Industry innovation and builder networking were at the heart of the Live Life Build ELEVATE Live event in Adelaide.

See how accessing new industry information, learning about sustainable building practices and making meaningful connections with like-minded builders all came together.

The Live Life Build ELEVATE Live event in Adelaide started with a day packed with new industry insights and valuable connections. 

Day one featured exclusive access for our ELEVATE members to go on a factory tour at Crafted Hardwoods. 

Later, we brought builders together for one of our networking sessions: Live Life Build’s Builders Mixer. 

A Tour of Industry Innovation: Crafted Hardwoods Factory

The day started with at our event venue at Hotel Rockford, where our ELEVATE members enjoyed reconnecting or meeting in person for the first time. Our Live Life Build team and the builder members then headed to the Crafted Hardwoods factory, a leader in sustainable timber production. 

Upon arrival, everyone was warmly welcomed by Geoffrey Swinbourne, the Director and Founder of Crafted Hardwoods, along with Mark Donovan, the Innovation Centre Manager for 3RT.

The tour gave attendees an inside look at the cutting-edge processes that Crafted Hardwoods uses to turn low-value hardwood timber into premium hardwood product that has multiple applications in the residential construction industry.

In an industry that has a huge demand for hardwood (predicted to quadruple by 2050 due to low carbon / zero carbon targets), Crafted Hardwoods and 3RT believes their technology will enable demand to be efficiently met with lower supply.

This technology, developed in partnership with 3RT, not only enhances the beauty and strength of the timber but also promotes sustainability by making the most of resources that might otherwise be overlooked.

Traditional hardwood processing takes logged hardwood and only utilises less than 30% of the log for hardwood products such as flooring, structural timbers and dressed products. Almost 50% of each log is classed as a low value pulp resource, which is usually chipped and exported.

Given hardwood can take hundreds of years to grow, this is unsustainable and wasteful.

Crafted Harwood and 3RT’s process instead radially saws each log, utilising 75% of the log for hardwood uses. Their technology uses lower grade timber veneers and compresses them (using heat and a low tox, water based glue) into a hardwood billet. 

The result is a hardwood product that is more stable than natural timber, able to be sourced from younger trees. It can be cut to varying thicknesses, with varying grain based on how it is sawn and dressed.

Builder Networking: Our Builder Mixer at the Adelaide Sustainability Centre

After a morning touring Crafted Hardwoods, our builder members headed back to Adelaide for our builder networking event: our Builder Mixer at the Adelaide Sustainability Centre.

This laid-back builder networking event was the perfect setting for builders and other like-minded industry professionals to connect and share ideas.

These relaxed interactions always help build a strong sense of community amongst our Live Life Build builders, and set the stage for the collaborative vibe that would carry through the rest of our Adelaide event.

Day one of the Live Life Build ELEVATE Live event was a big hit, blending an eye-opening site tour with valuable networking opportunities. 

The industry insights gained at Crafted Hardwoods, and the connections made at the Builder Mixer laid a solid foundation for the upcoming workshops, all centred around industry innovation, builder networking, and teamwork in sustainable building practices.

A big thank you to Hamish White of Sanctum Homes and Sustainable Builders Alliance for connecting us with Crafted Hardwoods so we could tour their amazing facility.

We also thank the team at Crafted Hardwoods and 3RT for hosting us and providing us with such great access to their facility, and the Adelaide Sustainability Centre for hosting our Builder Mixer event.

You can find out more about Crafted Hardwoods here >> https://www.craftedhardwoods.com/
And the Adelaide Sustainability Centre here >>> https://www.adelaidesustainabilitycentre.org.au/