Two buildings soon to be constructed in Christchurch could lead the way for a seismically safer New Zealand.

Greenpeace has “condemned” the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for apparently ignoring human rights violations in the Congo.

While lending-averse Australasian banks continue to strangle the life out of new housing starts and general construction, in the UK the government and wood industry have taken the initiative.

“It is rare that the stuff of a building, as well as its relationship to nature, gives so much pleasure,” – Rowan Moore, The Guardian, writing about Brockholes Visitor Centre at Preston, UK.

The New Zealand forestry industry has decided to have another go at getting out of the commodity rut (unprocessed logs to China), targeting NZ$12 billion a year in export sales within a decade.

An export-oriented platform for woodworking machinery, furniture components and raw materials with an expected 850 exhibitors and 35,000 trade buyers opens in Shanghai in September.

Our March cover story is the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington DC – with its huge Douglas fir parallel strand lumber (PSL) columns. And therein lies another story.