  

However, with the University of Tasmania recently announcing it will be offering a PhD in Prefabricated Bamboo Housing, bamboo might just be about to get its moment in the Australian sun. 

The newly created PhD will cover a case study where laminated bamboo elements are used to create prefabricated housing stock, and the process of manufacturing this product will also be documented from harvest to construction.

The course will pay particular attention to pushing bamboo beyond what it has been ‘traditionally capable of’ by developing new methods of connection and treatment.

An innovative substance

This course is the latest in a growing list of studies already being offered by universities around the world on the potential uses of bamboo.

In India, for example, the National Institute of Technology in Nagpur has announced a bamboo curriculum for BArch students. It’s the first time bamboo will be added to an engineering degree course in that country.

“Of the six units in the BArch course, one will be dedicated to bamboo right from the first year,” explains Dr Pramod M Padole, Director of VNIT. “In the third year, it will be an elective subject.”

Meanwhile, the University of British Columbia in Canada has already established a multidisciplinary research group in the Faculty of Forestry to focus on the “structural properties, industrial applications and innovative uses” of bamboo, as well as its social, environmental and cultural potential. 

“Bamboo is a vitally important non-timber forest product,” says Professor John Innes, Dean of the Faculty, “and while its value has been recognised for centuries, it is only today that we are beginning to realise how some of its properties can best be utilised.”

There are even more courses and PhDs in sustainable bamboo at universities in Taiwan, University College London and Frankfurt Summer University, among others.

Sustainable and versatile 

Having worked with bamboo in both commercial and residential construction in Australia since 1972, House of Bamboo CEO Jennifer Snyders, one of Australia’s leading experts on bamboo, welcomes the fact that the academic world is starting to embrace the study of bamboo and its many multifaceted benefits across a range of industries. 

“We believe bamboo is very much the building material of the future,” she explains, “and we’re looking forward to its versatility and sustainability being recognised on a larger scale in many industries in Australia.

The real question is… does this truly benefit our environment at all? Does choosing the last of the Western Australian Jarrah (and trucking it across Australian) really beat using a fully sustainable product, like bamboo, which has a greater carbon sink? Even if it arrived by sea?

All too often we hear the response ‘Call me when bamboo is locally grown’, but are we really willing to wait until the forests are in true depletion until we consider alternatives? As we know, many species are actually not that far off – and there will come a point when you won’t see them available again for 30 years! That’s a long time to wait, for the sake of transport issues.

It’s clear that we need to renavigate this narrative so that our sustainable choices support effective carbon reductions and allow our land to be restored.

So why bamboo?

Simply, bamboo gives us the luxury of time; time to regrow, time to restore and time to rebuild. Jarrah, for example, takes a minimum of 150 years to reach maturity, and recently, we were asked to supply engineered bamboo for a project as there wasn’t enough timber to complete the build.

Bamboo is also an environmentally supportive crop. Research in Japan (among other studies) demonstrated that bamboo can absorb as much as 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year, giving the plant a potentially crucial role in stabilising our planet’s atmosphere. It also produces 35% more oxygen than many hardwoods. Bamboo can also work in many of Australia’s coastal areas much better than timber. It can prevent solid erosion due to its clumping root system; has a natural resistance to termites and has a quick growth rate.

Unfortunately, the rest of world is far ahead of Australian in bamboo farming and engineering, yet it’s clear that using bamboo would allow us to continue to build on our construction skills and create new agricultural initiatives and new jobs. However, it’s a two-way street. Designers can’t blinker themselves from the choices they make. The key is education and learning new materials so we can evolve our understanding of this product.

– Jennifer Snyders

Though bamboo offers many amazing benefits, we must make sure it is farmed in the right way; every plant needs the right cultivation to thrive. We need to work with our Chinese and international community to allow this to grow into something greater. This not about replacing one industry with another, it’s about allowing bamboo to work alongside timber, to give us greater options.

However, we need support and expertise to grow an industry. Climate change does not start or stop at the border and neither should our carbon neutral options.

While some forward-looking visionaries were joining the growing environmental movement, larger ecological issues were far from mainstream Australian society and industry.

