Timber industry ready to contribute to home building catch-up

Woodco chair, Brian Stanley, says the volume of housing resulting from Prime Minister John Key's announcement during the weekend can only be achieved through giving priority to timber construction.

"If we want that many houses to be built quickly, properly, and with sustainable materials, timber is the way to go. This is even more the case with the medium rise and high density dwelling construction which will be important in Auckland," Stanley says.

"Timber generally is available, builders like it and are used to using it. It's affordable and it's light. Modern timber technology gives great thermal retention and earthquake resistant qualities.

"A not insignificant factor is that using timber for construction is environmentally beneficial, since wooden buildings continue to lock up the carbon the trees have absorbed from the atmosphere in the first place."

Stanley says the scale and speed of house construction likely to result from the government initiative means builders in the targeted centres will want to work with materials and methods which have been well tested and are known to be reliable.

"Timber ticks all the boxes and our industry is keen to talk with anyone in the construction business, architects, central and local government about how we might get on with the job."