Forestry Minister, Stuart Nash, recently saw how the Forest Industries Transformation Act could be applied to foster value-added timber products.

At a visit to a newly-built Cromwell timber manufacturing plant, he witnessed an all-timber housing operation in action.

Swiss-backed Hector Egger New Zealand built a substantial factory premises in Cromwell's industrial area over a year ago. It aims to produce up to 100 buildings per year, from stand-alone housing to multi-level units such as apartments, motels and hotels. To achieve this, the factory runs two seven-man shifts per day in the electronically mechanised plant.

Current builds range from $500,000 to $7m, much of it for Central Otago and Lakes District clients. Hector Egger NZ is a 50-50 joint venture with Swiss-based Hector Egger Holzbau AG and local investors.

Jim Childerstone took a tour. He says the company builds a 3D model of the initial design process detailing every aspect of the project. It includes every piece of timber, every staple and every screw in the model in order to resolve all the connections prefabrication.

For more on this and Government’s intentions get your copy of the December 2022/January 2023 edition of NZ Logger magazine, on sale from 5 December. Check the link on this page to subscribe to either a printed or digital copy (or both).