Looking into the future

However, my father, Mark Snyders, wanted to change that. Even back then he had his mind firmly set on encouraging Australians to use sustainable materials that were more suitable to our environment. 

A trained engineer, he had worked in Asia for many years and had noticed that instead of building solid, heavy houses, the builders in some Asian countries would simply gather together raw materials from the environment around them and build a comfortable house to live in for the moment. 

If the house was destroyed by a storm or simply wore out with old age, they would then return all the materials back to the earth and gather up new materials to build again.

Essentially, my father began to recognise the personal and global benefits of sustainable living. But, of course, no one called it that back then.

Building a legacy

So, in 1972, he decided to start a business importing bamboo products into Australia. To keep up with demand, he would travel to Asia on a regular basis, meeting and talking with craftspeople in small village communities about their bamboo crops and asking about the products they could produce for him. 

He ended up making lasting relationships with people who would hand-make blinds, wall coverings and slatted wall tiles from the bamboo they grew themselves in nearby plantations. 

The regular money he paid the villagers for their products enabled them to become more self-sufficient, sustaining them through the lean times. He was very proud of that because he believed that true sustainability is not just about the environment, but economic sustainability, as well.

Proud to carry on

That’s why, as his daughter, I’m so proud to build on his legacy. To continue the work he started and, to this day, continue to deal with many of the same villages (as well as many others) where he made connections over 50 years ago. 

At the House of Bamboo, we still empower small communities to keep living in a sustainable manner, both environmentally and economically, while they help us to become more sustainable, and ironically, more like them. 

This is what I see as my role today as CEO. I’m continuing the sustainable family legacy my father started way back in 1972, as well as spreading the message of sustainable living in the process. This is what gets me out of bed every morning… albeit very, very early!

That’s the idea behind Europe’s first large-scale commercial bamboo forest in the Alcoutim region of Southern Portugal. Starting with just 150 hectares of planting, BambooLogic (the organisation behind the project) plans on expanding the new bamboo farm to an impressive 2000 hectares. 

While this region in Portugal receives little rainfall, high temperatures and has some arid land, bamboo can grow virtually anywhere and so far, the plantation is thriving. 

The Demand for Bamboo 

European consumers, like Australians, have fallen in love with bamboo. After all, it is an incredibly sustainable building material and growing it in Europe will substantially reduce the cost and energy used to transport it.

Surprisingly, Europe is the biggest export market for Asian bamboo products in the world, so those transport costs are currently substantial. BambooLogic hopes this plantation, when mature, will help to provide a cost-effective local alternative. 

Based in The Netherlands, BambooLogic plans to plant more bamboo crops in addition to this one in Spain, Italy and Greece to meet the demand.

A Sustainable Crop

As the world’s fastest growing plant, bamboo already has an extremely low carbon footprint; it stores four times more carbon than trees and produces 35% more oxygen than a timber forest. 

It’s also a relatively easy crop to grow as it needs far less water than timber and it doesn’t need fertilisers or pesticides. As it’s actually a grass, it keeps growing back from its complex root system every time it is harvested. No need for soil preparation or seed sowing.

This root system helps prevent soil erosion, and because bamboo can grow in most environments, it is currently being used in reforestation programs to rehabilitate the soil.

Why Not in Australia?

The apparent success of this first plantation raises the question, why hasn’t a large-scale bamboo industry been considered for Australia? 

Not only do we have space and environment for it but having a local bamboo industry would help meet the growing demand for bamboo products in Australia. 

A local Australian bamboo industry would also help reduce our carbon emissions, create jobs and help us produce one of the world’s most sustainable commodities for our own use. 

As the CSIRO has just confirmed, Australia is officially getting warmer with less cool-season rain, so this kind of planting would also help with reforestation and soil erosion and would reduce our use of harmful pesticides or herbicides. 

So often we hear misinformation about how new bamboo products are manufactured – this is what we are driving to change and asking the building industry to listen and learn that not all products are created equal. High-quality timber alternatives are being made that aren’t full of chemicals – that meet and often exceed the sustainability merits of timber. We need to look at our practices, our projects and ask for more change and say can “I do it better?” The more the industry grows the more we can invest in Australian Bamboo. The good news is it’s growing.

