{"id":31756,"date":"2026-01-15T13:48:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=31756"},"modified":"2026-01-15T13:48:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T03:48:56","slug":"nz-is-advancing-fully-exposed-clt-as-engineers-test-timber-to-its-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/nz-is-advancing-fully-exposed-clt-as-engineers-test-timber-to-its-limits\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ is Advancing Fully Exposed CLT as Engineers Test Timber to its Limits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>More and more projects could soon use cross\u2011laminated timber (CLT) in fully exposed outdoor environments, with researchers at the University of Auckland developing a suite of new durability systems that could change how mass timber is deployed across New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.auckland.ac.nz\/en\/news\/2026\/01\/14\/engineering-wood-circular-by-design-durable-to-nature.html\">That is according to Dr Gary Raftery<\/a>, Research Director at the University\u2019s Circular Innovations Research Centre, who oversees durability and performance research within the Structural Timber Innovation Laboratory, and is developing programmes that could open the door to outdoor applications of CLT, a material that is still largely limited to interior environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Raftery said that whilst CLT is known for its strength and versatility, unprotected exposure to the elements can lead to rot, mould, dimensional instability and structural compromise. \u201cWe want to ensure that solutions align with circular\u2011economy principles, so cross\u2011laminated timber elements can be reused, repurposed or recycled at the end of their service life. This data will give designers the confidence to adopt more sustainable construction practices and further support a transition to low\u2011carbon construction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working with industry partners, Raftery\u2019s team is assessing adhesive and preservative systems to improve CLT\u2019s performance while keeping sustainability front\u2011of\u2011mind. At the same time, life\u2011cycle analysis on end\u2011of\u2011life pathways is underway, with early findings already informing design engineers and expected to contribute to future updates to building standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To push CLT into more demanding environments, the team is putting the material through some of the harshest conditions applied to CLT panels. Long\u2011term exposure trials, conducted across outdoor field sites and controlled laboratory simulations, are tracking how timber deteriorates and how its chemical structure changes under stress. At the same time, high\u2011powered microscopy and chemical\u2011fingerprinting tools are offering new insights into how CLT responds to moisture, UV radiation and biological attack, building a clearer picture of its performance in fully exposed settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"ZZSmwH_HfsA\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Step inside Air New Zealand\u2019s huge new wooden plane hangar\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZZSmwH_HfsA?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>New Zealand is now leading the way with mass timber construction, with Air New Zealand last year opening its new Hangar 4 &#8211; the world&#8217;s largest hangar to be built out of mass timber. In total, <a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/air-nzs-quake-proof-hangar-uses-7000-timber-parts-and-250000-screws\/\">more than 7,000 timber parts and 250,000 screws were used in the construction of the hangar.<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>CLT, made by stacking and gluing layers of timber boards together, has become a popular low\u2011carbon material for walls, floors and roofs. Yet its use outdoors remains largely limited, with only a handful of bridges, facades and pavilions built to date. The team is working to change that through durability testing and performance validation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The research comes as New Zealand accelerates its adoption of mass timber in major public assets, including the new Parliament Building in Wellington, the country\u2019s largest mass\u2011timber structure built to its highest seismic rating. <a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/nzs-quake-proof-parliament-building-is-assembled-like-flat-pack-furniture\/\">The six\u2011storey Museum Street Building, covered by Wood Central last year<\/a>, is being assembled \u201clike flat\u2011pack furniture\u201d using glulam and CLT from Red Stag Timberlab, as well as LVL from Nelson Pine. In July, Wood Central reported that crews began installing the first sections of the timber frame in May, with the project progressing zone by zone to maintain weather\u2011tightness and efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With early findings already influencing design decisions, the research is expected to progress into real\u2011world prototype testing and long\u2011term monitoring, with the potential to inform future revisions of New Zealand\u2019s timber\u2011design standards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More and more projects could soon use cross\u2011laminated timber (CLT) in fully exposed outdoor environments, with researchers at the University of Auckland developing a suite of new durability systems that could change how mass timber is deployed across New Zealand. That is according to Dr Gary Raftery, Research Director at the University\u2019s Circular Innovations Research [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31758,"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":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"default","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_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":[3,38,37,46,39,114],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[69],"class_list":{"0":"post-31756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-architecture","8":"category-architecture-and-design","9":"category-building-and-construction","10":"category-industry","11":"category-mass-timber","12":"category-new-zealand"},"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\/31756","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=31756"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31760,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31756\/revisions\/31760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31756"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=31756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}