That is according to a peer-reviewed study published this year in npj Natural Hazards, which used the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) and an ensemble of dynamically downscaled CMIP6 climate projections to model how extreme fire weather will evolve under different levels of global warming.

Across Australia, once-in-twenty-year and once-in-fifty-year extreme fire events are projected to become 2.7 and 3.7 times more likely under 3°C of global warming. Whilst in southeast Australia’s eucalyptus forests those same benchmark events are projected to be 2.1-2.5 times more likely at the same warming level.

Tasmania faces the sharpest trajectory of any region studied.

Under 3°C of warming, 20-year return interval fire weather events are projected to become 3.2 times more likely, whilst 50-year return interval events are projected to become 4.1 times more likely. And even at 2°C of warming, Tasmania’s equivalent risk multipliers are 2.0 and 2.3, respectively.

The study, led by Ryan McGloin, warns that the Tasmanian findings warrant special attention, describing the projections as “particularly significant given Tasmania’s history of destructive bushfires and unique and vulnerable ecosystems that are potentially at risk of being replaced by more flammable vegetation when exposed to more frequent fires.”

The warning is grounded in history. The 1967 Black Tuesday fires killed 62 people and destroyed nearly 3,000 structures across southern Tasmania. Whilst in January 2013, fires razed 203 homes in the village of Dunalley alone. And unlike mainland forests, Tasmania’s vegetation mosaic — fire-sensitive rainforests, alpine shrublands and wet forests — faces a feedback loop in which more frequent fires progressively shift the landscape towards more flammable, fire-adapted vegetation.

A cycle, the authors say, has no natural brake.

The drivers differ by region. In Tasmania and southern Victoria, for example, projected increases in extreme fire weather are driven primarily by rising maximum temperatures, compounded by declining spring rainfall, which lifts the drought factor and lowers relative humidity on the continent’s worst fire days.

In the subtropical eucalyptus forests of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, increasing humidity associated with a shift towards positive phases of the Southern Annular Mode partially moderates the temperature impact, resulting in the study’s lowest projected increases. There, 20-year and 50-year return interval events are still projected to become 1.8 and 2.0 times more likely at 3°C — figures the researchers describe as not immaterial.

Spring has emerged as the season of greatest concern. Severe fire weather days (FFDI ≥ 50) are projected to rise substantially in north-western and central Australia, while Very High fire weather days (FFDI between 24 and 50) are projected to increase in both the north and south. The pattern points to an earlier onset and overall lengthening of the fire season — with a shrinking window for hazard-reduction burns, a direct operational consequence for fire agencies.

The study — authored by Ryan McGloin, Ralph Trancoso, Jozef Syktus, Rohan Eccles, Nathan Toombs and Andrew Dowdy — is the first to apply the latest CMIP6 downscaled projections under different global warming levels to fire weather extremes specifically for southeast Australia’s eucalyptus forests.

For more information: McGloin, R., Trancoso, R., Syktus, J. et al. Substantial increases in the likelihood of extreme fire weather events for fire-prone ecosystems in Australia. npj Nat. Hazards 3, 28 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44304-026-00193-9

Slated to open later this year, the $1.45 billion, 39-storey ‘plyscraper’ will eventually contain more than 30,000 cubic metres of timber — shipped by European giants Stora Enso and Wiehag — across 21 storeys of the tower, with seven four-storey’ timber habitats’ sandwiched between steel-and-concrete mega floor plates above a seven-storey concrete podium.

And the glass panels going up are anything but conventional.

Spanish BIPV manufacturer Onyx Solar — working through Australian building products supplier Metz — is installing 1,794 crystalline silicon solar louvres across the tower’s active facade as part of a bespoke 247 kWp system. Speaking to PV Magazine Australia earlier this month, Onyx Solar revealed that each unit carries 28 mono-crystalline cells in a 4+4 mm glass configuration and produces 138 Wp at peak output. “The louvres also form a self-shading system that cuts direct solar heat gain internally,” Onya Solar said, turning the tower’s skin into a “vertical power source.”

Designed by BVN and New York-based SHoP, each ‘habitat’ comprises four floors of timbered space stacked inside a steel exoskeleton, eliminating the need for internal columns. “The timber floors are connected to the concrete floors via drag straps,” said Tim Allen, timber structural lead for TTW, who spoke at Timber Construct — Australia’s only timber construction conference — in late 2024. “Why build a 39-storey building partly out of timber?” Allen said. “Because it comes down to using the right timber for the right application.”