Engineered Bamboo

The most exciting product to come out of the bamboo industry recently is engineered bamboo, which is very much like timber but superior in many ways. It is machined to a square edge so it can be used anywhere timber is and it’s actually more sustainable, lighter, stronger and more flexible than timber as well.

With a thriving bamboo growing industry in Australia, we could produce our own engineered bamboo here. Then perhaps more local architects would be encouraged to design with bamboo, more local builders would suggest it for their builds and more consumers would expect to see it in their renovations and new homes.

Until then, House of Bamboo continues to work with other Australian companies to encourage discussion, troubleshoot and promote the idea of large-scale plantations in some of the areas in Australia that need it the most.

Contact us if you want to learn more about new bamboo practice. We also offer CPD presentations to Architects and Designers for a more in-depth study of new developments. Visit our website to see more projects

Did you know Australia needs a dramatic increase in its emissions reduction targets to stay in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global warming to well below 2C?

An independent group of Australia’s most senior climate scientists and policymakers have released a report showing the nation’s targets fall well short of what’s required.

The group called the Climate Targets Panel, found Australia’s 2030 emissions target essentially needs to be doubled. At the moment, Australia has a target to reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

But the report found this would need to be increased to 50 per cent if Australia wanted to be consistent with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming to well below 2C.

What does this have to do with what bamboo you ask?

Well, due to its fast growth it absorbs 4x the carbon dioxide of trees from the atmosphere providing 30% more oxygen in return. This is locked for a long time not only on the plantation but in the high number of building materials produced from harvested bamboo.

When you combine bamboo’s potential displacement factor with bamboo’s carbon storage rate, bamboo can sequester enormous sums – from 200 to almost 400 tonnes of carbon per hectare.*

There are so many possibilities for bamboo to support and impact our land and quality of life. Bamboo is not a poor man’s timber, in fact, it offered us an amazing opportunity to have a dual “timber” industry that protects the land and supports a positive climate investment.

House of Bamboo is committed to increasing the knowledge about bamboo and educating all industries about how it can support land regeneration, soil erosion and creating an effective carbon sink.

If you are looking to invest in sustainable materials for your next build, please contact us to find out more.

#earthday #bamboofacts #whybamboo #investinbamboo #bamboo #bambooaustralia #sustainability #sustainablematerials #sustainablebuilding #climatechange #inbar #climatesupport #environment

INBAR

www.news.com.au

The simple fact is that the world harvests more trees than it is able to plant. The numbers are alarming. 15 billion trees harvested per year vs 5 billion planted. With a net loss of 10 billion trees every year we could see the loss of all trees within 300 years. Here is a series of solutions unique to bamboo and should help illuminate its potential.

Bamboo vs Timber: Progress in Months vs Decades

The attempt to reduce carbon emissions within the construction industry means that timber is fast becoming a replacement for concrete, aluminium and steel. The benefits of this are twofold – we reduce emissions by dampening demand for the likes of concrete, aluminium and steel and instead use timber which can absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in its biomass.  However, while this is an admirable initiative it only feeds the decline of timber stock.

Bamboo on the other hand functions in a similar way to timber – in terms of carbon absorption but the key difference is its superior rate of growth. The faster growth rate of bamboo means that it can absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere in a shorter amount of time. Additionally, it must be noted that In its first year a single bamboo stalk can grow up to 20m compared to timber which grows at a rate of about 35-45m every 25 years. Timber measures its progress in years whilst bamboo measures its progress within months. The more we embrace bamboo the quicker we can overcome deforestation.

One of the main attractions of bamboo is that its forests don’t need to be ‘cleared’, in the same way that timber forests are. Therefore a bamboo harvest has much less impact on the land and the ecosystems within it. 

When harvesting bamboo it is does not need to be re planted i.e. bamboo can be harvested many times over from the same plant. The bamboo has a unique rhizome root system which exists underground and continues to shoot unaffected by any harvesting..so there is no need for planting and no destruction of land.

