This piece was written and provided by FTMA Strategic Partner, Timberlink.
Timberlink was pleased to announce the official opening of its NeXTimber® by Timberlink® manufacturing facility and upgraded green mill located in Tarpeena, South Australia, recently. The February 29 event was attended by over 300 people, including South Australian Premier the Hon. Peter Malinauskas MP, Minister for Primary Industries, Regional Development and Forest Industries the Hon. Clare Scriven, MLC, District Council of Grant Mayor Kylie Boston, District Council of Grant CEO Darryl Whicker, Member for Mackillop, Nick McBride and CEO of the South Australian Forest Products Association, Nathan Paine.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said “this unique facility in South Australia’s Limestone Coast presents tremendous opportunities for value adding, product diversification and market expansion for the state’s $1.4 billion forest industries as well as the ability to contribute to the construction of taller and more complex timber buildings. I congratulate the Timberlink team, and everyone involved in delivering this project which will have significant flow on benefits for the Limestone Coast economy and that of the whole state.”
L-R: South Australian Premier the Hon. Peter Malinauskas MP, Minister for Primary Industries, Regional Development and Forest Industries the Hon. Clare Scriven MLC, Timberlink CEO Paul O’Keefe, SAFPA Chair Tammy Auld, Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell MP, Timberlink Chief Sales, Marketing & Corporate Affairs Officer David Oliver, SAFPA CEO Nathan Paine inside the NeXTimber facility.
The newly commissioned NeXTimber facility is Australia’s only combined CLT and GLT (Cross Laminated and Glue Laminated Timber) radiata pine mass timber facility, and the first in Australia to be integrated with a structural timber manufacturing plant. The NeXTimber facility can produce CLT panels up to 16M long and 3.5M wide, and GLT beams up to 12M long. Mass timber products offer an exciting alternative to traditional construction materials and can help to reduce the embodied carbon of a project. These timber structures can be built up to 12 stories and even taller when combined with other materials in a hybrid timber construction.
Timberlink’s $70M capital investment to build a mass timber production facility was announced in 2020, supported by a $2M grant awarded by the SA government under the Strategic Business Round 2020 of the Government of South Australia’s Regional Growth Fund. The NeXTimber brand was announced in 2021 with the tagline “It’s what better tomorrows are built on.” Ground was broken with the first sod turn in Tarpeena in 2022 and construction of the site continued until late 2023. The facility has been taking orders since November 2023, a testament to the hard work of many. The NeXTimber facility has created new jobs not only during the construction phase, but on an ongoing basis with over 30 new full-time positions.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas & Troy Bell MP observe Cross Laminated Timber in the NeXTimber facility.
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