Whilst in October last year, Peter Morley, the Dexus project director overseeing the build, said the team had “broken the back on the most technical, structural phase of the project,” with the hybrid timber approach allowing the developers “to bring the building up quicker and get the façade on quicker than a more traditional build.”

“That’s because we’re jumping up five levels every time, and while we’re going up, we’re coming back and infilling with the timber within each of those five-storey zones,” Morley said. Atlassian Central is co-owned by Dexus and Atlassian, with Built and Japanese construction giant Obayashi appointed as builders, confirming the building remains “on schedule” for a 2026 opening, with the tech giant expected to take over five of the seven habitats in late 2028 following a full fit-out.

At street level, crews are also well advanced on a new pedestrian connection from Railway Colonnade Drive to the Devonshire Street Tunnel entrance — the heritage passage running beneath Central Station between Lee Street and Devonshire Street — which will, for the first time, allow pedestrians to access the tunnel directly from the colonnade as part of Central’s broader Third Square redevelopment.

It comes after the Coalition and the Greens crossed the aisle to force the Australian National University to hand over documents underpining the method.

The motion put by NSW Nationals Senator Ross Cadell, a long-time supporter of Australia’s $23 billion forest-based industries, orders the ANU to produce substantive written communications between its staff and the federal environment department DCCEEW; consultancy and research services agreements connected to the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee; and gift deeds or gift forms tied to work undertaken by Professor Andrew Macintosh.

One of the key drivers of this Order of Production of Documents (OPD) was that the Emissions Reduction Assurance Commission is currently considering whether to recommend that the Minister approve this method despite the ANU not making the primary documentation available to the public during the consultation process, thereby denying Australia’s forest scientists the ability to test the proposed method’s calculations

Wood Central understands that the decision by the Greens and key crossbench Senators to back the motion is of key consequence. “These strange bedfellows are far from natural allies,” according to Stuart Coppock, a lawyer with legal standing on the model. “And their calculation is simple — they want to know who has been funding the Macintosh model and why…including a focus on the gift deeds.”

It comes after ERAC Chair Professor Karen Hussey last year confirmed to a Senate committee that the New South Wales Great Great Koala National Park, which will take out 40% of the state’s hardwood supply, cannot be established without its approval.

The ACCUs generated under the scheme are the funding mechanism.

If the documents that come back show that external interests have impacted the science underpinning the method, it calls into question the integrity of a method put forward by the New South Wales Department of Environment and Heritage.

Wood Central understands there have been sustained concerns across the sector for some time, centred on two specific failures. “It suffers from key integrity failures, particularly additionality and leakage, and does not meet the evidence-based standard required by the Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee,” Coppock said. And on leakage, the argument is blunt.

Underpinning concerns are a genuine scientific dispute over carbon storage. “Does halting harvesting in Australian native forests produce the long-term sequestration that the Macintosh model claims? The majority of independent peer reviewers say no,” another source said. “So do scientists work inside the NSW Government. So does ABARES — the research arm of the Commonwealth’s own Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The method does not meet the evidence-based standard that the ERAC is legally required to apply.”

When the documents are produced, the Senate will see whether the model was built to find an answer or to deliver one.

The ANU will have to answer either way.

That is according to the latest ABARES Agricultural Commodities Report, published yesterday, which revealed that the gross value of forestry (GVP) production is expected to reach $2.23 billion in 2026-27 — a 3 per cent nominal increase or a 1 per cent real increase. And over the medium term, the GVP is projected to drop back $2.1 billion, with no material growth expected until at least 2030-31.

By the numbers, total gross value production in forests has dropped by 36 per cent over the past eight years — from about $3.4 billion in 2017-18 — with softwood relatively steady at about $1.5 billion, hardwood plantations flatlining at $0.5 billion and native forest continuing what is now a 20-year decline.

According to Diana Hallam, CEO of the Australian Forest Products Association, whilst the topline figures point to the vital role of sustainable forestry in producing essential products, the report also identified serious challenges and headwinds for the sector.

“Some of these challenges and risks include high manufacturing and energy costs, greater use of structural steel in residential and mid-rise construction, as well as a growing amount of imported timber products of varying quality flooding the Australian marketplace, including from China,” she said.

