
The Clearwater Quays apartments designed by Phil and Roger at Pacific Environments for Red Stag, are leading the way being constructed in engineered mass timber – demonstrating how these materials can best be used in mid-rise buildings as part of a Government initiative to boost the use of timber in construction.
Red Stag Investments, a company with its roots in forestry, wood processing and property development, has partnered with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to deliver Mid-rise Wood Construction, a 4.5-year, $6.75 million Primary Growth Partnership.
“Combining cross-laminated timber (CLT), glulam and panelised framing timber is a cost-effective, fast, resilient, and sustainable system for mid-rise construction,” says Red Stag Group chief executive officer Marty Verry. “Our partnership aims to encourage widespread adoption of precision-engineered timber in mid-rise building construction in New Zealand.”
“Aside from its natural beauty, engineered timber provides a very strong, low carbon and comparably low-cost alternative to steel and concrete. It’s easier to transport, relatively light and has outstanding earthquake and fire resilience. The use of prefabrication can speed up construction by as much as 30% and reduce cost to help meet New Zealand’s acute need for more accommodation.


Clearwater Case Study | Logic Group
Mass Timber vs Concrete/Steel | Cost Comparison
Building | Construction | P&G | ***Development | Total | DIFF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Steel/Concrete Hybird | 2,259,509 | 900,000 | 434,710 | 3,594,219 | +6.75% |
Mass Timber | 2,719,915 | 649,120 | 0 | 3,367,035 | |
Concrete | 2,557,858 | 900,000 | 434,730 | 3,892,568 | +15.60% |
***Time Difference Impact on Cost:
- Delay - Weeks | 10
- Market Risk - per week | 18,000 | Adverse property market move risk of 5%/yr on $18m value development is $18,000/week risk
- Carrying cost impact - per week | 6,000 | Carrying cost of $3m land, Design/consent fees $2m and H/O overheads $1m. Total $6m at 5% is $6,000/wk
- Completion settlement - re-deploy profit - week | 19,471 | Assume developer re-deploys $2.7m (15%) profit in next dev worth $6.75m at 15% profit in next year
- Delay cost TOTAL | 434,710
Mass Timber vs Concrete/Steel | CO2 Emissions - Structural Comparison Only
Co2 | Carbon Results |
---|---|
Building | Upfront Carbon Measured in Kilogrammes |
Mass Timber | -87,420 kgs |
Steel/Concrete Hybrid | 794,682 kgs |
Concrete | 952,622 kgs |
A complete case study of the Clearwater Quay’s apartment will be available here from November 1st 2021
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