Archier's Ora House Wins Award for 75% Certified Timber Use
Archier's residential project in Australia secured the Australian Certified Timber category at the Timber Design Awards, with certified wood making up 75% of its total building materials.
Award for Certified Timber Integration
The Ora House residential project, designed by Archier, has received the Australian Certified Timber category award at the Timber Design Awards. This recognition highlights the project's extensive use of Responsible Wood-certified timber, which constituted over 90% of its total wood products.
Overall, timber accounted for approximately 75% of the building's entire material composition. The award, sponsored by Responsible Wood, acknowledges projects that demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainably sourced timber within Australia's built environment.
Sourcing and Traceability
Archier sourced the certified timber and wood products for Ora House from a range of local certificate holders. These suppliers included Wesbeam, Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH), Ta Ann Plywood, Porta, and Britton Timbers. The Archier team stated that ethical provenance was a fundamental requirement for the house, which is designed to reciprocate with the Australian bush.
This commitment underpins the project's Passive House standards and embodied carbon strategy, providing auditable evidence through chain of custody certification. This certification ensures that every structural and lining element is traceable to certified regrowth or plantation sources.
Industry Support for Sustainable Design
Responsible Wood's acting CEO, Matt de Jongh, commented that the organization's partnership with the Timber Design Awards aims to promote the adoption of certified timber in Australian construction. De Jongh emphasized that effective timber design begins with understanding the material's origin.
He cited Ora House as an example of how architects can connect outstanding design with a clear commitment to certified Australian timber.
Other projects recognized at the awards also featured certified timber, such as The Cutaway at Barangaroo, which used timber from ASH and Hess Timber, and Tonsley Technical College, which incorporated cross-laminated timber (CLT) from NexTimber by Timberlink and glue-laminated timber (glulam) from ASH.
Implications for Asia's Procurement and Specification
For procurement teams and specifiers across Asia, the Ora House project offers a practical case study for integrating certified timber at scale. When sourcing wood products for residential or commercial developments in the region, requesting certifications like Responsible Wood or PEFC ensures traceability and supports low-carbon construction goals.
Buyers should specifically ask suppliers for chain of custody documentation to verify the origin of wood products. This is particularly relevant for engineered timber, such as cross-laminated timber or glue-laminated timber, to align with increasing sustainability mandates in markets like Singapore and Vietnam.
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