Could Aussie Bluegums hold the key to addressing Australia’s shortage of structural timbers — and even create steel replacement products? That is the question posed by researchers behind the world’s first engineered wood products made from blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus). The new timber, described as “as strong as steel,” is part of a push by the forest products industry to turn low-value pulp into high-value mass timber.
Developed by WTIBeam in partnership with forest managers Australian Bluegum Plantations and OneFortyOne, the project has produced GL17 and GL18 beams — replacements for native timbers locked out by Victoria’s logging ban — and even prototypes of GL25, a grade that does not yet exist in the market. “Blue gum, globulus blue gum is uniquely a Goldilocks timber for GL18 and it’s working better than anyone could have thought,” said Edwina Goodall, owner of the multi-generational WTIBeam business.
The work formed part of the Splinters to Structures project, a three-year research and commercialisation program delivered by Tim Woods’ IndustryEdge and supported by Forest & Wood Products Australia. Partners also included Australian Forest and Wood Innovations, Whiteheads Timber Sales, Australian Bluegum Plantations, OneFortyOne, Timber Training Creswick, the Queensland Government’s Salisbury Research Facility, and the Australian Forest Products Association – the country’s peak body for forest products.
The trials revealed that bluegum can be processed efficiently if handled quickly from forest to mill and through drying. “There was definitely a lot of doubt that bluegum would be very difficult to process and not commercially viable,” said James McGregor of Whiteheads Timber Sales. “But what we found is that, done the right way and well planned, it can be very easy to process — probably as simple as most other hardwoods.”
Tests suggested the potential for GL25 — a grade that does not yet exist commercially — which could serve as a genuine steel replacement. “This has been a great project of collaboration between growers, processors in the Green Triangle, government and FWPA,” said Scott Wicker of the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub. “It’s been exciting because it’s looked at a resource opportunity we could take instead of just sending overseas, and value-add to it here in Australia to create manufacturing jobs.”
The federal government’s Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation (ATMAC) program provided critical support, enabling research that transformed low-value resources into high-value finished products. “The real acceleration took place when local industry got its hands on it and, under real-world scenarios, developed advanced prototypes into new products,” said Chris Lafferty, former head of research at FWPA. “It’s the perfect pipeline for how R&D turns into a product for the market.”
The environmental benefits are equally striking. “This product is strong enough to replace traditional products like concrete and steel,” said Troy Sawyer, Senior Operations Leader at Australian Bluegum Plantations. “Unlike concrete and steel, which produce a lot of carbon in manufacturing, this timber pulls carbon out of the atmosphere for 20 years. Then, when we produce these structural timbers, we put them into an Australian home where that carbon is locked up for the next hundred years.”
And bluegum could soon have a permanent place in the engineered wood product market. “Australia is fabulous in its self-sufficiency in wood products, but only if it manufactures structural engineered wood products like glued laminated timber,” said Tim Woods, who said such products are imported at a value of more than $400 million a year at the wharf, rising to nearly $800 million once installed. “Our opportunity is to make these higher-value products out of lower-value resources and save the nation significant trade balance challenges in the future.”
- To learn more about how researchers are using plantation fibre to build frames, panels and modules in factories, click here for Wood Central’s special feature on The Precinct, an IndustryEdge project funded by Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI), the $100 million‑plus Commonwealth‑supported research institute co‑matched by industry and partners.
