Dr. Alastair Woodard – Celebrating over 30 Years in the Industry

Written by FTMA’s Kat Welsh

Dr. Alastair Woodard is a name that many FTMA News readers will be acquainted with.

For the life span of the association, Alastair has been a major collaborator. He’s always been available at the end of the phone for advice or information about anything technical. He’s turned up to countless conferences and FTMA events to be the voice of knowledge and insight. He’s authored and contributed to an abundance of resources showcasing the science and capability of wood.  And, some might say, he’s the glue in the glulam when it comes to bringing the industry together – connecting as a whole.

Last year, Alastair came along to the Bowens expo to help me man the Carbon Warrior stall, and that’s when he mentioned the ‘R’ word to me (retirement). I felt a leap of panic thinking of Alastair totally disappearing from the timber sector, which was quickly negated somewhat by Alastair reassuring me he couldn’t imagine going to that extreme… But, yes folks, Alastair is stepping into retirement from fulltime work.   

What seemed crucial, was to write something about Alastair… not just use him for expert quotes, or to be the cornerstone of a conference… but to look back at what he has achieved (thus far) and contributed to along the journey. When I asked Alastair if we could meet up to do the interview for this article, he graciously accepted and invited me to his home. On a balmy Melbourne morning, under the coolness of his verandah and surrounded by a shady garden, I got a special insight into just how much Alastair has done over his career. From what he shared, though, I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Alastair has been working in the industry for more than 30 years. His expertise is not just about sustainable timber and all its possibilities and capabilities, but Alastair is one of a number of dwindling sector patriarchs when it comes to the history and evolution of the industry. He knows pretty much every association or group that is, or was, what they have evolved from, and what their core focus is.

Alastair holds the genealogy of the Australian Timber Industry. He’s mapped it through states, national groups, what they achieve, what their motivation is, how they interact, and what the shortfall is for the industry. He knows it all quite personally, it’s not just from a text book, and this is where he has been critical to the growth of timber design, engineered wood product specification, and the awareness and recognition of the environmental and lifecycle benefits of an amazing product, that mother nature has provided for us.

 “I finished school in ’78, had a bit of a gap year, came back and did my engineering degree, finished that mid ‘80s. I went out as a consulting structural engineer. That’s probably where I got my interest in timber. One of the guys I used to work for was the Lord Mayor of Melbourne at the time, Trevor Huggard. We used to do lots of refurbishments of historic buildings in the CBD… all these 8, 9 storey buildings you see in the city, they might be brickwork on the outside, but they’re all timber on the inside… The project I remember the most when I was an engineer, was the refurbishment of the Princess Theatre – a magnificent timber structure.”  Alastair talked about the acquisition of the theatre by David Marriner, and the process of restoring it to its former 1920’s glory for the upcoming Phantom of the Opera production.

It started Alastair on a journey of working with timber. In the 90’s he went back to Uni at the Monash Timber Engineering Centre, did a Masters, then converted it into a PhD in timber engineering.

It led to Alastair being headhunted by the Timber Promotion Council to set up education programs for the timber industry, “…which I started in 1995 in Victoria, when I joined them and then spread nationally later that year. I am happy to say, it’s probably one of the longest running industry programs still going 30 years later under the FWPA WoodSolutions Education program where I, until last November, assisted in managing the program.”

Alastair talked about the volume of technically focussed people similar to him, all working within timber. “When I came into the TPC in the mid 90’s, there were lots of people doing generic technical work, so there was about 80 technical people like me right throughout Australia. The state associations, and CSIRO, were very strong back then, TPC alone had about 15 staff, and similar size technical promotional association in most other states.” Alastair described an abundance of technical people, organisations, and state-based agencies, working strongly in the timber sector, educating, promoting, and developing new product and market opportunities – whereas now he estimates there’s as little as half a dozen people in similar roles, as the state associations have diminished over the years.

Alastair recalled, “… we would come together twice a year as a national Timber Technical Advisory Group [T-TAG] and have a 2 day meeting. All the CEO’s from all the associations and technical people would get together on the first day and talk strategically. And, on the second day all the technical people would get together and talk about the specific technical program needs… it was very well coordinated back then.”

Sadly, since the 90’s many organisations have been in decline. Much less staff and available funding. Many of the national associations are growing, but not the state-based ones. It’s gone from having a strong and broad base of people with a generic technical capacity, to a marked reduction – making people like Alastair sparse, but very valuable for the sector. But it does leave a reality where there’s not enough new generic timber technical people coming through, to overlap with the current experts.

Alastair has been keen to do something about this as a legacy project – to grow that human resource and encourage new younger people into the niche. It is expected that this will commence under the new industry funded Future Framing Initiative, focussed on further growth of the lightweight low rise timber framed construction market. After a great deal of facilitation by TPC, TDA NSW and the national current T-TAG, the project framework and funding is now in place and committed to by the broader for at least the next five years.  Now the program needs to attract and engage the best building professionals, to start to rebuild the generic technical timber expertise. Passing on the baton from the older experts to the new.

Alastair’s connection to FTMA has been early on from the association forming. He has a strong and dedicated relationship with us, working from a technical perspective to assist in broader strategic areas – the growth of prefabricated systems, cassettes, building design, environmental awareness, to name a tiny fraction. Alastair has known Kersten from before her time as FTMA CEO – his number is on speed dial on her phone!

