Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your Official Information Act request dated 30 June 2020.

 

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in
any event no later than 28 July 2020, being 20 working days after the day
your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by
then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

Your request is being coordinated by Scion’s legal team. If you have any
queries, please feel free to contact me or John Eley (copied above). If
any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel
Scion
49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand
DDI +64 7 343 5482 | Reception +64 7 343 5899

 

[1]Scion logo

[2]Scion Website  [3]Twitter  [4]LinkedIn  [5]YouTube  [6]Flickr

 

 

 

From: Edward Grove
[[7]mailto:[FOI #13192 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:33 PM
To: Scion Reception <[8][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the role
the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played in
the leaky building crisis

 

Dear New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited,

Hi, I wish to request copies of any reports, correspondence or
documentation from 1992 to 2005 which discusses the extent to which the
use of structural lumber containing substantial amounts of "Juvenile" (aka
"Core") wood from pinus radiata (i.e. from the second rotation or
production thinnings) may have, or did, contribute to causing the building
failures and/or weather-tightness issues which have come to be
colloquially referred to as the "leaky building crisis". In particular, I
am interested in any discussion regarding to the actual or potential
consequences of longitudinal shrinkage of such material when used in
residential structural or cladding applications.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[9][FOI #13192 email]

Is [10][SCION request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited? If
so, please contact us using this form:
[11]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[12]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

References

Visible links
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3. https://twitter.com/scion_research
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5. https://www.youtube.com/user/ScionResearch
6. https://www.flickr.com/photos/scionnz
7. mailto:[FOI #13192 email]
8. mailto:[email address]
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10. mailto:[SCION request email]
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hide quoted sections

Dear Edward

 

Further to your OIA requests to Scion, we propose amendments to the
requests to clarify meaning and ensure consistency between the requests.

 

You have referred to construction failures and building failures with
particular reference to weather-tightness.  We have proposed amendments to
your requests to clarify a failure is after building completion (compared
to failures during construction) that has an adverse impact on the
structural integrity of the building, which may or may not have an impact
upon weathertightness.  Weathertightness issues can be caused by many
factors and a failure of structural integrity may be one of those or not,
and likewise a failure of structural integrity may or may not cause
weathertightness issues.

 

You have referred to causal link between properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile / core wood and building failure, and also to the use of Pinus
radiata juvenile / core wood contribution to cause building failure.  We
have proposed amendments to clarify reference to a causal link between the
properties of Pinus radiata juvenile / core wood and the building failure
in each request. 

 

These amendments are consistent with your interest area and help us
clearly identify the relevant information across each request. 

 

Your original request and the amended request is set out below. 

Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:33 PM
Subject: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the role
the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played in
the leaky building crisis

Hi, I wish to request copies of any reports, correspondence or
documentation from 1992 to 2005 which discusses the extent to which the
use of structural lumber containing substantial amounts of "Juvenile" (aka
"Core") wood from pinus radiata (i.e. from the second rotation or
production thinnings) may have, or did, contribute to causing the building
failures and/or weather-tightness issues which have come to be
colloquially referred to as the "leaky building crisis". In particular, I
am interested in any discussion regarding to the actual or potential
consequences of longitudinal shrinkage of such material when used in
residential structural or cladding applications.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and 2005, written by Scion which
gives advice on any causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile /core wood and building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on structural integrity of the building (which may
or may not impact on building weathertightness). 

I’m happy to discuss the clarifications.  Please note the amendment of a
request is considered to a new request for the purpose of calculating the
maximum statutory timeframe for response (see section 15(1AA) of the OIA)

We are locating the relevant information and will be in contact.

Regards

Lynda

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2020 11:47 AM
To: [FOI #13192 email]
Cc: John Eley <[email address]>
Subject: FW: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the
role the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played
in the leaky building crisis

 

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your Official Information Act request dated 30 June 2020.

 

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in
any event no later than 28 July 2020, being 20 working days after the day
your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by
then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

Your request is being coordinated by Scion’s legal team. If you have any
queries, please feel free to contact me or John Eley (copied above). If
any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel
Scion
49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand
DDI +64 7 343 5482 | Reception +64 7 343 5899

 

[1]Scion logo

[2]Scion Website  [3]Twitter  [4]LinkedIn  [5]YouTube  [6]Flickr

 

 

 

From: Edward Grove
[[7]mailto:[FOI #13192 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:33 PM
To: Scion Reception <[8][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the role
the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played in
the leaky building crisis

 

Dear New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited,

Hi, I wish to request copies of any reports, correspondence or
documentation from 1992 to 2005 which discusses the extent to which the
use of structural lumber containing substantial amounts of "Juvenile" (aka
"Core") wood from pinus radiata (i.e. from the second rotation or
production thinnings) may have, or did, contribute to causing the building
failures and/or weather-tightness issues which have come to be
colloquially referred to as the "leaky building crisis". In particular, I
am interested in any discussion regarding to the actual or potential
consequences of longitudinal shrinkage of such material when used in
residential structural or cladding applications.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[9][FOI #13192 email]

Is [10][SCION request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited? If
so, please contact us using this form:
[11]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[12]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.scionresearch.com/
3. https://twitter.com/scion_research
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/39462
5. https://www.youtube.com/user/ScionResearch
6. https://www.flickr.com/photos/scionnz
7. mailto:[FOI #13192 email]
8. mailto:[email address]
9. mailto:[FOI #13192 email]
10. mailto:[SCION request email]
11. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
12. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

hide quoted sections

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your emails.  For ease this email relates to all your requests.

 

Your comments were very useful, and I’ve further revised the requests as
highlighted below. 

 

Your clarification regarding potential or actual causal link has been
added and reflects what we understood the request referred to.  

 

Your clarification regarding longevity and performance has also been
added.  We have linked longevity to the Building Code to give some
objective reference point.  We have mentioned structural integrity as
being part of performance but we understand your interest is wider than
this.  The Building Code provides some guidance regarding performance but
we have not expressly mentioned this as we understand your interest is
wider than this.

 

Your clarification regarding residential buildings was useful and I have
expressly mentioned this in the revised requests.    

 

Looking at the requests, I wonder if the request from Tuesday 30 June
covers the same information, but for a shorter time period, as the second
part of the request from Thursday 2 July.  Are you content that we
disregard the Tuesday 30 June request?  If you consider the Tuesday 30
June request to be distinct from the second part of the Thursday 2 July
request, could you please provide further information on the difference
between the two requests?   

 

Please note the amendment of a request is considered to a new request for
the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for response
(see section 15(1AA) of the OIA).  Today is seven working days from the
date of the original Thursday 2 July request and so we will calculate our
time to respond from today’s date.  Accordingly our new date to respond
(being 20 working days from today) is 10 August 2020.    

 

We will search our records for the relevant information based on the
revised requests from Thursday 2 July.

 

We have not started a search of our records yet and from my initial
discussions with our scientists it appears that most of our work has
looked at the properties of juvenile / core Pinus radiata without
necessarily linking those properties to building failure.  Any building
failure work appears to mainly relate to the building failure of
structural building elements within the narrower definition of structural,
that is we have limited/no work related to cladding, flashing or roofing
elements.  Likewise, Scion has looked at building failure where
weathertightness may have also occurred, but Scion has not looked at
weathertightness as a singular issue.  You are probably aware that BRANZ
has carried out more work than Scion in the area of building failure and
weathertightness, and that MBIE’s building performance group is active in
this area. 

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have
any queries. 

 

For your information I am on holiday for the rest of this week; back in
the office on Monday 20 July.  My colleague John Eley (copied above) will
be able to assist in my absence. 

