Materials & Embodied Carbon Leaders’ Alliance

Today 25 MECLA collaborators toured the different material innovation labs at UNSW, including the infrastructure lab, the asphalt lab and the heavy structures lab. MECLA is all about systems change. Innovation in material use is a crucial part of that change, and UNSW Engineering had it on display in full today. There were some awesome quickfire presentations giving us a flavour of contemporary research in the university by Ali Kashani on 3D printing concrete in construction, Wenkui Dong on nanotechnology applications for concrete sustainability, Ailar Hajimohammadi on the use of waste in concrete, Taehwon Kim on the beneficiation of mine tailings, Ehab Hamed on insulating switch panels, and Hamid Valipour on combining timber and steel for reinforced strength. It's impossible to recap the sheer breadth of research MECLA members learned about today. A truly incredible experience. Hopefully further collaborations are born from some of them! Thank you to Hamid Valipour and UNSW for hosting us!

What a day discussing engineered living materials! 🦠🌿 Fascinating discussion about the potentiak for ELM in NSW run by Elena Bondareva, a change-making extraordinaire. Thank you to Greenhouse for hosting 🎉 Hear a bit about it from our Chair Hudson Worsley.

Last Thursday was the MECLA Spotlight on Ways Forward with Trees. It was a fantastic discussion, taking a critical look at possible futures in timber supply chains, responsible forest management practices and engineered wood products innovation. Thank you to all of the speakers, Paul Haar, Patrick Baker, Darren Minto, Daniel Wright, and Mark Wootton for your insights and helping drive this converstaion forward!

WEBINAR: Concrete is rapidly transitioning in support of net zero. But what skills and knowledge will our engineers, architects and concrete layers need to work with the sustainable concrete of the future? Join host Clare Tubolets, researcher Jack Hewitt, and industry experts Katherine Featherstone (GBCA), Laughlan Davies (IAT) and Michael van Koeverden (CQT) as they share their experiences in this vital conversation. #sustainability #concrete #construction #education

Materials & Embodied Carbon Leaders’ Alliance is hosting MECLA Spotlight on Ways Forward with Trees TOMORROW. Make sure to sing up and attend!!

Check out the most recent MECLA Case Study - thank you to Prime Projects (NSW) Pty Limited and Daniel Swinnerton for submitting it! By 2030 a 5 Star Green Star rating for industrial buildings will require a 40% emissions reduction. Cement is the primary emitting factor in industrial warehouses, due to the high performance requirements for warehouse floors. In collaboration with Griffiths Engineers Australia, Prime Projects designed and installed a concrete mix demonstrating a 41% reduction in embodied carbon compared to the GBCA reference. This is a significant achievement meeting already demonstrating ability to meet the 2030 projected requirements. Learn more about this Prime Projects success story and the learning on the MECLA website! https://lnkd.in/dfHvC2E2

A few weeks ago Assistant Director at DCCEEW Gail Hamilton presented to WG1 about new procurement policy being instituted in the Australian Government. This new policy applies from 1 July 2024 to all construction services at or above 7.5 million dollars. Learn more about the new federal policy on our youtube!

WG1 has been working with I-NSW on a Readiness Index survey. We received word that they are close to 200 submissions (with a large share of that coming from MECLA members, which is great!), but they are very low on replies from material producers and suppliers. If you have 10 minutes to reply, please fill it in by the end of this week. Survey link here:    https://lnkd.in/gpMEryz7

In Sydney on 5 Sept? Join me to explore how we professionalize change-making and equip those remaking the world for the better! On this leg of my international book tour, I am honored to be interviewed by the exceptional Davina Rooney and grateful to Roaring Stories Bookshop and The Royal Oak Balmain for hosting! Please spread the word to all the #changemakers in your orbits, Green Building Council of Australia, Living Future Institute of Australia, Property Council of Australia, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), Bioregional, Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC), Materials & Embodied Carbon Leaders’ Alliance, TEN Women, Pollinate Group, NABERS Facility Management Association of Australia (FMA), The Fifth Estate. https://lnkd.in/gy4J75rK

🌳Wood products are widely viewed as one of the key solutions to decarbonising the construction sector. The timber industry is a complex ecosystem spanning forestry through to engineered products manufacturing. 🌳 🌴 As the ways we manufacture, design and work with wood continue to develop in Australia, so too do methods in management of naturally regenerating and purposefully planted forests. And new questions around carbon accounting for the forest industry are being asked. 🌴 🌲In MECLA’s Spotlight on Ways Forward with Trees, a collection of experts in native forest science, agroforestry, timber product manufacturing and architecture come together to explore how this ecosystem is evolving, and to discuss some positive directions forward for Australia’s timber industry in the context of a climate and biodiversity emergency.🌲 Presenters will include: Paul Haar - Architect and Honorary Principal Fellow in the School of Architecture and Building at the University of Melbourne Patrick Baker - Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology in the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences at the University of Melbourne Mark Wootton - Owner of Jigsaw Farms Daniel Wright - Director and National Business Development Manager at Australian Sustainable Hardwoods Darren Minto - Client Relationship Manager at Crafted Hardwoods