WoodWorks 2025 - National Conference

WoodWorks 2025 successfully brought together industry leaders, innovators, and professionals in Rotorua on November 4-5 for its National Conference, reinforcing its commitment to growing the capability and use of wood in New Zealand’s commercial and multi-residential buildings.

Key Themes and Insights

The conference programme was packed with practical case studies, technological innovations, and expert insights from New Zealand, Australia, and beyond. Key themes included:

• Growing Our Markets: Sessions focused on effective advocacy for timber, highlighted by a keynote on 90 Devonport Road, New Zealand’s largest mass timber office building, and insights from the University of Auckland’s B201, the nation’s highest Green Star-rated building.
• Better Building: Delegates learned from the practical experiences of industry leaders, covering lessons from the construction of the Tauranga Library, the evolution of office building design, and strategies for getting mass timber projects “across the line.”
• Mastering Change: This forward-looking theme explored new ways of thinking, tackling crucial topics like the impact of AI on architecture, evolving design and build contracts, and navigating New Zealand’s fire safety codes.
• Celebrating Our Success: A series of case studies celebrated major mass timber achievements, including the Air New Zealand Hangar, the cultural expression in Ahuriri’s new library, and the AgResearch Tuhiraki Lincoln Workspace.

A major highlight of the 2025 event was the new collaboration with Mid-Rise Wood Construction. This partnership introduced an additional site visit option on the final day, allowing attendees to choose between two exceptional projects:

1. Te Manawataki o Te Papa: A tour of the new 3-storey library and community hub currently under construction in the heart of Tauranga.
2. Red Stag Industrial: A visit to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest sawmill, this MRWC-partnered tour showcased cost-effective, large-span, and low-carbon solutions for industrial timber buildings.

The WoodWorks 2025 National Conference successfully fostered collaboration and shared practical, innovative knowledge, equipping architects, engineers, designers, and project managers to continue advancing the use of timber in New Zealand’s built environment.

We will be working closely with a wide range of New Zealand, Australian and international experts, technology suppliers, researchers and government bodies, to develop a strong and innovative programme at next year’s event.

WoodWorks will continue to showcase the practical experiences of a range of building professionals and focus on completed New Zealand and Australian projects. Each year, we also showcase inspirational wood experts from leading tall timber exemplar building projects overseas.

If you have any questions, or would like to speak at this event, please contact John Stulen via email, john.stulen@innovatek.co.nz, or (+64) 272 758 011.