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:33 PM <
[1][FOI #13192 email]>

Subject: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the role
the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played in
the leaky building crisis

 

Hi, I wish to request copies of any reports, correspondence or
documentation from 1992 to 2005 which discusses the extent to which the
use of structural lumber containing substantial amounts of "Juvenile" (aka
"Core") wood from pinus radiata (i.e. from the second rotation or
production thinnings) may have, or did, contribute to causing the building
failures and/or weather-tightness issues which have come to be
colloquially referred to as the "leaky building crisis". In particular, I
am interested in any discussion regarding to the actual or potential
consequences of longitudinal shrinkage of such material when used in
residential structural or cladding applications.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and 2005, written by Scion which
gives advice on any actual or potential causal link between the properties
of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood and residential building failure
after building completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity
(according to the Building Code) and performance (including structural
integrity) of the residential building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness). 

Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM
<[2][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.
 
Amendment - Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion
from third parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to
influence communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile /core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity)of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and now, written by Scion (either
upon request by third parties or not) which gives advice on any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity) of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel
Scion
49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand
DDI +64 7 343 5482 | Reception +64 7 343 5899

 

[3]Scion logo

[4]Scion Website  [5]Twitter  [6]LinkedIn  [7]YouTube  [8]Flickr

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[9][email address]>
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2020 10:18 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[10][email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by,
NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

The proposed amendment looks largely fine. I would like to clarify
however,

(a) where the proposed amendment refers to "any causal link", I am
interested in documentation regarding not only actual proven or accepted
causal lins, but also any identification/speculation by Scion and/or its
employees regarding potential causal links. i.e. so that the amendment
refers to "any actual or potential causal link" By way of example D J Cown
had in his 1992 article for Scion "Corewood (Juvenile Wood) in Pinus
Radiata - Should we be Concerned?" - written before (I understand) the
leaky building crisis emerged, identified that the wood properties of the
second-rotation juvenile wood that was already in use in New Zealand "may
be sufficiently different to cause manufacturing difficulties and
properties in service", that juvenile wood had overseas "been blamed for
excessive movement" , that new crop density was "at the lower acceptable
limit" for structural use, and that "it is not conceivable that large
trees harvested at say 20 years will have desirable properties for most
solid wood uses". Strictly speaking that article might be described as
containing only speculation as to the possibility for juvenile/core wood
to cause construction failures, but nonetheless I am interested in such
informed-speculation by Scion on the subject. So, I would like to ensure
all such documentation which is in the nature of speculation of possible
causal links, and not just documentation which records confirmed causal
links, be included in any response.

(b) where the proposed amendment refers to "structural integrity", I wish
to clarify that I do wish the request to extend to matters such as
failures of claddings, exterior paint surfaces/barriers, flashings and the
like. There seems to be a lack of consistency in the (New Zealand)
scientific and industry reports as to whether cladding for example is
regarded as a "structural" element. It clearly was in the 60s, but
certainly since the 80s most of the scientific/industry discussion appears
to describe cladding and flashing elements as non-structural, - at least
in the context of any discussion of residential construction. In short, if
it is a building element, and its failure could materially impact on the
performance/longevity of a residential construction, and Scion has
identified an actual or potential causative link between that failure and
the properties of junvile/core wood in Pinus radiata, I would like to
receive copies of all such documents discussion same. By way of example, I
understand that in 2010/11 Scion advised the New Zealand Metal Roofing
Manufacturers Association Inc regarding potential causes of roof flashings
buckling, and identified the problem as being due to the occasional
presence of compression wood, and in particular the "vastly different
[longitudinal] shrinkage characteristics of such wood". That shrinkage was
stated as being between 0.4 - 1% for compression wood. Scion's advice to
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc is recorded in
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association In's publication
to its members as having been that while juvenile wood was also "becoming
common", and juvenile wood would also shrink longitudinally, it would "not
[shrink] as much as compression wood". Scion's own published research now
records that juvenile radiata wood has even greater average longitudinal
shrinkage than the 0.4-1% advised for compression wood, and the vast
majority of light framing timber available in New Zealand demonstrably (by
visual examination of ring width and curvature) consists of predominantly
juvenile wood (and indeed much includes the pith). Hence it is reasonable
to expect that at some point within Scion, before or after advising the
New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc regarding the
possibility of the occasional presence of compression wood to cause roof
flashings to buckle, there will have been consideration and discussion of
the far more common juvenile wood, with even greater longitudinal
shrinkage, to cause even more severe buckling. Documents embodying
discussions of such actual or potential problems are exactly what I am
after, regardless of whether the failure of such roof flashings do or do
not fall strictly within any particular definition of a "structural
failure".

Thanks for your assistance

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Further to your OIA requests to Scion, we propose amendments to the
requests to clarify meaning and ensure consistency between the requests.

 

You have referred to construction failures and building failures with
particular reference to weather-tightness.  We have proposed amendments to
your requests to clarify a failure is after building completion (compared
to failures during building/construction) that has an adverse impact on
the structural integrity of the building, which may or may not have an
impact upon weathertightness.  Weathertightness issues can be caused by
many factors and a failure of structural integrity may be one of those or
not, and likewise a failure of structural integrity may or may not cause
weathertightness issues.

 

You have referred to causal link between properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile / core wood and building failure, and also to the use of Pinus
radiata juvenile / core wood contribution to cause building failure.  We
have proposed amendments to clarify reference to a causal link between the
properties of Pinus radiata juvenile / core wood and the building failure
in each request. 

 

These amendments are consistent with your interest area and help us
clearly identify the relevant information. 

 

Your original request and the amended request is set out below. 

 

Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM

Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.

 

Amendment - Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion
from third parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to
influence communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any
causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood
and building failure after building completion that has an adverse impact
on structural integrity of the building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness).

 

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

 

Amendment - Information between 1992 and now, written by Scion (either
upon request by third parties or not) which gives advice on any causal
link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood and
building failure after building completion that has an adverse impact on
structural integrity of the building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness).

I’m happy to discuss the clarifications.  Please note the amendment of a
request is considered to a new request for the purpose of calculating the
maximum statutory timeframe for response (see section 15(1AA) of the OIA)

We are locating the relevant information and will be in contact.

Regards

Lynda

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Friday, July 3, 2020 1:06 PM
To: [FOI #13215 email]
Cc: John Eley <[email address]>
Subject: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by,
NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your Official Information Act request dated 2 July 2020.

 

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in
any event no later than 30 July 2020, being 20 working days after the day
your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by
then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

Your request is being coordinated by Scion’s legal team. If you have any
queries, please feel free to contact me or John Eley (copied above). If
any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My hours of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[1][11]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[2][12]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [3][13]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4][14]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [5][15]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6][16]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

 

 

 

From: Edward Grove
[[7][17]mailto:[FOI #13215 email]]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM
To: Scion Reception <[8][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

 

Dear New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited,

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[9][FOI #13215 email]

Is [10][SCION request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited? If
so, please contact us using this form:
[11][18]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[12][19]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[20][email address]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[21]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #13192 email]
2. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.scionresearch.com/
5. https://twitter.com/scion_research
6. https://www.linkedin.com/company/39462
7. https://www.youtube.com/user/ScionResearch
8. https://www.flickr.com/photos/scionnz
9. mailto:[email address]
10. mailto:[email address]
11. file:///tmp/cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340
12. file:///tmp/cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
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14. file:///tmp/cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
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17. mailto:[foi
18. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
19. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
20. mailto:[email address]
21. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

hide quoted sections

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your emails.  For ease this email relates to all your requests.

 

Your comments were very useful, and I’ve further revised the requests as
highlighted below. 

 

Your clarification regarding potential or actual causal link has been
added and reflects what we understood the request referred to.  

 

Your clarification regarding longevity and performance has also been
added.  We have linked longevity to the Building Code to give some
objective reference point.  We have mentioned structural integrity as
being part of performance but we understand your interest is wider than
this.  The Building Code provides some guidance regarding performance but
we have not expressly mentioned this as we understand your interest is
wider than this.

 

Your clarification regarding residential buildings was useful and I have
expressly mentioned this in the revised requests.    

