A sawmill manager has won the support of local authorities in his challenge to New Zealand’s revised building code which restricts the use of untreated Douglas fir.
Waimea Sawmillers general manager Scott Gibbons was backed in his efforts to change the code by a South Island meeting of Local Government New Zealand.
Mr Gibbons said that under the new rules imposed by the New Zealand Building Industry Authority, untreated Douglas fir was restricted in structural use to single-storey brick-skinned houses.
He wants the timber to be classed under the building code in the “acceptable solutions” category which will widen its potential applications.