How Growing Populations will Benefit from Bamboo

As we can grow bamboo faster than timber it is a no-brainer that we use bamboo to fundamentally shift the way we look at construction in order to help with chronic shortages of affordable and sustainable housing globally. The preferred scenario is one where Bamboo is grown locally, however challenges arise in countries where bamboo is not traditionally grown, limiting its availability for construction biomass.

In the Philippines, Base, a local company, has harnessed abundant local bamboo resources to engineer affordable housing solutions in areas grappling with housing supply. By utilising locally grown bamboo and employing cement bamboo frame technology, Base creates eco-friendly homes, exemplifying the potential of a circular economy and local material utilisation.

In regions without access to bamboo, companies like BamCore have established partnerships beyond their geographic boundaries to build supply chains that benefit local communities and regenerate agricultural areas. BamCore, based in California, spearheads carbon-negative construction. It developed the BamCore Prime Wall, a scalable, prefabricated wall system with a carbon footprint below zero.

BamCore’s story stands out for its emphasis on cultivating a supply chain that supports innovative technologies. They actively promote bamboo planting in deforested tropical areas and aim to restore lands and stimulate economies in remote villages.

Why Bamboo Plantations are Needed on Every Continent

In locations where bamboo is scarce there are further advances. Bamboo Logic, a European company, invests in the establishment of bamboo forests across the continent. By building bamboo plantations and selling carbon credits, Bamboo Logic contributes to Europe’s carbon goals. This pioneering initiative addresses the lack of local biomass in Europe and enables businesses to leverage bamboo’s benefits while reducing carbon emissions.

Bamboo Logic’s infrastructure provides the necessary framework for large-scale bamboo cultivation. This makes it easier for businesses to embrace bamboo as a sustainable building material and participate in carbon credit markets.

Through these various endeavours, bamboo emerges as a versatile and sustainable solution for construction, offering an opportunity to alleviate housing shortages while promoting environmental stewardship and supporting local communities.

Why Regeneration is the Essence of Bamboo

Agricultural expansion is one of the biggest drivers of deforestation. As the population grows, more land is needed for farming; this leads to the clearing of forests and the need to build new infrastructure in order to support or facilitate these new areas of agriculture. This includes- the need to build new roads, create irrigation systems, the expansion of rural settlements which also leads to the building of new housing, schools and medical services. All of these factors can contribute to the fragmentation of ecosystems, loss of wildlife and increased soil erosion. 

An important feature of bamboo is its ability to restore problem soils. Bamboo thrives on problem soils and steep slopes which means that it can restore degraded lands and thrive in areas where traditional woods may not. The features of bamboo that make this possible are its extensive root system – that helps anchor the soil which in turn prevents erosion. 

Bamboo also has a tolerance to acidic and alkaline soils which means that it can thrive in areas where other plants may not. This versatility means that bamboo needent compete with agriculturally productive areas in the same way that timber forests do. Agriculture and timber forests need certain conditions in order to thrive whilst bamboo doesn’t.

In the final analysis, bamboo is a key part of the solution to deforestation. Its rapid growth rate, versatility and eco-friendliness make it an excellent option for those looking to reduce their environmental footprint. By using bamboo as an alternative to traditional hardwoods or planting it for reforestation purposes, bamboo can help protect and preserve our planet’s forests and the critical ecosystems that rely upon them.

While bamboo can go a long way in promoting sustainability and combating deforestation, it is important that we continue to strive for a comprehensive approach to environmental sustainability in all areas of our lives. By working collaboratively towards versatile and sustainable practices, we can protect and restore our planet for future generations.

Jennifer Snyders

BScArch | CEO

House of Bamboo

Bamboo: Beyond the Tiki Bar Aesthetic

Bamboo can conjure images of tropical landscapes, Tiki bars, and decorative elements. This charming, textural element is not the only feature of bamboo worth noting. The engineering of bamboo has provided a new resource that can help offset Australia’s timber shortage and ultimately become a partner to the timber and construction industries.

The drive to reduce carbon emissions by the construction industry has meant it has started to look at new ways to make their practices greener. The overall goal is to reduce the amount of ‘embodied carbon’ within construction. Embodied carbon refers to the total carbon emissions released during construction, renovation, and demolition. As such we have seen the proliferation of a number of so-called ‘green buildings’ being built across the world, including Australia.