 

Looking at the requests, I wonder if the request from Tuesday 30 June
covers the same information, but for a shorter time period, as the second
part of the request from Thursday 2 July.  Are you content that we
disregard the Tuesday 30 June request?  If you consider the Tuesday 30
June request to be distinct from the second part of the Thursday 2 July
request, could you please provide further information on the difference
between the two requests?   

 

Please note the amendment of a request is considered to a new request for
the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for response
(see section 15(1AA) of the OIA).  Today is seven working days from the
date of the original Thursday 2 July request and so we will calculate our
time to respond from today’s date.  Accordingly our new date to respond
(being 20 working days from today) is 10 August 2020.    

 

We will search our records for the relevant information based on the
revised requests from Thursday 2 July.

 

We have not started a search of our records yet and from my initial
discussions with our scientists it appears that most of our work has
looked at the properties of juvenile / core Pinus radiata without
necessarily linking those properties to building failure.  Any building
failure work appears to mainly relate to the building failure of
structural building elements within the narrower definition of structural,
that is we have limited/no work related to cladding, flashing or roofing
elements.  Likewise, Scion has looked at building failure where
weathertightness may have also occurred, but Scion has not looked at
weathertightness as a singular issue.  You are probably aware that BRANZ
has carried out more work than Scion in the area of building failure and
weathertightness, and that MBIE’s building performance group is active in
this area. 

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have
any queries. 

 

For your information I am on holiday for the rest of this week; back in
the office on Monday 20 July.  My colleague John Eley (copied above) will
be able to assist in my absence. 

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:33 PM <
[1][FOI #13192 email]>

Subject: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the role
the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played in
the leaky building crisis

 

Hi, I wish to request copies of any reports, correspondence or
documentation from 1992 to 2005 which discusses the extent to which the
use of structural lumber containing substantial amounts of "Juvenile" (aka
"Core") wood from pinus radiata (i.e. from the second rotation or
production thinnings) may have, or did, contribute to causing the building
failures and/or weather-tightness issues which have come to be
colloquially referred to as the "leaky building crisis". In particular, I
am interested in any discussion regarding to the actual or potential
consequences of longitudinal shrinkage of such material when used in
residential structural or cladding applications.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and 2005, written by Scion which
gives advice on any actual or potential causal link between the properties
of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood and residential building failure
after building completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity
(according to the Building Code) and performance (including structural
integrity) of the residential building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness). 

Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM
<[2][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.
 
Amendment - Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion
from third parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to
influence communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile /core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity)of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and now, written by Scion (either
upon request by third parties or not) which gives advice on any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity) of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel
Scion
49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand
DDI +64 7 343 5482 | Reception +64 7 343 5899

 

[3]Scion logo

[4]Scion Website  [5]Twitter  [6]LinkedIn  [7]YouTube  [8]Flickr

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[9][email address]>
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2020 10:18 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[10][email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by,
NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

The proposed amendment looks largely fine. I would like to clarify
however,

(a) where the proposed amendment refers to "any causal link", I am
interested in documentation regarding not only actual proven or accepted
causal lins, but also any identification/speculation by Scion and/or its
employees regarding potential causal links. i.e. so that the amendment
refers to "any actual or potential causal link" By way of example D J Cown
had in his 1992 article for Scion "Corewood (Juvenile Wood) in Pinus
Radiata - Should we be Concerned?" - written before (I understand) the
leaky building crisis emerged, identified that the wood properties of the
second-rotation juvenile wood that was already in use in New Zealand "may
be sufficiently different to cause manufacturing difficulties and
properties in service", that juvenile wood had overseas "been blamed for
excessive movement" , that new crop density was "at the lower acceptable
limit" for structural use, and that "it is not conceivable that large
trees harvested at say 20 years will have desirable properties for most
solid wood uses". Strictly speaking that article might be described as
containing only speculation as to the possibility for juvenile/core wood
to cause construction failures, but nonetheless I am interested in such
informed-speculation by Scion on the subject. So, I would like to ensure
all such documentation which is in the nature of speculation of possible
causal links, and not just documentation which records confirmed causal
links, be included in any response.

(b) where the proposed amendment refers to "structural integrity", I wish
to clarify that I do wish the request to extend to matters such as
failures of claddings, exterior paint surfaces/barriers, flashings and the
like. There seems to be a lack of consistency in the (New Zealand)
scientific and industry reports as to whether cladding for example is
regarded as a "structural" element. It clearly was in the 60s, but
certainly since the 80s most of the scientific/industry discussion appears
to describe cladding and flashing elements as non-structural, - at least
in the context of any discussion of residential construction. In short, if
it is a building element, and its failure could materially impact on the
performance/longevity of a residential construction, and Scion has
identified an actual or potential causative link between that failure and
the properties of junvile/core wood in Pinus radiata, I would like to
receive copies of all such documents discussion same. By way of example, I
understand that in 2010/11 Scion advised the New Zealand Metal Roofing
Manufacturers Association Inc regarding potential causes of roof flashings
buckling, and identified the problem as being due to the occasional
presence of compression wood, and in particular the "vastly different
[longitudinal] shrinkage characteristics of such wood". That shrinkage was
stated as being between 0.4 - 1% for compression wood. Scion's advice to
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc is recorded in
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association In's publication
to its members as having been that while juvenile wood was also "becoming
common", and juvenile wood would also shrink longitudinally, it would "not
[shrink] as much as compression wood". Scion's own published research now
records that juvenile radiata wood has even greater average longitudinal
shrinkage than the 0.4-1% advised for compression wood, and the vast
majority of light framing timber available in New Zealand demonstrably (by
visual examination of ring width and curvature) consists of predominantly
juvenile wood (and indeed much includes the pith). Hence it is reasonable
to expect that at some point within Scion, before or after advising the
New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc regarding the
possibility of the occasional presence of compression wood to cause roof
flashings to buckle, there will have been consideration and discussion of
the far more common juvenile wood, with even greater longitudinal
shrinkage, to cause even more severe buckling. Documents embodying
discussions of such actual or potential problems are exactly what I am
after, regardless of whether the failure of such roof flashings do or do
not fall strictly within any particular definition of a "structural
failure".

Thanks for your assistance

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Further to your OIA requests to Scion, we propose amendments to the
requests to clarify meaning and ensure consistency between the requests.

 

You have referred to construction failures and building failures with
particular reference to weather-tightness.  We have proposed amendments to
your requests to clarify a failure is after building completion (compared
to failures during building/construction) that has an adverse impact on
the structural integrity of the building, which may or may not have an
impact upon weathertightness.  Weathertightness issues can be caused by
many factors and a failure of structural integrity may be one of those or
not, and likewise a failure of structural integrity may or may not cause
weathertightness issues.

 

You have referred to causal link between properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile / core wood and building failure, and also to the use of Pinus
radiata juvenile / core wood contribution to cause building failure.  We
have proposed amendments to clarify reference to a causal link between the
properties of Pinus radiata juvenile / core wood and the building failure
in each request. 

 

These amendments are consistent with your interest area and help us
clearly identify the relevant information. 

 

Your original request and the amended request is set out below. 

 

Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM

Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.

 

Amendment - Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion
from third parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to
influence communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any
causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood
and building failure after building completion that has an adverse impact
on structural integrity of the building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness).

 

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

 

Amendment - Information between 1992 and now, written by Scion (either
upon request by third parties or not) which gives advice on any causal
link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood and
building failure after building completion that has an adverse impact on
structural integrity of the building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness).

I’m happy to discuss the clarifications.  Please note the amendment of a
request is considered to a new request for the purpose of calculating the
maximum statutory timeframe for response (see section 15(1AA) of the OIA)

We are locating the relevant information and will be in contact.

Regards

Lynda

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Friday, July 3, 2020 1:06 PM
To: [FOI #13215 email]
Cc: John Eley <[email address]>
Subject: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by,
NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your Official Information Act request dated 2 July 2020.

