Visionary behind timber high-rises scoops awards

The University of Canterbury's Professor Andy Buchanan was last night named the BNZ Supreme Winner of the third annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards.

A Kiwi engineer's visionary technology which has realised the possibility of high-rise buildings made from wood has been acknowledged with a major award.

Professsor Andy Buchanan of the University of Canterbury was named the BNZ Supreme Winner of the third annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards at a ceremony in Auckland last night.

Work by Professor Buchanan and his team is helping change how the construction industry sees structural timber, and has made it possible for timber-based buildings to directly compete with the concrete and steel creations that have been the norm for decades.

The post-tensioned timber frame technology he pioneered has already been used in many high rises around the world - among them a 24-storey structure in Vienna and a 30-storey building in Vancouver.

From the exterior, the structures appeared like any other, but on the inside, their beams and framing could be noticed.

Along with being a more environmentally-friendly building option, the structures also proved sturdier and safer in earthquakes, Professor Buchanan said, and some would feature in the rebuilt Christchurch.

He told the Herald this morning he was "thrilled" with the award, which he hoped would help the construction industry see the benefit of the technology.

Professor Buchanan saw a "huge opportunity" for New Zealand to export the Kiwi technology, as well as material - homegrown radiata pine.

For his innovations, he had already received the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) President's Award and the Royal Society of New Zealand's RJ Scott Medal.

The awards ceremony, attended by around 250 people, celebrated cutting-edge research commercialisation being led in New Zealand's universities and Crown research institutes.

Professor Buchanan also received the People's Choice Award and the Research Entrepreneur Award.

Other winners included a team from Plant and Food Research, which won the PwC Commercial Deal Award for plant variety commercialisation; a collaboration between Comvita New Zealand and Auckland University's Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology, which won the Minter Ellison Rudd Watts Research and Business Partnership Award; and the Biopolymer Network Limited, between Scion, Plant and Food Research and AgResearch, which won the Commercialisation Collaboration Award.

Head judge Helen Robinson, said the judges had been "increasingly impressed" at the value being created in New Zealand from collaborations between businesses and researchers.

This year's finalists had illustrated the "sheer diversity" of innovation and commercialisation taking place here, she said.

"The finalists showed deep market insight, impressive science, and engagement and relationships built, both locally and internationally.

"The finalists were made up of clever and disruptive business models designed to deliver maximised return, to the people, the organisations, the customer and our country."

Helen Robinson was joined on the judging panel by Rob Heebink, R&D Executive at Gallagher Group, professional director Dr Ray Thomson, and Sir Ray Avery, pharmaceutical scientist, inventor, philanthropist, businessman and founder and CEO of Medicine Mondiale.