One of the ways to reduce emissions is to increase the use of lumber in construction. By reducing the use of materials like concrete and then including greener materials such as timber – the construction industry can start to achieve their goals. However, questions have been raised about the true sustainability of this practice.

The main concern with timber demand is that any increase will put pressure on timber stocks that are already strained. We have recently experienced supply issues due to the bushfires of 2019-2020 and COVID-19. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also had a heavy impact on timber supply out of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Trade sanctions on Russia and Belarus have only deepened these timber shortages.

One option to help mitigate these shortages is to use engineered bamboo. In this process bamboo fibres are bonded together under high pressure to produce materials for construction. Engineered bamboo offers enhanced strength, durability, and dimensional stability, making it an excellent substitute for traditional timber. In fact, it can be stronger than many hardwood species, making it suitable for demanding structural applications.

Engineered Bamboo: Redefining Strength and Durability

Dimensional stability is another critical attribute of engineered bamboo. Traditional bamboo materials as with any natural material are prone to expansion and contraction due to changes in moisture and temperature. Through the manufacturing process of engineered bamboo, fibres are aligned and compressed significantly reducing the material’s susceptibility to these stresses. This dimensional stability ensures that engineered bamboo maintains its structural integrity over time, even under challenging environmental conditions.

The timber equivalent to engineered bamboo is CLT (Cross Laminated Timber). CLT falls under the mass timber umbrella as a product engineered for strength comparable with concrete. It is these technologies that will be employed by the construction industry as they construct greener buildings. Engineered bamboo however offers other benefits to CLT as it builds upon the inherent sustainability as a rapidly renewable resource unlike timber.

When it comes to bamboo – nothing goes to waste. Engineered bamboo utilises bamboo stems that have reached maturity and the appropriate level of strength of density – this takes approximately 5-7 years. Whereas the softwood timber used to make CLT takes upwards of 30+ years to reach a level of maturity suitable for production. Engineered bamboo is a strong contender to CLT, making it a good alternate choice while not relying on a depleting forest industry.

How Engineered Bamboo Can Help Solve Skyrocketing Timber Wastage

A point must be made regarding waste when it comes to timber harvesting. A 2019 report released by the Sustainable Built Environment Research Centre of Australia provided statistics on timber waste from around the world and found that in 2016-2017 Australia generated more than 2 million tonnes of timber waste in the year reported. 25.8% of this waste was attributed to the construction and demolition sector.

Another more recent study conducted by Dr Jen Sanger for the Trees Project found that when harvesting timber in NSW approximately 60% of the total biomass is left on site. Half of this is woody debris that is left on site and the rest is burnt. In contrast bamboo harvests the mature culm (stem) leaving behind the root, which remains in place in order to re-grow another stem for a future harvest.

We can further reduce the need for timber and put less pressure on already limited supply by utilising engineered bamboo for elements such as beams, posts, trusses, flooring, wall cladding and even roofing material.

Australia’s Construction Landscape Goes Green: The Rise of Sustainable Buildings

Some examples of new local hybrid timber buildings include: the world’s tallest hybrid timber tower being built by tech giant Atlassian in Sydney; the Boola Katitjin at Murdoch University in Western Australia and T3 Collingwood – a 15 level hybrid timber office in Melbourne.

These buildings will be setting a benchmark for sustainability. Atlassian’s building has targeted a 50% reduction in embodied carbon (embodied carbon is the carbon dioxide emissions associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building). This is a fantastic target, however both Atlassian and the Boola Katitjin building have needed to resort to importing timber from Europe as softwood timber supplies needed for CLT are in short supply within Australia. If engineered bamboo had been incorporated into these designs, both projects would be making even further strides towards the sustainable future they envisage.

The T3 Collingwood building will receive a $70 million investment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The building hopes to lower embodied carbon by 34%. It is this sort of investment and commitment that we need for the bamboo industry. Bamboo provides a viable and sustainable alternative to Australia’s critically depleted timber stocks for the construction of green buildings. Bamboo’s rapid growth, renewability and versatility make it an attractive resource that deserves funding and support. By investing in the bamboo sector, governments can further reduce emissions, build new industries and protect local forests.