Conference proceeding
Aligning needs and sustainability: A case study of bio-based temporary housing
Proceedings from the 14th World Conference on Timber Engineering: Advancing Timber for the Future Built Environment, WCTE 2025, pp.2752-2761
14th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2025 (WCTE 2025), 14th (Brisbane, Australia, 22/06/2025–26/06/2025)
2025
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Abstract
As a result of repeated natural disasters in the last decade, Australia has an acute need for innovative and scalable models for provision of temporary housing. Common criticisms of currently available housing systems revolve around their high production costs and a heavy reliance on imported building solutions. To address these limitations, a model for temporary post-disaster housing has been developed to utilise locally available and renewable timber resources, to enable faster, cheaper, low-carbon, and scalable temporary housing delivery options for Australian
disaster recovery. This paper presents the first temporary house prototype constructed using a novel hybrid timbercardboard sandwich (TCS) composite, developed as the result of a significant collaborative effort between academic, government, industry, and community partners. A full-scale 11 m2 prototype was built to benchmark the affordability, sustainability, design flexibility, fabrication complexity, embodied carbon, and durability of the TCS House system. The prototype was also used to explore strategies to maximise use of renewable and recycled materials in temporary housing construction, by providing direct links between the forestry and wood products sector and local community end users.
Details
- Title
- Aligning needs and sustainability: A case study of bio-based temporary housing
- Creators
- Mahmoud Abu-Saleem - The University of QueenslandKim Baber - The University of QueenslandJoseph M. Gattas - The University of QueenslandGabin Gilbert - CESI (France, La Rochelle)Mathys Le Bihan - CESI (France, La Rochelle)Andrew Rose - Southern Cross UniversityFabiano Ximenes - New South Wales Government Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
- Publication Details
- Proceedings from the 14th World Conference on Timber Engineering: Advancing Timber for the Future Built Environment, WCTE 2025, pp.2752-2761
- Conference
- 14th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2025 (WCTE 2025), 14th (Brisbane, Australia, 22/06/2025–26/06/2025)
- Publisher
- World Conference on Timber Engineering 2025
- Grant note
- The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub Land and Primary Industries Network Collaborative Projects 2023 Round.
- Identifiers
- 991013298355302368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding