One significant voice in the sector believes it has the answer – construct more buildings using timber.

The state’s leading advocate for the resource, Timber Queensland, will put the question and its solution to the test at a special meeting in Brisbane at the end of this month.

Central to the discussion will be how the industry plans to offset the appreciable emissions expended in the construction of six new major venues, the upgrading of eight venues and the preparation of 23 existing or temporary venues customised for the Games.

Assuming the climate emergency becomes more urgent over the next 10 years, in concert with public pressure to lower emissions even faster than current targets, expectations, maybe even mandates, can also expect to intensify on planners, architects and builders to comply.

The gathering storm is why Timber Queensland boss Mick Stephens wants to have the conversation now in the relative calm of 2022.

Future Brisbane may thank him later.

As Stephens explained to industry figures recently, the building and construction sector accounts for 39 per cent of global emissions.

Embodied carbon in the production of building materials is responsible for 28 per cent of these, he said.

The science, he suggested, poses a challenge for Brisbane Games organisers who are committed to delivering a climate positive Olympic and Paralympic Games if timber is not considered part of the building material mix to minimise direct and indirect carbon emissions.

“Using timber in construction can be an extremely effective option to reduce embodied carbon,” Stephens said.

“For example, embodied carbon emissions of an engineered timber building can be 60-75 per cent less compared to its conventional concrete-steel counterpart on a per square metre basis.

“The solution is to maximise the use of timber and engineered wood products when building these venues.”

Embodied carbon is a measure of the carbon that is emitted (in the case of most building materials) during the resource extraction, manufacturing, and transportation to construction site of a material.

Political will and precedents set by other global Games organisers appears to be ahead of Stephens’ thinking.

In Australia, local, state and national governments are legislating to increase the use of timber.

Western Australia and Tasmania have already adopted a state-wide Wood Encouragement Policy (WEP).

In addition, two local government authorities and eighteen local councils have adopted a WEP.

In France, a new sustainability law will ensure that all buildings for the 2024 Paris Olympics complex are built from at least 50 per cent timber or other natural materials. Buildings higher than eight storeys must be made entirely of timber.

Brisbane can also stand tall on its timber construction record.

Australia’s tallest timber office tower is located on 25 King Street, Bowen Hills, its whole nine storeys utilising a combination of revolutionary engineered cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam (glue laminated timber) which was sourced from certified sustainably managed forests.

The structure is rivalled in Australia by two projects at the Australian National University in Canberra and Atlassian Central project in Sydney under the conceptual vision of global architecture firm BVN.

About 40 storeys high, the Atlassian office, home to the global software giant, will be the world’s tallest hybrid timber building.

According to BVN’s co-CEO Neil Logan, who will speak at the Timber Queensland event, the Atlassian structure has the potential to “lift the ambition of the built environment across Australia”.