30 | Feature: Teach the Teachers Austrian Tour TEACHING THE AUSTRIAN WAY This year for our Austria timber focus, TTJ joined a UK trip to Binderholz with lecturers from several universities to learn more about the products and processes in the Austrian timber sector. Stephen Powney reports SUMMARY Cable logging in the mountains, CLT BINDERHOLZ GROUP buildings and the world’s single largest We probably don’t fully know or appreciate ■ The WTTA Teach the Teachers tour glulam factory were just some of the the fact that Austria is one of the leading was organised as part of the TTF’s highlights for UK university lecturers and European nations in terms of timber regional engagement programme TTJ on a recent Austrian timber sector tour. production and the breadth of its value-added ■ Binderholz has 12 plants The Western Timber Trade Association’s products. ■ The group cuts over 5 million m3 of (WTTA) first ‘Who teaches the teachers?’ Austria ranks as the number four timber logs annually educational tour in late September, which producer in the European Organisation of the ■ The Jenbach factory is the single TRADA helped to co-ordinate, was part of Sawmill Industry stats for 2018, producing largest glulam production site in the UK Timber Trade Federation’s (TTF) new 10.2 million m3 of sawn softwood, which was Europe regional engagement programme. 5.7% up on 2017. ■ Binderholz is now the largest CLT It proved an excellent window on As tour group participants arrived at producer globally Austria’s timber sector, architectural projects Binderholz’s Fügen sawmill and headquarters using Austrian engineered timber and an it was clear this was no ordinary set-up. opportunity for the lecturers to communicate For a start, the site has its own visitor what they had learned to their students centre, gift shop and special tourist trail back home. of its bio-energy facility and wood pellet Lecturers participating were Aled Davies production, helping people understand about (Cardiff University), Andrew Thomson green electricity, district heating, the history (University of Bath), Greg Workman (NPTC of wood and climate change. Group), Joshua Mudie (University of Bristol) And at the centre of the site overlooking and Martin Gillie (NMiTE), led by WTTA the log yard is the SichtBAR corporate chairman and Binderholz UK’s Wayne Probert entertaining space with ‘Garden of Scents’, and TRADA university engagement officer which is hired out by bluechip companies for Tabitha Binding. functions and conferences. The tour was hosted by leading European The business was set up in the 1950s by and Austrian-based sawmilling and timber Franz Binder, with the headquarters founded products business Binderholz, a company at Fügen in 1963. which has made massive strides in terms of It has come a long way since then and the the size and scope of its operations in recent headline figures are now incredible under the Above: Binderholz has 12 production sites years. third generation of the Binder family, led by chief executive officer Reinhard Binder. There are now 12 sites and over 5 million m3 of logs are cut annually in the Group’s seven sawmills in Austria, Germany and Finland. This translates to 2 million m3 of solid wood products produced from the 3 million m3 of lumber. Binderholz also produces 60,000 tonnes of briquettes and wood pellets annually, while additionally providing heating for local communities through its bio-energy facilities. The acquisitions of Finland’s Vapo Timber in 2016 and Germany’s Klenk Holz in 2017 were clearly landmarks in increasing the size of Binderholz’s operations. There are five sites in Austria at Fügen, Above: The Teach the Teachers group (from left): Martin Gillie, Andrew Thomson, Aled Davies, Jenbach, St. Georgen, Hallein and Unternberg, Greg Workman, Joshua Mudie, Wayne Probert, Fabian Heissbauer (of Binderholz) and while a further five operate in Germany at Tabitha Binding Kösching, Burgbernheim, Oberrot, Baruth and TTJ | November 2019 | www.ttjonline.com 030_032ttj1119_binderholz.indd 30 05/11/2019 11:39 | 31 Above left: The Fügen log yard Above right: The Das Posthotel in Zell am Ziller has been extended with CLT Wolfegg. In Finland, Binderholz has two mills “Seeing is believing,” said Wayne Probert business,” said Fabian Heissbauer, of – Lieksa and Nurmes. of WTTA /Binderholz UK. Binderholz’s technical sales department. “By visiting the whole supply chain – “This is the only facility like it in Austria.” JENBACH GLULAM PLANT from forest through milling, production Value-added products are a big focus for and construction – at the scale Binderholz SOLID WOOD PANELS Binderholz, be it glulam, cross-laminated operates, the lecturers can have no doubt that One of Binderholz’s products which is timber (CLT) or multi-layer solid wood panels. timber is sustainable and can be used as a common in Europe but not in the UK is the The tour group stopped off at Jenbach, the construction