 

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in
any event no later than 30 July 2020, being 20 working days after the day
your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by
then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

Your request is being coordinated by Scion’s legal team. If you have any
queries, please feel free to contact me or John Eley (copied above). If
any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request,
please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into
account.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My hours of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

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From: Edward Grove
[[7][17]mailto:[FOI #13215 email]]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM
To: Scion Reception <[8][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

 

Dear New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited,

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Grove

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hide quoted sections

Tēnā koe

Thanks for your email.

I am away the rest of the week.  I'll reply to your email on Monday 20th
July.

If your query is urgent please contact our Reception.

Ngā mihi

Lynda

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My hours of work are 9:00AM to 5:00PM Mondays and Wednesdays (in the
office), Thursday (remotely)

 

 

 

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This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

References

Visible links
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Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your emails.  Apologies for the delay responding.

 

I’ll look fully at your emails shortly and reply in depth.

 

Please feel free to call me in the meantime if you have any queries.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

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From: Edward Grove <[FYI request #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 9:20 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,
The only real distinction I see between the 30 June request and second
part of the 2 July request is that the 30 June request will also include
purely internal documentation and documentation received by NZFR, whereas
the second part of the 2 July request covers advice/communications
outwards from the NZFR to third parties.

Just by way of an addendum, and perhaps explanation: I've recently been
advised by a cladding manufacturer that the house my insurers has proposed
building (a house-fire rebuild) would, as designed, have all of its
radiata cladding (the manufacturer's own cladding) critically fail at
every corner in under a year, despite meeting the building code and being
constructed in accordance with the original construction details, and
would not have been under warranty. i.e. the house would have simply
unzipped at the seams, and I would have been financially wiped out if the
house had been constructed substituting radiata for the original cladding
wood. The cause of the failure was that the proposed new cladding
(radiata) was insufficiently stable to be mitre-jointed at the corners
without external soakers as per the original construction detailing. That
prompted some research, only for me to discover that radiata was (treated
or not) illegal to use for exterior cladding in most districts (including
Auckland) through most of the ear;u 1960s when the original house was
constructed, and was expressly not-recommended by the NZFR at that time
for any exterior use at all, treated or not, due to its instability and
permeability, and that the second rotation crop in use from the late 1980s
onwards had a known higher-instability. Per Cown, - the second rotation's
woods physical qualities were so deficient it needed to be treated as a
"different species" and new utilisation methods would have to be
developed, per Burdon, the reduced physical properties of second rotation
radiata had been a "nasty surprise"). That obviously led to the issue of
what role the dimensional instability (and reduced cell wall thickness,
greater lumen size, micofibril angle, reduced polysacharide content,
reduced response to conventional preservatives, and greater permeability
due to the increased use of kiln-drying and consequent effect on resin
ducts) played in the monolithic cladding failures. Particularly given the
long (50+) year history in New Zealand of relatively problem free use of
monolithic cladding prior to the late 1980s, and also given the historic
importance placed within the building industry on the stability of framing
when installing monolithic cladding. Yet there did/does not seem to be any
public mention at all in New Zealand of the second rotation/juvenile wood
as being a potential contributing cause of the building failures that
started at the end of the 1980s. That seemed odd, researchers overseas
were even in the 1980s describing the prospect of using juvenile wood in
residential construction as an "apocalyptic" scenario, and throughout the
early 1980s there had been repeated warnings by New Zealand scientists
(including Cown) that the second rotation radiata might not be able to be
used successfully in construction. In short, in the public information,
there seems a very conspicuous blind-spot at least since the early 1990s
onwards in which any mention or consideration of the fact that the
second-crop radiata properties were so massively worse might have caused
some of the novel building failures that were emerging. Yet, conversely,
there have since the early 1990s been a significant number of building
changes which seem expressly designed to work-around the issues of
juvenile wood, but without identifying the presence of juvenile wood as
being the reason why such changes were required. Lvl would be an example.
Mandatory use of expansion joints where previously not required, and so
on. What is also odd is that even from as early as 1989 there were
multiple disparate industry participants, - wood processors, builders,
BRANZ, flashing and plasterboard manufacturers that I've seen, who have
raised or discussed with their members and the industry experiences they
were having of abnormal wood movement, and resulting construction
failures, all very obviously groping for an answer as to why they were
experiencing problems, but obviously also not receiving answers, when the
reasons were identified as a hypothetical in the late 1970s, and largely
confirmed by the NZFR's research in the 1990s. So, I'm wondering why there
is an apparent blindspot, and disconnnect, between known problems with the
short rotation radiata (at least, problems with the majority of the wood
from such radiata), and the building failures that continue.
If anything is going to shed light on it, as I see it it will be the
NZFR's documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your emails.  For ease this email relates to all your requests.

 

Your comments were very useful, and I’ve further revised the requests as
highlighted below. 

 

Your clarification regarding potential or actual causal link has been
added and reflects what we understood the request referred to.  

 

Your clarification regarding longevity and performance has also been
added.  We have linked longevity to the Building Code to give some
objective reference point.  We have mentioned structural integrity as
being part of performance but we understand your interest is wider than
this.  The Building Code provides some guidance regarding performance but
we have not expressly mentioned this as we understand your interest is
wider than this.

 

Your clarification regarding residential buildings was useful and I have
expressly mentioned this in the revised requests.    

 

Looking at the requests, I wonder if the request from Tuesday 30 June
covers the same information, but for a shorter time period, as the second
part of the request from Thursday 2 July.  Are you content that we
disregard the Tuesday 30 June request?  If you consider the Tuesday 30
June request to be distinct from the second part of the Thursday 2 July
request, could you please provide further information on the difference
between the two requests?   

 

Please note the amendment of a request is considered to a new request for
the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for response
(see section 15(1AA) of the OIA).  Today is seven working days from the
date of the original Thursday 2 July request and so we will calculate our
time to respond from today’s date.  Accordingly our new date to respond
(being 20 working days from today) is 10 August 2020.    

 

We will search our records for the relevant information based on the
revised requests from Thursday 2 July.

 

We have not started a search of our records yet and from my initial
discussions with our scientists it appears that most of our work has
looked at the properties of juvenile / core Pinus radiata without
necessarily linking those properties to building failure.  Any building
failure work appears to mainly relate to the building failure of
structural building elements within the narrower definition of structural,
that is we have limited/no work related to cladding, flashing or roofing
elements.  Likewise, Scion has looked at building failure where
weathertightness may have also occurred, but Scion has not looked at
weathertightness as a singular issue.  You are probably aware that BRANZ
has carried out more work than Scion in the area of building failure and
weathertightness, and that MBIE’s building performance group is active in
this area. 

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have
any queries. 

 

For your information I am on holiday for the rest of this week; back in
the office on Monday 20 July.  My colleague John Eley (copied above) will
be able to assist in my absence. 

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:33 PM <
[1][FOI #13192 email]>

Subject: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the role
the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played in
the leaky building crisis

 

Hi, I wish to request copies of any reports, correspondence or
documentation from 1992 to 2005 which discusses the extent to which the
use of structural lumber containing substantial amounts of "Juvenile" (aka
"Core") wood from pinus radiata (i.e. from the second rotation or
production thinnings) may have, or did, contribute to causing the building
failures and/or weather-tightness issues which have come to be
colloquially referred to as the "leaky building crisis". In particular, I
am interested in any discussion regarding to the actual or potential
consequences of longitudinal shrinkage of such material when used in
residential structural or cladding applications.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and 2005, written by Scion which
gives advice on any actual or potential causal link between the properties
of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood and residential building failure
after building completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity
(according to the Building Code) and performance (including structural
integrity) of the residential building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness). 

Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM
<[2][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.
 
