Overview
Entrant:
Red Stag Timber Limited
Category:
14. Innovative Timber Engineering Award
Photographed by:
Neale Kent
Key team members:
Architect - DCA
Structural Engineer - Enovate
Builder - Max Edkins Builders
Project Manager - Joss Fairbrother
Fire Design - Smartfire
CLT Supply - Red Stag Timberlab
Moisture Proofing - Pro Clima
Cladding - Rotovegas Roofing
Red Stag Timber, New Zealand’s largest producer of structural timber, sources Radiata Pine and Douglas Fir from sustainably managed Central North Island forests.
As part of its long term strategy to expand processing capacity and champion timber as a low carbon construction material, the company identified the need for a new Mobile Plant Workshop to service its essential log loaders and forklifts. The facility needed to support future growth while improving operational efficiency, environmental performance, and worker comfort.
The workshop was initially conceived as a conventional steel framed, coloursteel lined building. A design review highlighted key shortcomings: insufficient acoustic control at the site boundary and limited thermal performance for staff comfort. With Red Stag Timberlab’s new CLT manufacturing capability online, the project team explored whether engineered timber—particularly Cross Laminated Timber—could deliver a superior solution.
A revised design was developed using CLT portal frames, CLT tie beams, and CLT wall and ceiling panels that also act as integral bracing. Because design guidance for CLT portal frames, especially haunch joints, was limited in New Zealand, the team undertook full scale physical testing of a prototype haunch joint. This research confirmed the strength, ductility, and seismic resilience required for New Zealand conditions and directly informed the final haunch and apex joint detailing. The project therefore not only solved a design challenge but contributed new knowledge to the local engineered timber sector.
CLT wall and ceiling panels provided inherent thermal insulation and significantly improved acoustic performance, reducing noise transmission both within the workshop and at the site boundary. The warm, tactile timber interior also enhances worker wellbeing—an uncommon consideration in industrial building typologies.
Timber was used holistically throughout the facility, including the internal amenities, lunchroom, and office spaces for the maintenance team. The result is a cohesive, visually distinctive workplace that elevates the standard industrial shed into a high performance, people centred environment.
This workshop represents one of New Zealand’s first industrial buildings to use CLT for all major structural components, including clear span portal frames. The only non timber structural elements are the steel overhead crane and its rails. The project demonstrates that engineered timber can successfully replace steel in demanding industrial applications while delivering superior environmental, acoustic, and thermal outcomes.
By integrating structure, bracing, insulation, and interior finish into a single renewable material, the building showcases the versatility and performance of CLT and sets a new benchmark for sustainable industrial design in New Zealand.