solution in both small and large solid wood panel, the ‘little brother’ of CLT. centre of Binderholz’s glulam operations and scale projects.” It is produced at the St Georgen factory at the single largest glulam factory in Europe, Architectural projects visited included two Salzburg, which has recently celebrated its comprising three production facilities on one kindergartens in Innsbruck, a college in Kuchl 30th anniversary. site and a 380,000m3 annual capacity. and two hotels including the Das Posthotel Binder is reckoned to be the third largest BSH glulam products here are in Zell am Ziller. All involved Binderholz producer of this product in Europe. predominantly straight beams, while curved products. The company has been having talks about beams with a minimum radius of 8m are also The 640m3 glulam/CLT structure at one the possibility of opening a second plant and produced. Both use feedstock from the Fügen of the kindergartens was originally made other ideas for further growth. Currently, mill. watertight after just 12 days. Teachers a CLT extension is being constructed at St Each timber board for lamellas is strength says the building’s success is shown by the Georgen. graded and visually graded on all four sides. children not drawing on the exposed wood The main three-layer panel is produced in 12- Technology at Jenbach includes Microtec walls “because they like it”. 60mm thicknesses and sizes of 5m x 1.25m, 5m Goldeneye scanning, a Ledinek moulder, a The Das Posthotel is rated as one of the x 2.05m and 6m x 1.25m, with E1 classification. microwave system for drying glue, Springer world’s best small hotels and features a CLT Species include spruce, Scots pine, larch, Swiss and HIT handling technology. extension. pine, Douglas fir and white fir. One of the latest additions is its “Smart Opposite the hotel, two other buildings are Typical uses are shopfitting, interior design, Factory” automated storage and distribution being constructed in CLT – one of which is a furniture, storage and racking, exterior operation in an Industry 4.0 smart luxury hotel being built by Reinhard Binder cladding (larch and Douglas fir), with ► manufacturing process. as a separate business project. An automatic high-bay warehouse has The UK lecturers also saw the Binder HQ been constructed for all complete glulam office, which uses CLT, glulam and larch packages, in which up to 850 individual three-layer panels on the exterior. packages or 2,000m3 of glulam packages can A further fantastic use of wood was at the be stored simultaneously. Packages are loaded Kuchl College of Wood Technology, where a and unloaded fully automatically via an in- new building was constructed in 2016 using house programmed warehouse management 660m3 BBS CLT and 70m3 of glulam, with CLT program, without which on-schedule error- exposed on the interior. Other areas are clad free and damage-free handling would be internally with solid wood three-layer panels. impossible. Adjacent to the building are extensive Around 65 truckloads a day are dispatched workshops where students can train on a on a 24/7 basis. variety of sawmilling and woodworking machinery, which is sponsored by the CLT ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS machinery manufacturers. Machinery One of the great advantages of the Teach the present includes EWD, Paul, Weinig, Vollmer, Teachers visit was seeing the whole supply Alterndorf and Homag. chain, from forestry right through to end use “Most of the students that come here are in architectural projects. already involved in a family sawmilling Above: Binderholz sawn timber packs www.ttjonline.com | November 2019 | TTJ 030_032ttj1119_binderholz.indd 31 05/11/2019 11:40 32 | Feature: Teach the Teachers Austrian Tour Above left: Glulam beam production at Jenbach Above right: Cable logging is used to harvest hard to access and steep forest ◄ quoted advantages being easy handling, The location is a former MDF production 3D model created and each phase broken aesthetics, stability, reduced cracking and site, which Binderholz closed five years down into individual panel sizes, with every being relatively lightweight. ago. Binderholz has been stripping out the panel having its own number and being fully “The Alpine region knows the product very factory hall equipment in preparation for traceable. well,” said Binderholz’s Monika Moosleitner. other group uses. Binderholz, and many of the participants “In France we also have good sales of the A new four-storey 1,350m3 CLT in the WTTA Teach the Teachers group for product.” office building was finished here in that matter, believes there is major future Germany is the biggest market for the March and adjoins the existing offices. potential for CLT, not just for its structural product but sales are small in the UK, with The “TimberBrain”, as the new office performance, fire resistance and build one small UK distributor currently selling.