“When you see the products out there that are accepted these days or new systems it’s amazing, like cassette floors, when we started that no one even knew what a cassette floor was, and to see them now being used all the time and accepted is very satisfying. A bit like the Princess Theatre, very personally satisfying to still know that after all these years people are still enjoying the beautiful refurb. we did on that.”

Alastair’s philosophy is that collaboration, cohesion and alliance is fundamental, and he has been a driving force to keep that happening. In an everchanging landscape of a fragmented sector, Alastair knows where all the jigsaw pieces could fit together for the bigger picture. “These timber industry organisations have changed over the years, they’re very critical, but they’re hugely understaffed at the moment.”  Being a part of, and observing the industry and timber market for 3 decades has placed Alastair in a unique position to critically evaluate what it needs for a prosperous future. It’s multifaceted, multi-layered, and multidimensional. Which requires key understandings and deliberate action to bring it together.

“The theme of my career has been collaboration, cooperation, innovation. These are the sort of things I tend to get passionate about. These are the things industry needs to continue to pursue.”

When I came on board one of Alastair’s projects, the Collaborative Communications Group, I was inspired by what that group can achieve. In one short meeting a month, it’s a space for dozens of industry communications people to share what they’re working on, how we could work together, and to stay in touch and provide support.

Alastair has also been the facilitator of FTMA’s Strategical Technical Group, as well as countless other groups he participates in. His contribution to just the STG alone, has meant a pooling of collaborative technical wealth between technical reps from all the nailplate companies and the growing numbers of innovative frame and truss fabricators looking to find new product/system offerings and new business value propositions.

Alastair has also been involved more broadly in many of the WoodSolutions program activities since its inception back in 2011. He has been the Vic WS Technical Manager, the WS Educational Program Manager, and if anyone, for example, looks just at WoodSolutions’ technical online resources or webinars, Alastair has been involved in a huge number of those. He also worked between 1995-2005 with the TPC and reflects fondly on many of the amazing market and product development initiatives undertaken back then including the re-grading, re-branding and promotion of hardwood products and the unique ‘Natural Features’ that every piece of wood contain. He’s contributed to and lead over the years countless seminars, workshops and conversations and implemented training modules for a wide range of building professionals.

To say Alastair is one of the senior statesmen and leaders of the forest and wood products industry is putting it lightly. But, the thing that is incredibly endearing about Alastair is how willing he is to always participate, always explain to new people, always listen to questions, always have a wonderfully clear answer, and always willing to dedicate himself to serving the sector, the science of wood, and the people within its community.

He’s always humble, and inviting, and has time for anyone.

Sadly for us, Alastair is taking a step into retirement. The other bombshell is that Alastair has received a recent prostate cancer diagnosis, which has fast-tracked his retirement plans. Something he talked openly about in FTMA’s Board and Partners’ gathering recently – encouraging the men to ensure that they get regular medical check-ups, and not neglect their health – his sage advice “make sure your Dr includes a PSA test as part of your annual blood testing check.”

While Alastair’s definitely initially taking some time off to focus on his family and his health and wellbeing, he admits he won’t be too far away from contributing again at some stage.  “I don’t reckon you ever retire, do you, if you have a passion about something… I’m hoping to continue the mentoring, and while I’ve still got contacts, if people need assistance about ‘where do I go who do I see’ I’m definitely keen to be doing that.”

“Forestry and wood products have always been a great story, renewable, sustainable material, locally produced, all of the benefits that come with it… yet while designers and consumers all love wood products, forestry very frustratingly continues to lose social licence. It’s been the political football. It hasn’t continually invested to make sure that people really understand its huge environmental, economic and social benefits. It’s lost its credibility, it’s crazy… as an industry we really need to get out there and reverse this.”

Looking at Alastair amongst a fraction of the publications he has been a part of, his purpose has been telling the story of timber – its amazing low embodied emission, carbon storing environmental benefits right across its full lifecycle – and to tirelessly tell that fabulous story with enthusiasm and devotion. “If it’s a second legacy thing, I’m really happy that I got done before I finished up, was the Steps Towards a Greener Future report which focusses on this critical low embodied emission benefit story. The report now gives a clear road map for industry associations and companies as to what needs to be done. There’s 23 recommendations… across government policy, voluntary initiatives, education, and broader industry action. It quite clearly explains what we all need to be doing to get the best outcome.”

Here at FTMA, we’re sorely hoping that this will be a hiatus, and we’ll see Alastair back contributing, whilst he balances retirement, health, family, and an undying passion for timber.

“Working with Alastair has been an absolute joy and an unforgettable experience. His energy, knowledge, and unrelenting passion for timber are truly unmatched. Alastair has this rare ability to not only make complex topics interesting but also to inspire everyone around him to see the bigger picture and fight for a more sustainable future.

From quick-witted banter to deep discussions about carbon and climate, Alastair’s fast paced talking keeps everyone engaged. In fact, he could probably speed talk under water with a mouth full of marbles and still win you over with his charm and expertise.

I feel so fortunate to have shared this incredible journey with someone so supportive of FTMA, a true carbon warrior dedicated to a sustainable future. Thanks, Alastair, for your passion and unwavering support,” said Kersten Gentle.

Alastair, thank you for your consistency, positivity, and being a drive for change. FTMA wishes you all the very best over the next several months, and we’ll look forward to collaborating with you as soon as possible, in whatever way retirement ends up looking like for you.