Hallam said the new estimates also reaffirmed the importance of aligning the government’s policy with Australia’s Timber Fibre Strategy, which outlines opportunities for the industry to make a greater contribution to national goals in carbon, innovation, and housing construction.

Softwood up, hardwood down, native at historic lows

The value of softwood plantation production is forecast to increase slightly in 2026-27, driven by short-term movements in detached housing demand. But ABARES warns that a gradual shift toward higher-density dwellings is expected to temper timber demand over the medium term, whilst projected increases in softwood log availability will ease unit prices.

Hardwood plantation production, however, is heading the other way.

And that’s because ongoing shifts in global paper markets are placing downward pressure on woodchip demand, whilst Vietnam’s growing share of global trade — combined with projected exchange rate changes — is continuing to erode Australia’s competitiveness overseas. ABARES expects Australian hardwood woodchip exports to settle at similar volumes but lower unit prices, with Australia holding a smaller, more specialised role in the market.

And then there is native forestry, where production has now fallen to historically low levels following 20 years of contraction driven by the transfer of multiple-use public native forests to nature conservation reserves and increased harvest restrictions.

A $570 million downward revision

ABARES has slashed its forestry forecast by more than $570 million — a 21 per cent revision from its December report — with exports the major driver of the writedown, down more than $619 million amid weaker production and prices.

It comes days after this masthead reported on a new white paper from the Rozetta Institute arguing that Australia needs a national roadmap to boost forest productivity and encourage new capital into the market.

On Friday, Wood Central spoke to the white paper’s lead author, Steve Walker, Principal of Terrafolia Advisory, and co-author Dr Lyndall Bull, who revealed that Australian plantations produce just 15 to 18 cubic metres per hectare per year against international benchmarks of 30 to 50.

And on Monday, Walker went further, telling Wood Central the sector’s decades-long focus on cost discipline had come at the expense of genuine value creation. “Lifting productivity on the land already planted is the fastest and most scalable opportunity,” Walker said. “International benchmarks in Brazil, India, Vietnam and China demonstrate that 30 to 50 cubic metres per hectare per year is achievable using proven technologies already available.”

“If we can do this, we can ultimately strengthen our capacity to produce more competitive engineered wood products like LVL and other EWPs,” he said, adding that the downstream benefits could add tens of millions of dollars to regional communities.

• For more information, including the ABARES full March 2026 Agricultural Commodities Report, visit the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

“We have been here before, and the team knows what to do. We are part of a whole-of-industry, as well as community, coordinated effort and we will certainly be doing our bit here in Tumba,” Hyne Timber Tumbarumba Site Manager Kristina Kaminski said.

Kaminski said the mill’s experienced workforce is well prepared to handle the surge in fire-affected logs, noting the process involves stripping the burnt bark before converting the timber into quality sawn product for the housing construction sector.

“Once we get the burnt bark off the logs, we can process this into quality, sawn timber for housing construction,” she said. “We very much value the ongoing support of our customers who proudly back Aussie timber first and are very much part of our economic value-add to the Australian economy.”

A mill that has faced fire before — and recovered.

The Tumbarumba Mill is no stranger to bushfire recovery. The 2019–20 Black Summer fires decimated 40 per cent of Hyne’s long-term log supply in the region, triggering a multi-year campaign to secure alternative feedstock and government-backed investment in new infrastructure.

In late 2024, the mill completed a $5 million, 4,700-square-metre storage facility — jointly funded by the Australian and NSW governments — to protect rough-sawn, kiln-dried timber from weather exposure and maximise the value of every log processed on site.

The Tumbarumba facility, which Hyne purchased and redeveloped in 2001, processes approximately 620,000 cubic metres of log annually — the equivalent of around 22,200 timber-framed homes — with zero wastage. All by-products generated are either used as biofuel to power the mill’s heat plant or sold on to customers such as Visy in Tumut.

With more than 200 direct employees and hundreds more supported indirectly through the regional supply chain, the mill remains the single largest employer in the Snowy Valleys — and its readiness to absorb fire-damaged sawlog at scale will be critical to the success of the broader salvage effort now ramping up across the Upper Murray.

• To read Wood Central’s earlier coverage on the broader salvage operation across the Upper Murray, click here.

Now, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) — the country’s largest hardwood processor — says a $600,000 AFWI-funded research project is helping the industry find its way forward, with new species, new engineered products and new performance data that could change how timber windows are specified in Australia.

