{"id":24694,"date":"2025-04-02T17:12:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T07:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=24694"},"modified":"2025-04-02T17:12:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T07:12:52","slug":"wood-features-in-green-building-progress-over-the-past-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wood-features-in-green-building-progress-over-the-past-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Wood Features in Green Building Progress Over the Past 25 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author and sustainability advocate Ken Hickson has shared his thoughts on the green building movement in Singapore and Australia for the past 25 years\u2014in some cases, he has been directly involved\u2014for the Singapore Green Building Council\u2019s bi-annual magazine SG Green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we provide some very relevant extracts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Kevin Hill and Venturer: Modern age pioneers for timber construction<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Mr Kevin Hill and Venturer Timberwork can be regarded as the pioneering advocates for timber buildings in the modern age, in Singapore, regionally, and even globally. He walks the talk. There are dozens of examples of his work\u2014in Glulam, CLT, and MET\u2014in Singaporean buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have worked with Kevin and his team to \u2018spread the word\u2019 about the incredible properties of timber for construction in the tropics. Even contributed personally to number of videos about his projects on the YouTube channel, irreverently entitled the \u2018Ministry of Tropical Construction\u2019 projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his most impressive works has been at Jurong Lake Gardens, involving six timber pavilions for the National Parks Board. This is one of the first projects to draw on the BCA incentive scheme to encourage the use of mass timber to reduce the carbon footprint of embodied carbon in a building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venturer<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
2. Australia’s Olympic effort to “go green” with buildings<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In Australia, the green building movement gained momentum after the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which received worldwide recognition as the \u2018Green Games\u2019. With venues and facilities that established new benchmarks in design excellence and best sustainability practices, Australia\u2019s property and construction industry demonstrated that green buildings were achievable and practicable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was noted by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), in its book \u2018Ten years of Progress: 2002 to 2012\u2019. Brisbane-based architect Mr. David Baggs was the sustainability, eco-materials, and energy consultant for 10 of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Green Games venues. He went on to be praised by GBCA as \u2018a renowned sustainability and materials expert\u2019 and became Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Singapore gets moving on green buildings<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The inaugural World Green Building Day kicked off on 24 September 2009 to focus attention on the huge potential of buildings to reduce greenhouse emission. At the time, according to Mr. Tony Arnel, the Chair of both the World Green Building Council (WGBC) and (GBCA), the potential of the built environment was not being fully utilised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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