Amendment - Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion
from third parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to
influence communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile /core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity)of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and now, written by Scion (either
upon request by third parties or not) which gives advice on any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity) of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel
Scion
49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand
DDI +64 7 343 5482 | Reception +64 7 343 5899

 

[3]Scion logo

[4]Scion Website  [5]Twitter  [6]LinkedIn  [7]YouTube  [8]Flickr

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[9][email address]>
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2020 10:18 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[10][email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by,
NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

The proposed amendment looks largely fine. I would like to clarify
however,

(a) where the proposed amendment refers to "any causal link", I am
interested in documentation regarding not only actual proven or accepted
causal lins, but also any identification/speculation by Scion and/or its
employees regarding potential causal links. i.e. so that the amendment
refers to "any actual or potential causal link" By way of example D J Cown
had in his 1992 article for Scion "Corewood (Juvenile Wood) in Pinus
Radiata - Should we be Concerned?" - written before (I understand) the
leaky building crisis emerged, identified that the wood properties of the
second-rotation juvenile wood that was already in use in New Zealand "may
be sufficiently different to cause manufacturing difficulties and
properties in service", that juvenile wood had overseas "been blamed for
excessive movement" , that new crop density was "at the lower acceptable
limit" for structural use, and that "it is not conceivable that large
trees harvested at say 20 years will have desirable properties for most
solid wood uses". Strictly speaking that article might be described as
containing only speculation as to the possibility for juvenile/core wood
to cause construction failures, but nonetheless I am interested in such
informed-speculation by Scion on the subject. So, I would like to ensure
all such documentation which is in the nature of speculation of possible
causal links, and not just documentation which records confirmed causal
links, be included in any response.

(b) where the proposed amendment refers to "structural integrity", I wish
to clarify that I do wish the request to extend to matters such as
failures of claddings, exterior paint surfaces/barriers, flashings and the
like. There seems to be a lack of consistency in the (New Zealand)
scientific and industry reports as to whether cladding for example is
regarded as a "structural" element. It clearly was in the 60s, but
certainly since the 80s most of the scientific/industry discussion appears
to describe cladding and flashing elements as non-structural, - at least
in the context of any discussion of residential construction. In short, if
it is a building element, and its failure could materially impact on the
performance/longevity of a residential construction, and Scion has
identified an actual or potential causative link between that failure and
the properties of junvile/core wood in Pinus radiata, I would like to
receive copies of all such documents discussion same. By way of example, I
understand that in 2010/11 Scion advised the New Zealand Metal Roofing
Manufacturers Association Inc regarding potential causes of roof flashings
buckling, and identified the problem as being due to the occasional
presence of compression wood, and in particular the "vastly different
[longitudinal] shrinkage characteristics of such wood". That shrinkage was
stated as being between 0.4 - 1% for compression wood. Scion's advice to
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc is recorded in
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association In's publication
to its members as having been that while juvenile wood was also "becoming
common", and juvenile wood would also shrink longitudinally, it would "not
[shrink] as much as compression wood". Scion's own published research now
records that juvenile radiata wood has even greater average longitudinal
shrinkage than the 0.4-1% advised for compression wood, and the vast
majority of light framing timber available in New Zealand demonstrably (by
visual examination of ring width and curvature) consists of predominantly
juvenile wood (and indeed much includes the pith). Hence it is reasonable
to expect that at some point within Scion, before or after advising the
New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc regarding the
possibility of the occasional presence of compression wood to cause roof
flashings to buckle, there will have been consideration and discussion of
the far more common juvenile wood, with even greater longitudinal
shrinkage, to cause even more severe buckling. Documents embodying
discussions of such actual or potential problems are exactly what I am
after, regardless of whether the failure of such roof flashings do or do
not fall strictly within any particular definition of a "structural
failure".

Thanks for your assistance

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------
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hide quoted sections

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email last Monday, I confirm we are searching our records
for relevant information.

 

I have discussed your emails with my science colleague Doug Gaunt.  In
particular we have discussed your email below which explains the
background to your interest in the information.

 

Doug would be happy to talk with you directly over the phone regarding
your situation.  As an independent research institute, we are occasionally
contacted directly by members of the public seeking information or
guidance.  Doug thinks he could give you some useful guidance regarding
relevant publicly available information. 

 

Information about Doug can be found on our website

[1]https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...

 

Please let me know if you would like to talk to Doug and I can help
organise this.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [7]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:51 AM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your emails.  Apologies for the delay responding.

 

I’ll look fully at your emails shortly and reply in depth.

 

Please feel free to call me in the meantime if you have any queries.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[8]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[9]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [12]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [13]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[14][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 9:20 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[15][email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,
The only real distinction I see between the 30 June request and second
part of the 2 July request is that the 30 June request will also include
purely internal documentation and documentation received by NZFR, whereas
the second part of the 2 July request covers advice/communications
outwards from the NZFR to third parties.

Just by way of an addendum, and perhaps explanation: I've recently been
advised by a cladding manufacturer that the house my insurers has proposed
building (a house-fire rebuild) would, as designed, have all of its
radiata cladding (the manufacturer's own cladding) critically fail at
every corner in under a year, despite meeting the building code and being
constructed in accordance with the original construction details, and
would not have been under warranty. i.e. the house would have simply
unzipped at the seams, and I would have been financially wiped out if the
house had been constructed substituting radiata for the original cladding
wood. The cause of the failure was that the proposed new cladding
(radiata) was insufficiently stable to be mitre-jointed at the corners
without external soakers as per the original construction detailing. That
prompted some research, only for me to discover that radiata was (treated
or not) illegal to use for exterior cladding in most districts (including
Auckland) through most of the ear;u 1960s when the original house was
constructed, and was expressly not-recommended by the NZFR at that time
for any exterior use at all, treated or not, due to its instability and
permeability, and that the second rotation crop in use from the late 1980s
onwards had a known higher-instability. Per Cown, - the second rotation's
woods physical qualities were so deficient it needed to be treated as a
"different species" and new utilisation methods would have to be
developed, per Burdon, the reduced physical properties of second rotation
radiata had been a "nasty surprise"). That obviously led to the issue of
what role the dimensional instability (and reduced cell wall thickness,
greater lumen size, micofibril angle, reduced polysacharide content,
reduced response to conventional preservatives, and greater permeability
due to the increased use of kiln-drying and consequent effect on resin
ducts) played in the monolithic cladding failures. Particularly given the
long (50+) year history in New Zealand of relatively problem free use of
monolithic cladding prior to the late 1980s, and also given the historic
importance placed within the building industry on the stability of framing
when installing monolithic cladding. Yet there did/does not seem to be any
public mention at all in New Zealand of the second rotation/juvenile wood
as being a potential contributing cause of the building failures that
started at the end of the 1980s. That seemed odd, researchers overseas
were even in the 1980s describing the prospect of using juvenile wood in
residential construction as an "apocalyptic" scenario, and throughout the
early 1980s there had been repeated warnings by New Zealand scientists
(including Cown) that the second rotation radiata might not be able to be
used successfully in construction. In short, in the public information,
there seems a very conspicuous blind-spot at least since the early 1990s
onwards in which any mention or consideration of the fact that the
second-crop radiata properties were so massively worse might have caused
some of the novel building failures that were emerging. Yet, conversely,
there have since the early 1990s been a significant number of building
changes which seem expressly designed to work-around the issues of
juvenile wood, but without identifying the presence of juvenile wood as
being the reason why such changes were required. Lvl would be an example.
Mandatory use of expansion joints where previously not required, and so
on. What is also odd is that even from as early as 1989 there were
multiple disparate industry participants, - wood processors, builders,
BRANZ, flashing and plasterboard manufacturers that I've seen, who have
raised or discussed with their members and the industry experiences they
were having of abnormal wood movement, and resulting construction
failures, all very obviously groping for an answer as to why they were
experiencing problems, but obviously also not receiving answers, when the
reasons were identified as a hypothetical in the late 1970s, and largely
confirmed by the NZFR's research in the 1990s. So, I'm wondering why there
is an apparent blindspot, and disconnnect, between known problems with the
short rotation radiata (at least, problems with the majority of the wood
from such radiata), and the building failures that continue.
If anything is going to shed light on it, as I see it it will be the
NZFR's documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your emails.  For ease this email relates to all your requests.

