{"id":358720,"date":"2025-12-19T17:43:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358720\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T17:43:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:43:19","slug":"australias-first-timber-fire-station-wins-international-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358720\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s first timber fire station wins international prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The project led by architects Baber Studio and contractor Hutchinson Builders reimagined the original Art Deco, brick-built fire station dating to 1951 (Courtesy of\u00a0 James Jones & Sons)<\/p>\n

\n500 cu m of timber kept 1,742 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, and was regrown in just 38 minutes.\n<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s first mass engineered timber fire station has taken the international Public Infrastructure prize in the 2025 Built by Nature awards.<\/p>\n

Amid just under 400 entries, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services\u2019 North Coast Region Headquarters and Maryborough Fire and Rescue Station won over a judging panel of international experts, including Kevin McCloud, Architect and host of Grand Designs.<\/p>\n

It was showcased at COP30 in Brazil last month and appeared in a documentary featuring Sir David Attenborough.<\/p>\n

Located in the city of Maryborough on Queensland\u2019s Fraser coast 255km north of Brisbane, the project \u2013 led by architects Baber Studio and contractor Hutchinson Builders and completed in 2022 \u2013 reimagined the original Art Deco, brick-built fire station dating to 1951.<\/p>\n

Locally grown plantation pine<\/p>\n

The new, 2,695-sq-m complex consists of three buildings built with 500 cu m of locally grown plantation pine in the form of glue-laminated timber from Hyne Timber, and cross-laminated timber from Hyne\u2019s sister company Xlam. Hyne and Xlam are subsidiaries of UK timber supplier James Jones & Sons.<\/p>\n

\"\"Inside the timber fire tower (Courtesy of Christopher Frederick Jones)<\/p>\n

Hyne Timber said<\/a> the project prevented 1,742 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, and that the 500 cu m of wood was regrown across the plantations in just 38 minutes.<\/p>\n

Built by Nature noted<\/a> that prefabricated panels cut waste, improved efficiency, and enabled fast erection in just two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project stores carbon, supports Queensland\u2019s timber economy, and shows that mass timber can effectively deliver complex public infrastructure initiatives,\u201d the organisation said.<\/p>\n

Tom Bruce-Jones, chairman of James Jones & Sons Group, called the award \u201ca tremendous accomplishment and a validation of timber\u2019s potential in modern construction\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe here<\/a> to get stories about construction around the world in your inbox three times a week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The project led by architects Baber Studio and contractor Hutchinson Builders reimagined the original Art Deco, brick-built fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,17724,44,12654],"class_list":["post-358720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-emergency-services","tag-news","tag-timber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}