Around 70 years of records of wood durability and performance across four sites in New Zealand, including the ‘graveyard’ on Scion’s Rotorua campus. The archive is the reference for standard and building code development, evaluation of wood products developed in New Zealand and overseas, and establishment of durability classification for timber frown in New Zealand and overseas.

The information about wood durability gathered from the four sites provides a foundation for the timber industry and helps inform building practice standards and compliance.  The testing is used to establish durability classifications for timber grown here and overseas. Information from the sites combined with information  about structural performance established in Scion’s timber engineering lab informs how suitable wood products are for particular purposes.

The Rotorua includes above-ground tests like decking, cladding and joinery, and in-ground stakes, posts and poles while the three remote sites – near Whangārei, Hanmer and Waitarere –  only have in-ground stakes.

Scion deliberately selected test sites with different environments and soil types to get a range of information.

Further reading

• Read more about the National Wood Performance Archive.
• Wood graveyard provides foundations for timber industry durability studies.

Contact

Diahanna O'Callahan, microbiologist.