 

Your comments were very useful, and I’ve further revised the requests as
highlighted below. 

 

Your clarification regarding potential or actual causal link has been
added and reflects what we understood the request referred to.  

 

Your clarification regarding longevity and performance has also been
added.  We have linked longevity to the Building Code to give some
objective reference point.  We have mentioned structural integrity as
being part of performance but we understand your interest is wider than
this.  The Building Code provides some guidance regarding performance but
we have not expressly mentioned this as we understand your interest is
wider than this.

 

Your clarification regarding residential buildings was useful and I have
expressly mentioned this in the revised requests.    

 

Looking at the requests, I wonder if the request from Tuesday 30 June
covers the same information, but for a shorter time period, as the second
part of the request from Thursday 2 July.  Are you content that we
disregard the Tuesday 30 June request?  If you consider the Tuesday 30
June request to be distinct from the second part of the Thursday 2 July
request, could you please provide further information on the difference
between the two requests?   

 

Please note the amendment of a request is considered to a new request for
the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for response
(see section 15(1AA) of the OIA).  Today is seven working days from the
date of the original Thursday 2 July request and so we will calculate our
time to respond from today’s date.  Accordingly our new date to respond
(being 20 working days from today) is 10 August 2020.    

 

We will search our records for the relevant information based on the
revised requests from Thursday 2 July.

 

We have not started a search of our records yet and from my initial
discussions with our scientists it appears that most of our work has
looked at the properties of juvenile / core Pinus radiata without
necessarily linking those properties to building failure.  Any building
failure work appears to mainly relate to the building failure of
structural building elements within the narrower definition of structural,
that is we have limited/no work related to cladding, flashing or roofing
elements.  Likewise, Scion has looked at building failure where
weathertightness may have also occurred, but Scion has not looked at
weathertightness as a singular issue.  You are probably aware that BRANZ
has carried out more work than Scion in the area of building failure and
weathertightness, and that MBIE’s building performance group is active in
this area. 

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have
any queries. 

 

For your information I am on holiday for the rest of this week; back in
the office on Monday 20 July.  My colleague John Eley (copied above) will
be able to assist in my absence. 

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 1:33 PM <
[1][FOI #13192 email]>

Subject: Official Information request - Documentation regarding the role
the use of juvenile pinus radiata wood for structural purposes played in
the leaky building crisis

 

Hi, I wish to request copies of any reports, correspondence or
documentation from 1992 to 2005 which discusses the extent to which the
use of structural lumber containing substantial amounts of "Juvenile" (aka
"Core") wood from pinus radiata (i.e. from the second rotation or
production thinnings) may have, or did, contribute to causing the building
failures and/or weather-tightness issues which have come to be
colloquially referred to as the "leaky building crisis". In particular, I
am interested in any discussion regarding to the actual or potential
consequences of longitudinal shrinkage of such material when used in
residential structural or cladding applications.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and 2005, written by Scion which
gives advice on any actual or potential causal link between the properties
of Pinus radiata juvenile /core wood and residential building failure
after building completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity
(according to the Building Code) and performance (including structural
integrity) of the residential building (which may or may not impact on
building weathertightness). 

Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2020 11:18 AM
<[2][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by, NZFRI
restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building Failures

I am wishing to obtain copies of, or documentary records relating to, any
directives/instructions/restraints and/or policies issued to the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or applied as within the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, between 1987 to now to
prohibit, restrict or discourage the publication or communication by the
New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited (and/or its employees) of
any mention of any causal link between the properties of juvenile and/or
core wood in Pinus Radiata and construction failures including
weather-tightness issues.
 
Amendment - Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion
from third parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to
influence communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile /core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity)of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

I am also seeking copies of all responses/submissions made by the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited to any third parties who have,
in the period 1992 onwards, sought advice and/or input from the New
Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited, or have (without direct
solicitation) been given such advice and/input by the New Zealand Forest
Research Institute Limited, as to whether the wood qualities of pinus
radiata have contributed to construction failures including
weathertightness issues and failure of framing and/or cladding and/or
associated flashing and roofing elements.

Amendment - Information between 1992 and now, written by Scion (either
upon request by third parties or not) which gives advice on any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity) of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel
Scion
49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand
DDI +64 7 343 5482 | Reception +64 7 343 5899

 

[3]Scion logo

[4]Scion Website  [5]Twitter  [6]LinkedIn  [7]YouTube  [8]Flickr

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[9][email address]>
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2020 10:18 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[10][email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or by,
NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

The proposed amendment looks largely fine. I would like to clarify
however,

(a) where the proposed amendment refers to "any causal link", I am
interested in documentation regarding not only actual proven or accepted
causal lins, but also any identification/speculation by Scion and/or its
employees regarding potential causal links. i.e. so that the amendment
refers to "any actual or potential causal link" By way of example D J Cown
had in his 1992 article for Scion "Corewood (Juvenile Wood) in Pinus
Radiata - Should we be Concerned?" - written before (I understand) the
leaky building crisis emerged, identified that the wood properties of the
second-rotation juvenile wood that was already in use in New Zealand "may
be sufficiently different to cause manufacturing difficulties and
properties in service", that juvenile wood had overseas "been blamed for
excessive movement" , that new crop density was "at the lower acceptable
limit" for structural use, and that "it is not conceivable that large
trees harvested at say 20 years will have desirable properties for most
solid wood uses". Strictly speaking that article might be described as
containing only speculation as to the possibility for juvenile/core wood
to cause construction failures, but nonetheless I am interested in such
informed-speculation by Scion on the subject. So, I would like to ensure
all such documentation which is in the nature of speculation of possible
causal links, and not just documentation which records confirmed causal
links, be included in any response.

(b) where the proposed amendment refers to "structural integrity", I wish
to clarify that I do wish the request to extend to matters such as
failures of claddings, exterior paint surfaces/barriers, flashings and the
like. There seems to be a lack of consistency in the (New Zealand)
scientific and industry reports as to whether cladding for example is
regarded as a "structural" element. It clearly was in the 60s, but
certainly since the 80s most of the scientific/industry discussion appears
to describe cladding and flashing elements as non-structural, - at least
in the context of any discussion of residential construction. In short, if
it is a building element, and its failure could materially impact on the
performance/longevity of a residential construction, and Scion has
identified an actual or potential causative link between that failure and
the properties of junvile/core wood in Pinus radiata, I would like to
receive copies of all such documents discussion same. By way of example, I
understand that in 2010/11 Scion advised the New Zealand Metal Roofing
Manufacturers Association Inc regarding potential causes of roof flashings
buckling, and identified the problem as being due to the occasional
presence of compression wood, and in particular the "vastly different
[longitudinal] shrinkage characteristics of such wood". That shrinkage was
stated as being between 0.4 - 1% for compression wood. Scion's advice to
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc is recorded in
the New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association In's publication
to its members as having been that while juvenile wood was also "becoming
common", and juvenile wood would also shrink longitudinally, it would "not
[shrink] as much as compression wood". Scion's own published research now
records that juvenile radiata wood has even greater average longitudinal
shrinkage than the 0.4-1% advised for compression wood, and the vast
majority of light framing timber available in New Zealand demonstrably (by
visual examination of ring width and curvature) consists of predominantly
juvenile wood (and indeed much includes the pith). Hence it is reasonable
to expect that at some point within Scion, before or after advising the
New Zealand Metal Roofing Manufacturers Association Inc regarding the
possibility of the occasional presence of compression wood to cause roof
flashings to buckle, there will have been consideration and discussion of
the far more common juvenile wood, with even greater longitudinal
shrinkage, to cause even more severe buckling. Documents embodying
discussions of such actual or potential problems are exactly what I am
after, regardless of whether the failure of such roof flashings do or do
not fall strictly within any particular definition of a "structural
failure".

