Michael Lee

04/28/25 • 18 min

Michael Lee is a technical expert in Tasmanian Timber. Mick, as he's known within the sector, has over 30 years experience in research, timber production, and systems. He works with builders, designers, and architects to create solutions that benefit the environment, the economy, and the community.
"The stadium build for instance, in Hobart, called for 40-metre roof beams. No one in Australia could make a 40-metre roof beam. Could we make two twenties? Of course. So it's just changing the ethos and getting the right engineering involved to change the design parameters to suit our products. There's nothing that can be done anywhere else in the world that we can't do here. We have the capability of producing it on island – so it's buy local, local supply. We have the product. There's nothing stopping us. There really isn't."
originalthinkers.com.au/michael-lee
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Episode Sponsor:

Tasmanian Timber

Episode Sponsor:

Tasmanian Timber

Previous Episode

Gerard Reinmuth & Philip Oldfield

Gerard Reinmuth is a Director at Terroir Architects and the inaugural Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture at the University of Technology Sydney, and Philip Oldfield is Head of the Built Environment School in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales.
They are both co-authors on a paper recently published in Sustainable Cities and Society, titled 'Towards net-zero embodied carbon: Investigating the potential for ambitious embodied carbon reductions in Australian office buildings'.
"From my perspective - I'm an educator and a researcher - the thing that keeps me awake at night, the research question I'm interested in, is how can we create buildings that are necessary for society? We know 3 billion people globally don't have access to adequate housing. United Nations say we need to build 96,000 new homes a day. How can we achieve that within planetary limits? How can we achieve that without screwing the environment? And it's a paradox. How can we effectively double building stock while getting down to net-zero?"
originalthinkers.com.au/gerard-reinmuth-philip-oldfield
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