Daniel Wright, ASH’s National Business Development Manager, told Wood Central that window manufacturers are a big part of the company’s supply chain — from commodity and painted windows through to high-end architectural manufacturers — mostly across south-eastern states, but with a growing presence in northern New South Wales.

And Wright said the fallout from the decision to cease harvesting in Victorian forests has been immediate. “The window manufacturers of south-east Australia have been forced into a lot of change with the cessation of native timber in Victoria — just like we have,” he said. “But they also have upcoming changes to the NCC, which will structurally change how many of them operate.”

“Of course, what impacts our supply chain also impacts us.”

That disruption created confusion. “We’ve recently seen imported plantation timbers in the window market that don’t meet the specs they are intended for,” Wright said. “This was a direct result of Victoria’s hardwood being suddenly ceased. The window makers were trying to do the right thing, but were forced to make quick decisions.”

As one of the major stakeholders in the AFWI–AGWA Modernising Timber Windows project, led jointly by the Timber Development Association and the Australian Glass and Window Association, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods is providing timber species for testing their performance in modern systems.

“When we were asked to be involved, we saw this project as an opportunity to work together and help the window makers collectively find pathways forward that not only suit their specific needs, but also comply with upcoming changes to the NCC,” Wright said.

The project is also a chance for ASH to advance one of its newer species — Plantation Oak — as the company rebuilds markets lost when Victorian ash was taken away. Made from Shining Gum logs grown in a plantation for pulp, Plantation Oak is upgraded by ASH into higher-end, longer-term applications. Wright said a small part of every log can be used for architectural applications, but the majority needs to be engineered to get the best out of it.

“We’ve had success with Plantation Oak in MASSLAM, but in order to use this fibre in other market segments, we need to help build the standards and examples that everyone can follow with confidence,” he said. ASH is one of 10 timber suppliers involved in the project, alongside the Pentarch Group and others.

Now, the testing programme is about to shift up a gear.

Speaking to Wood Central today, Kylan Low — the Structural Engineer at the Timber Development Association leading the project — said next week’s round will put four configurations through their paces: a double-hung window, an awning and casement window, an awning and double casement window, and a centre bifold door. Low said the configurations are designed to capture various hardware setups used across the industry and will be tested under combined air and water pressure for durations representing storm periods.

In January, Low told Wood Central that the industry had been craving this kind of data for a very long time: “Window data hasn’t kept up with changes in codes, glazing, and timber supply.”

The project has also given a platform to the next generation. Jesse Ross — a Graduate Engineer at AGWA who has been working alongside Low since the project’s inception — recently shared his reflections on what has become his first major engineering project. Ross said that, unlike uPVC and aluminium systems, there was no prime operator in the timber window sector, meaning the entire system had to be built from the ground up.

Early testing revealed that some Australian hardwoods, such as Spotted Gum and Blackbutt, could outperform European staples. But given the project’s focus on species substitution, the team chose to work with the lowest passing species it could find. Designs have settled on 55/58 mm sash profiles with 24 mm glazing pockets, accommodating modern insulated glass units and manufacturable by small-scale workshops.

Ross said the industry engagement phase — travelling to state forums, meeting joiners, hardware suppliers and timber providers — was one of the most eye-opening parts of the experience. He found some joineries still working with outdated designs that didn’t fully comply with AS 2047 or accommodate drained insulated glass units.

“I learned that innovation is not just about creating new ideas,” Ross wrote, “but also about making them accessible to your audience.” The documentation phase — technical manuals, substitution procedures, shop drawings — is now underway, aiming to give any Australian joinery everything it needs to start building with confidence.”

The Modernising Timber Windows project is one of 30 research initiatives funded through AFWI — a $200-million-plus institute backed by $100 million in Commonwealth funding. It is generating new structural and performance data across a range of solid and engineered wood products, testing how timbers perform under AS 2047, Australia’s mandatory standard for windows and external glazed doors.

• To learn more about the Australian Forest and Wood Innovations programme, visit AFWI’s dedicated website.

Backing Harrop’s pitch is the state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation, which, through its Yijia Symphony in China project, proves that it can build towers with a 92% assembly rate. As part of a new joint venture with Thrive Construct, the partnership can deliver 400-apartment developments in under 12 months — and in some cases, within eight months — with up to 65% fewer skilled workers required on site. And even at that volume, Harrop said, it represents just a single day’s manufacturing capacity, “and only a few hours’ worth of renewable plantation forest growth.”