Thanks for your assistance

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[16][FOI #13192 email]

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-------------------------------------------------------------------

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hide quoted sections

Tēnā koe

Thanks for your email.

I work part time.  I'll reply to your email on Wednesday.

If your query is urgent please contact our Reception by phone.

Ngā mihi

Lynda

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My hours of work are 9:00AM to 5:00PM Mondays and Wednesdays (in the
office), Thursday (remotely)

 

 

 

[1]http://www.scionresearch.com/   [2]https...
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This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
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Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your email.

 

I confirm we have continued our search for relevant information.  The
suggestion to talk to Doug was not to suggest the discussion would or
could replace our response to your requests.

 

Further to our earlier exchanges regarding the requests, I confirm the
clarified requests are:

Information between 1992 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion (either upon request by third parties or not
and whether for internal or external purposes) which gives advice on any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile/core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity) of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

 

Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to influence
communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity)of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have
any queries in the meantime.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[2]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [3]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [5]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Edward Grove <[FYI request #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 10:02 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

Hi Lynda, thanks for your message. I've had a chat with Doug Gaunt who was
very helpful, and patient, with my queries.

Unfortunately however I do however still need the requested documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email last Monday, I confirm we are searching our records
for relevant information.

 

I have discussed your emails with my science colleague Doug Gaunt.  In
particular we have discussed your email below which explains the
background to your interest in the information.

 

Doug would be happy to talk with you directly over the phone regarding
your situation.  As an independent research institute, we are occasionally
contacted directly by members of the public seeking information or
guidance.  Doug thinks he could give you some useful guidance regarding
relevant publicly available information. 

 

Information about Doug can be found on our website

[1][7]https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...

 

Please let me know if you would like to talk to Doug and I can help
organise this.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2][8]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3][9]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4][10]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5][11]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6][12]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [7][13]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:51 AM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your emails.  Apologies for the delay responding.

 

I’ll look fully at your emails shortly and reply in depth.

 

Please feel free to call me in the meantime if you have any queries.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[8][14]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[9][15]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10][16]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11][17]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [12][18]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [13][19]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[14][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 9:20 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[15][email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,
The only real distinction I see between the 30 June request and second
part of the 2 July request is that the 30 June request will also include
purely internal documentation and documentation received by NZFR, whereas
the second part of the 2 July request covers advice/communications
outwards from the NZFR to third parties.

Just by way of an addendum, and perhaps explanation: I've recently been
advised by a cladding manufacturer that the house my insurers has proposed
building (a house-fire rebuild) would, as designed, have all of its
radiata cladding (the manufacturer's own cladding) critically fail at
every corner in under a year, despite meeting the building code and being
constructed in accordance with the original construction details, and
would not have been under warranty. i.e. the house would have simply
unzipped at the seams, and I would have been financially wiped out if the
house had been constructed substituting radiata for the original cladding
wood. The cause of the failure was that the proposed new cladding
(radiata) was insufficiently stable to be mitre-jointed at the corners
without external soakers as per the original construction detailing. That
prompted some research, only for me to discover that radiata was (treated
or not) illegal to use for exterior cladding in most districts (including
Auckland) through most of the ear;u 1960s when the original house was
constructed, and was expressly not-recommended by the NZFR at that time
for any exterior use at all, treated or not, due to its instability and
permeability, and that the second rotation crop in use from the late 1980s
onwards had a known higher-instability. Per Cown, - the second rotation's
woods physical qualities were so deficient it needed to be treated as a
"different species" and new utilisation methods would have to be
developed, per Burdon, the reduced physical properties of second rotation
radiata had been a "nasty surprise"). That obviously led to the issue of
what role the dimensional instability (and reduced cell wall thickness,
greater lumen size, micofibril angle, reduced polysacharide content,
reduced response to conventional preservatives, and greater permeability
due to the increased use of kiln-drying and consequent effect on resin
ducts) played in the monolithic cladding failures. Particularly given the
long (50+) year history in New Zealand of relatively problem free use of
monolithic cladding prior to the late 1980s, and also given the historic
importance placed within the building industry on the stability of framing
when installing monolithic cladding. Yet there did/does not seem to be any
public mention at all in New Zealand of the second rotation/juvenile wood
as being a potential contributing cause of the building failures that
started at the end of the 1980s. That seemed odd, researchers overseas
were even in the 1980s describing the prospect of using juvenile wood in
residential construction as an "apocalyptic" scenario, and throughout the
early 1980s there had been repeated warnings by New Zealand scientists
(including Cown) that the second rotation radiata might not be able to be
used successfully in construction. In short, in the public information,
there seems a very conspicuous blind-spot at least since the early 1990s
onwards in which any mention or consideration of the fact that the
second-crop radiata properties were so massively worse might have caused
some of the novel building failures that were emerging. Yet, conversely,
there have since the early 1990s been a significant number of building
changes which seem expressly designed to work-around the issues of
juvenile wood, but without identifying the presence of juvenile wood as
being the reason why such changes were required. Lvl would be an example.
Mandatory use of expansion joints where previously not required, and so
on. What is also odd is that even from as early as 1989 there were
multiple disparate industry participants, - wood processors, builders,
BRANZ, flashing and plasterboard manufacturers that I've seen, who have
raised or discussed with their members and the industry experiences they
were having of abnormal wood movement, and resulting construction
failures, all very obviously groping for an answer as to why they were
experiencing problems, but obviously also not receiving answers, when the
reasons were identified as a hypothetical in the late 1970s, and largely
confirmed by the NZFR's research in the 1990s. So, I'm wondering why there
is an apparent blindspot, and disconnnect, between known problems with the
short rotation radiata (at least, problems with the majority of the wood
from such radiata), and the building failures that continue.
If anything is going to shed light on it, as I see it it will be the
NZFR's documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[20][FYI request #13192 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[21]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.scionresearch.com/
3. https://twitter.com/scion_research
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/scion?t...
5. http://www.youtube.com/scionresearch
6. http://www.flickr.com/photos/scionnz
7. https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...
8. file:///tmp/cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340
9. file:///tmp/cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
10. file:///tmp/cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
11. file:///tmp/cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
12. file:///tmp/cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
13. file:///tmp/cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
14. file:///tmp/cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340
15. file:///tmp/cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
16. file:///tmp/cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
17. file:///tmp/cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
18. file:///tmp/cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
19. file:///tmp/cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
20. mailto:[FYI request #13192 email]
21. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

hide quoted sections

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email dated 30 July 2020, I had previously indicated we
would respond to your requests today.

 

Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are
therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our
decision by a further 20 working days, to 7 September 2020.

 

This extension is necessary because your request necessitates a search
through a large quantity of information and meeting the original time
limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations. 

 

Since we finalised the clarified requests, we have been working through
Scion’s record of science outputs with relevant keywords and may be able
to provide information about outputs sooner than the extended due date. 
However, searching all Scion’s other electronic records with relevant
keywords (including emails) and historic hardcopy archives is taking a
significant amount of time.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this
decision, please feel free to contact me.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[2]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [3]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [5]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 1:41 PM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your email.

 

I confirm we have continued our search for relevant information.  The
suggestion to talk to Doug was not to suggest the discussion would or
could replace our response to your requests.

 

Further to our earlier exchanges regarding the requests, I confirm the
clarified requests are:

Information between 1992 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion (either upon request by third parties or not
and whether for internal or external purposes) which gives advice on any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile/core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity) of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

 

Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to influence
communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity)of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have
any queries in the meantime.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[8]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [9]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [11]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [12]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[13][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 10:02 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[14][email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

Hi Lynda, thanks for your message. I've had a chat with Doug Gaunt who was
very helpful, and patient, with my queries.

Unfortunately however I do however still need the requested documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email last Monday, I confirm we are searching our records
for relevant information.

 

I have discussed your emails with my science colleague Doug Gaunt.  In
particular we have discussed your email below which explains the
background to your interest in the information.

