{"id":11530,"date":"2023-10-10T11:14:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T00:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=11530"},"modified":"2024-10-21T20:27:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T10:27:37","slug":"bluescope-backs-clt-toolbox-start-up-to-drive-net-zero-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/bluescope-backs-clt-toolbox-start-up-to-drive-net-zero-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"Bluescope Backs CLT Toolbox Start-Up to Drive Net Zero Buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bluescope is among a consortium of investors backing\u00a0CLT Toolbox<\/em><\/a>, a software package that removes ‘bottlenecks’ and helps engineers design buildings using mass timber construction systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Melbourne-based CLT Toolbox <\/em><\/a>has developed an advanced technology solution for the construction sector for all timber products – and it is already driving adoption across the construction industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, Wood Central reported on the software launch, which “aims to eliminate embodied carbon from the construction process.”<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past six months, it has worked with several tier-one engineering firms in Australia and worldwide and will launch to the mass market on October 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not the first investment by Bluescope in forest products after it announced in May<\/a> that it would use pulverised woody biochar to decarbonise its steelmaking production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded by Adam Jones and Ringo Thomas, the seed investment now values the company at AU $8.5M, with the AU $1.5m capital raised by the venture capitalists funding its expansion into the European market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last few years, there has been a surge in interest in mass timber products<\/a>, but there has been a shortage of structural engineers available to sign off on the material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In Australia, we have about 10,000 structural engineers and only 30 of them are timber specialists,” Mr Jones told the AFR yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Red
Demand for cross-laminated timber is surging, with Red Stag Timberlab home to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest cross-laminated timber plant in Rotorua, New Zealand. Opened in 2021, it will be used to make and store CLT panels. It measures a massive 161 metres long by 60 metres wide. (Photo Credit: Hawkins)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the demand for cross-laminated timber expected to triple by 2030<\/a>, the potential for the software is seemingly endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Wood Central spoke exclusively to Adam Jones, who is flying to Ethiopia to visit CLT Toolbox’s Addis Ababa office.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Without experience, resources and education – new timber solutions are likely to be proposed,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This software can help us rapidly reduce the time it takes to adopt reduced carbon solutions and accelerate the industry’s decarbonisation movement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the UN published its blueprint for a net-zero construction industry<\/a>, demonstrating that replacing steel and concrete with biobased materials, including timber, will reduce emissions by 40%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“However, more policy and financial support is needed to ensure the widespread adoption of renewable bio-based building materials,” the UN said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The UN reports that thanks to rapid urbanisation, every day, the world adds buildings equivalent to the size of Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The investment is backed by Bluescope’s venture capital arm, BluescopeX, Aconex co-founder Rob Phillpot’s Gravel Road, who in 2018 sold construction tech company legendarily <\/em>for AU $1.6b.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also includes Australian venture capitalist firms Flying Fox Ventures, ClimateTech-focused Ecotone Ventures and Angel Investors Jodie Imam, Adrian Hondros (former CEO of collapsed builder Porter Davis<\/a>), and Peter Lam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before co-founding CLT Toolbox, Mr Thomas was the first employee and head of Sales for Everest Engineering, a software engineering company that former Aconex employees founded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is software for steel and concrete that does structural designs, (but) for mass timber or cross-laminated timber, there’s nothing even close to as advanced as what you for the traditional materials,” Mr Thomas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLT Toolbox already has a team of 10 software engineers in Indonesia and nine structural engineers in Addis Ababa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new backing will add another ten employees to the team, with Mr Jones revealing to Wood Central in June that the employees<\/a> have an equity stake in the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lelissie
Lelissie Bedada (left) has been appointed Head of Engineering and Wendirad Bedane Technical Lead for CLT Toolbox as it expands its global reach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Mr Jones, Ethiopia is home to the “world’s best engineers I have come across,” and plans to scale up the office to 15 members by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The push into Ethiopia is about providing equal opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While Addis Ababa, Ethiopia boasts 11 prestigious technical universities, unemployment rates among graduates outside of academia remain high.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By establishing our presence in Ethiopia, CLT Toolbox aims to catalyse positive change.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We strive to make environmental contributions through making mass timber design accessible to all engineers while simultaneously creating economic opportunities within the Addis Ababa community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, it announced that its new CLT Beam Calculator will be part of the latest software, allowing users to check CLT in-plane shear strength. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bluescope is among a consortium of investors backing\u00a0CLT Toolbox, a software package that removes ‘bottlenecks’ and helps engineers design buildings using mass timber construction systems. The Melbourne-based CLT Toolbox has developed an advanced technology solution for the construction sector for all timber products – and it is already driving adoption across the construction industry. In March, Wood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[80,3,52,50,37,36,53,32,46,39],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[69],"class_list":{"0":"post-11530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa","8":"category-architecture","9":"category-asia","10":"category-australia","11":"category-building-and-construction","12":"category-education","13":"category-europe","14":"category-global-news","15":"category-industry","16":"category-mass-timber"},"authors":[{"term_id":69,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"woodcentral","display_name":"Wood Central","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MASTER-BRAND-MARK_POS_RGB-e1676449549955.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MASTER-BRAND-MARK_POS_RGB-e1676449549955.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11530"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11537,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11530\/revisions\/11537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11530"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=11530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}