Wood Central understands that the consortium is targeting the “missing middle”: inclusive, quality mid-rise apartments that Harrop argues have been neglected for decades in favour of investment-grade towers and sprawling outer-suburban detached housing. The Thrive Alliance plans to initiate a series of reference projects across metropolitan Australia, with designs led by one of the world’s leading architects.

Mid-rise precinct-style developments in the city fringe

And the need is acute. In Sydney, over 80% of housing demand is for apartments, with the ABC reporting this week that the collapse of the first-home market due to a lack of affordable apartments has now extended beyond metropolitan Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald also reported that around 10,000 new units are projected to be built annually over the next three years — but in the Parramatta region alone, home to around 10% of Australia’s population, it appears unlikely any affordable apartment towers will be built in the foreseeable future, as construction costs now exceed achievable sale prices.

In Western Sydney more broadly, Harrop warned, there is a “concerning lack of scalable plans” to provide affordable housing — a problem he attributes to the NSW Government’s rezoning policies and the absence of mandatory affordable housing requirements. Traditionally, apartments across Australia’s Eastern Seaboard have served as a stepping stone to home ownership, but Harrop said that pathway is “rapidly diminishing due to slow and inefficient custom construction costs” and a severe national shortage of skilled tradespeople now approaching 200,000.

According to data from the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, median-income households now need 50% of their income to service average mortgage repayments. Australia approved just 185,844 new homes in FY2024–25 — falling short by more than 54,000 against the National Housing Accord target of 240,000. The dwelling price-to-income ratio hit a record 8.2 in September 2025, according to Cotality data, with first-home buyers now facing an average 11-year wait just to save a deposit.

Compounding the supply shortage is a national shortfall of skilled tradespeople needed for apartment construction, which is now approaching 200,000, according to Harrop, who also said that rampant speculation triggered by recent government rezoning has resulted in land holdings surging 200% to 300%, with no affordable housing requirements attached. The result, he said, is that more than 3 million Sydneysiders are effectively locked out of the market, “particularly Baby Boomers looking to downsize near metropolitan railway stations and over 1 million essential workers in need of affordable rental options.”

And that pressure is already being felt across the city. Sydney’s public hospitals face significant shortages of essential workers, including teachers and aged care professionals. Key workers are being pushed to the outer suburbs and enduring daily commutes of four to five hours. Harrop warned the trend is contributing to the decline of Sydney’s CBD, “which is becoming less vibrant and more reliant on a Tuesday-to-Thursday presence, jeopardising the viability of countless small hospitality businesses.”

Harrop’s pitch arrives amid growing industry consensus that conventional construction simply cannot deliver housing at the speed or scale Australia needs. Last week, Wood Central reported that Goldman Sachs identified a major innovation gap in prefabricated technology, which in turn has widened the gap in construction productivity.

• To learn more about Thrive Construct’s plans, visit thriveconstruct.com.au. To learn more about Harrop’s plans for the world’s tallest timber hotel in Adelaide, click here.

That is according to Carlie Porteous, manager of the Murray Region Forestry Hub Softwoods Working Group, who revealed the recovered trees will have their burnt bark removed before being transported to mills in Wangaratta, Benalla and Tumbarumba, where they will be turned into furniture and structural timber, or to Visy’s Tumit mill, where they will be used for paper and packaging.

Speaking to local media, Porteous said the Working Group has already met with the federal government and is busy assisting the Towong, Snowy Valleys and Greater Hume councils in lobbying for additional funding to support local roads that will carry the increased haulage task.

“The salvage operation will take place over the next 10 months and will lead to an increased heavy‑vehicle haulage task on our local and regional roads,” she said, pointing to routes like the Shelley–Walwa Road, which is in major need of continual improvement.

Timber growers should receive the same disaster support as farmers.

As for disaster recovery, Porteous said the industry will continue working with all levels of government to ensure timber processors and growers have access to the same support as other primary industries.

“Trees take 30 years to grow, and therefore the impact of the fires on this industry is longer term than, say, cropping or livestock,” she said. And whilst the fires occurred in Victoria, the economic impact of the recovery will be felt primarily in southern NSW, where much of the timber processing occurs.

