500 cu m of timber kept 1,742 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, and was regrown in just 38 minutes.
Australia’s first mass engineered timber fire station has taken the international Public Infrastructure prize in the 2025 Built by Nature awards.
Amid just under 400 entries, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services’ North Coast Region Headquarters and Maryborough Fire and Rescue Station won over a judging panel of international experts, including Kevin McCloud, Architect and host of Grand Designs.
It was showcased at COP30 in Brazil last month and appeared in a documentary featuring Sir David Attenborough.
Located in the city of Maryborough on Queensland’s Fraser coast 255km north of Brisbane, the project – led by architects Baber Studio and contractor Hutchinson Builders and completed in 2022 – reimagined the original Art Deco, brick-built fire station dating to 1951.
Locally grown plantation pine
The new, 2,695-sq-m complex consists of three buildings built with 500 cu m of locally grown plantation pine in the form of glue-laminated timber from Hyne Timber, and cross-laminated timber from Hyne’s sister company Xlam. Hyne and Xlam are subsidiaries of UK timber supplier James Jones & Sons.
Hyne Timber said the project prevented 1,742 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, and that the 500 cu m of wood was regrown across the plantations in just 38 minutes.
Built by Nature noted that prefabricated panels cut waste, improved efficiency, and enabled fast erection in just two weeks.
“The project stores carbon, supports Queensland’s timber economy, and shows that mass timber can effectively deliver complex public infrastructure initiatives,” the organisation said.
Tom Bruce-Jones, chairman of James Jones & Sons Group, called the award “a tremendous accomplishment and a validation of timber’s potential in modern construction”
- Subscribe here to get stories about construction around the world in your inbox three times a week
