Sustainability

• This private chapel was hand-built by the local farming community.
• Several species of cut timber were available and used in a manner that reduced the requirement for other materials.
• The exterior is clad with radiata pine board and batten while the interior uses a mixture of oil-finished timbers.
• A wide pivoting entry door is made from split macrocarpa with a taraire frame.
• A cross-glazed wall contains a mix of redwood, saligna, Japanese cedar, white poplar and puriri.
• The ceiling uses radiata pine and macrocarpa sarking.

• This church echoes the nearby forest through its exterior form, cladding and interior structure.
• Dense wooden clustered columns and beams form an enclosing canopy.
• The columns of the church space have been installed as free-standing masts on steel shoes.
• The architecture is guided by prefabrication, because the church was built completely of factory-made components.
• Radially sawn spruce is used as a wall lining and flooring material in the congregation spaces to minimise moisture movement, improve durability and achieve a uniform appearance.
• The untreated façade is clad in cleft aspen shingles and fine-sawn drop siding that will grey with age.

Gunns Veneers has been supplying the New Zealand domestic market with speciality wood veneers for over 45 years, and the species include native species sourced from MAF approved SFM plans and Permits (Sustainable Forest Management) as well as a number of exotic species.

Of key importance to the New Zealand operation as well as to customers is the legality and sustainability of of the raw material supply:

• All native raw material must have come from MAF approved plans and permits. Regular checks with MAF to make ensure these permits are current. (This is controlled by the IFU, Indigenous Forestry Unit)

• A majority of the natives purchased are sourced via non invasive forestry practices, individual trees are identified, felled and then taken out by helicopter, this then allows the sub canopy trees room to grow.

• All logs are then sighted by Gunns log buyer, only trees that will give a high recovery are selected. One m³ of rimu in log form will yield up to 700m² of veneer. If pre-milled veneer blocks/ flitches are purchased up to 1100m2 per m³ can be recovered.