The operations follow Wood Central’s last month reporting that an estimated 11,000 hectares of HVP Plantations plantations were damaged by fire, including areas only recently replanted after the 2019–20 Black Summer fires. “Our readiness during last week’s extreme and catastrophic conditions has transitioned to the next phase of active firefighting,” HVP Plantions said in a statement last month. “While we’re still assessing the extent of the losses, our teams have been regrouping and reorganising for the long road ahead.”

• To learn more about Victoria’s bushfires, which burnt through more than 400,000 hectares of forest land, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.

That is according to a new report in News Limited mastheads, which revealed that the four men, three from Southport and one from Upper Coomera, had questions to answer in one of the country’s most sophisticated drug rings.

Wood Central understands that the timber was allegedly “soaped” in a solution of the drug, with up to ten tonnes of timber confiscated by NSW and Queensland police in Lismore, NSW and the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Last week, Wood Central reported that the discovery was made following a months‑long investigation by Strike Force Capulin, established by the NSW Drug and Firearms Squad in August 2025 after intelligence suggested timber planks had been chemically bonded with cocaine and were destined for extraction by an organised criminal group.

At the time, Police said the concealment method – where cocaine was chemically impregnated and then extracted from timber planks – is unusually sophisticated for an Australian operation, with investigators still examining where the tropical timber originated, how it was treated, and whether legitimate supply‑chain channels were exploited.

Detective Superintendent John Watson said the cross‑border operation was central to dismantling the alleged network. “Information flowed quickly, resources were shared, and the result is a major disruption to organised crime,” he said.

“Cross‑border crime requires cross‑border policing. This operation is a strong example of how collaboration delivers real results. Criminal groups continue to evolve their methods, and this attempt to conceal cocaine within timber products was highly calculated. Our teams were ready for it, and their action ensured drugs never made the streets.”

Meanwhile, Acting Detective Superintendent Brad Phelps said the coordinated effort allowed police to intervene before the drugs were extracted. “These actions resulted in disrupting this criminal activity and preventing a significant quantity of cocaine from making its way onto the streets and causing community harm.”

“This investigation highlights the lengths that organised criminal syndicates will go to in order to attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement agencies. This concealment methodology, of impregnating cocaine into timber planks, had not been detected in Queensland previously.”

• To read more about the sting, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from last week.

“Wesbeam has a foundation where capable, committed people are aligned to a clear purpose and take pride in what they deliver. My focus is on strengthening that culture while driving disciplined performance and operational excellence,” Everest said. “Wesbeam’s scale and national reach, combined with its reputation for quality and reliability, position us strongly as engineered timber continues to gain broader acceptance in residential and commercial construction.”

With an eye to the future, Everest said his focus is on disciplined execution and extracting full value from the platform already built. His priorities include operational excellence and productivity, safety leadership and capability development, strategic customer and stakeholder partnerships, sustainable and disciplined growth, and market expansion through innovation.

Asked why Wesbeam, Everest pointed to the company’s reputation for quality, reliability, and national reach — attributes that have cemented its role as a critical supplier to builders, merchants, and frame-and-truss manufacturers across the country. Wesbeam, he said, is a business built on “capable, committed people aligned to a clear purpose,” adding that strengthening that culture while driving disciplined performance will remain central to his leadership.

Wesbeam operates a world‑scale, 24/7 manufacturing facility in Neerabup, Western Australia, supported by a long‑term plantation timber supply agreement with the WA Government. That agreement provides a level of security and consistency that has become increasingly rare in a market grappling with supply‑chain volatility.

Everest also acknowledged the outstanding contribution of outgoing CEO James Malone, who retired after leading Wesbeam through major phases of growth and capability development. “James and the team have built strong foundations,” Everest said. “My focus is on respecting that legacy while helping the organisation continue to evolve, execute and perform.”

Founded in 2001, Wesbeam has grown into a nationally significant manufacturer with distribution hubs across Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The company employs just under 300 people and has been recognised as a Great Place to Work for three consecutive years, whilst investment in automation, plant upgrades and sustainability initiatives continues to lift productivity as Australia looks to expand housing supply and reduce the construction industry’s carbon footprint.

• To learn more about Wesbeam and its projects, click here for Wood Central’s special feature on Bluerock Project’s Tupy Gardens, a $25 million timber-framed apartment complex where Bluerock picked Wesbeam’s LVL over brick.