 

Doug would be happy to talk with you directly over the phone regarding
your situation.  As an independent research institute, we are occasionally
contacted directly by members of the public seeking information or
guidance.  Doug thinks he could give you some useful guidance regarding
relevant publicly available information. 

 

Information about Doug can be found on our website

[1][15]https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...

 

Please let me know if you would like to talk to Doug and I can help
organise this.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2][16]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3][17]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4][18]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5][19]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6][20]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [7][21]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:51 AM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your emails.  Apologies for the delay responding.

 

I’ll look fully at your emails shortly and reply in depth.

 

Please feel free to call me in the meantime if you have any queries.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[8][22]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[9][23]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10][24]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11][25]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [12][26]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [13][27]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[14][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 9:20 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[15][email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,
The only real distinction I see between the 30 June request and second
part of the 2 July request is that the 30 June request will also include
purely internal documentation and documentation received by NZFR, whereas
the second part of the 2 July request covers advice/communications
outwards from the NZFR to third parties.

Just by way of an addendum, and perhaps explanation: I've recently been
advised by a cladding manufacturer that the house my insurers has proposed
building (a house-fire rebuild) would, as designed, have all of its
radiata cladding (the manufacturer's own cladding) critically fail at
every corner in under a year, despite meeting the building code and being
constructed in accordance with the original construction details, and
would not have been under warranty. i.e. the house would have simply
unzipped at the seams, and I would have been financially wiped out if the
house had been constructed substituting radiata for the original cladding
wood. The cause of the failure was that the proposed new cladding
(radiata) was insufficiently stable to be mitre-jointed at the corners
without external soakers as per the original construction detailing. That
prompted some research, only for me to discover that radiata was (treated
or not) illegal to use for exterior cladding in most districts (including
Auckland) through most of the ear;u 1960s when the original house was
constructed, and was expressly not-recommended by the NZFR at that time
for any exterior use at all, treated or not, due to its instability and
permeability, and that the second rotation crop in use from the late 1980s
onwards had a known higher-instability. Per Cown, - the second rotation's
woods physical qualities were so deficient it needed to be treated as a
"different species" and new utilisation methods would have to be
developed, per Burdon, the reduced physical properties of second rotation
radiata had been a "nasty surprise"). That obviously led to the issue of
what role the dimensional instability (and reduced cell wall thickness,
greater lumen size, micofibril angle, reduced polysacharide content,
reduced response to conventional preservatives, and greater permeability
due to the increased use of kiln-drying and consequent effect on resin
ducts) played in the monolithic cladding failures. Particularly given the
long (50+) year history in New Zealand of relatively problem free use of
monolithic cladding prior to the late 1980s, and also given the historic
importance placed within the building industry on the stability of framing
when installing monolithic cladding. Yet there did/does not seem to be any
public mention at all in New Zealand of the second rotation/juvenile wood
as being a potential contributing cause of the building failures that
started at the end of the 1980s. That seemed odd, researchers overseas
were even in the 1980s describing the prospect of using juvenile wood in
residential construction as an "apocalyptic" scenario, and throughout the
early 1980s there had been repeated warnings by New Zealand scientists
(including Cown) that the second rotation radiata might not be able to be
used successfully in construction. In short, in the public information,
there seems a very conspicuous blind-spot at least since the early 1990s
onwards in which any mention or consideration of the fact that the
second-crop radiata properties were so massively worse might have caused
some of the novel building failures that were emerging. Yet, conversely,
there have since the early 1990s been a significant number of building
changes which seem expressly designed to work-around the issues of
juvenile wood, but without identifying the presence of juvenile wood as
being the reason why such changes were required. Lvl would be an example.
Mandatory use of expansion joints where previously not required, and so
on. What is also odd is that even from as early as 1989 there were
multiple disparate industry participants, - wood processors, builders,
BRANZ, flashing and plasterboard manufacturers that I've seen, who have
raised or discussed with their members and the industry experiences they
were having of abnormal wood movement, and resulting construction
failures, all very obviously groping for an answer as to why they were
experiencing problems, but obviously also not receiving answers, when the
reasons were identified as a hypothetical in the late 1970s, and largely
confirmed by the NZFR's research in the 1990s. So, I'm wondering why there
is an apparent blindspot, and disconnnect, between known problems with the
short rotation radiata (at least, problems with the majority of the wood
from such radiata), and the building failures that continue.
If anything is going to shed light on it, as I see it it will be the
NZFR's documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[28][FOI #13192 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[29]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.scionresearch.com/
3. https://twitter.com/scion_research
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/scion?t...
5. http://www.youtube.com/scionresearch
6. http://www.flickr.com/photos/scionnz
8. http://www.scionresearch.com/
9. https://twitter.com/scion_research
10. https://www.linkedin.com/company/scion?t...
11. http://www.youtube.com/scionresearch
12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/scionnz
13. mailto:[FOI #13192 email]
14. mailto:[email address]
15. https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...
16. file:///tmp/cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340
17. file:///tmp/cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
18. file:///tmp/cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
19. file:///tmp/cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
20. file:///tmp/cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
21. file:///tmp/cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
22. file:///tmp/cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340
23. file:///tmp/cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
24. file:///tmp/cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
25. file:///tmp/cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
26. file:///tmp/cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
27. file:///tmp/cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
28. mailto:[FOI #13192 email]
29. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

hide quoted sections

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email dated 30 July 2020, I had previously indicated we
would respond to your requests today.

 

Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are
therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our
decision by a further 20 working days, to 7 September 2020.

 

This extension is necessary because your request necessitates a search
through a large quantity of information and meeting the original time
limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations. 

 

Since we finalised the clarified requests, we have been working through
Scion’s record of science outputs with relevant keywords and may be able
to provide information about outputs sooner than the extended due date. 
However, searching all Scion’s other electronic records with relevant
keywords (including emails) and historic hardcopy archives is taking a
significant amount of time.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this
decision, please feel free to contact me.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[2]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [3]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [5]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 1:41 PM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your email.

 

I confirm we have continued our search for relevant information.  The
suggestion to talk to Doug was not to suggest the discussion would or
could replace our response to your requests.

 

Further to our earlier exchanges regarding the requests, I confirm the
clarified requests are:

Information between 1992 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion (either upon request by third parties or not
and whether for internal or external purposes) which gives advice on any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile/core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity) of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

 

Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to influence
communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity)of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have
any queries in the meantime.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[8]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [9]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [11]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [12]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[13][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 10:02 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[14][email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

Hi Lynda, thanks for your message. I've had a chat with Doug Gaunt who was
very helpful, and patient, with my queries.

Unfortunately however I do however still need the requested documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email last Monday, I confirm we are searching our records
for relevant information.

 

I have discussed your emails with my science colleague Doug Gaunt.  In
particular we have discussed your email below which explains the
background to your interest in the information.

 

Doug would be happy to talk with you directly over the phone regarding
your situation.  As an independent research institute, we are occasionally
contacted directly by members of the public seeking information or
guidance.  Doug thinks he could give you some useful guidance regarding
relevant publicly available information. 

 

Information about Doug can be found on our website

[1][15]https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...

 

Please let me know if you would like to talk to Doug and I can help
organise this.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2][16]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3][17]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4][18]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5][19]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6][20]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [7][21]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:51 AM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your emails.  Apologies for the delay responding.

 

I’ll look fully at your emails shortly and reply in depth.

 

Please feel free to call me in the meantime if you have any queries.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[8][22]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[9][23]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10][24]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11][25]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [12][26]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [13][27]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[14][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 9:20 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[15][email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,
The only real distinction I see between the 30 June request and second
part of the 2 July request is that the 30 June request will also include
purely internal documentation and documentation received by NZFR, whereas
the second part of the 2 July request covers advice/communications
outwards from the NZFR to third parties.

Just by way of an addendum, and perhaps explanation: I've recently been
advised by a cladding manufacturer that the house my insurers has proposed
building (a house-fire rebuild) would, as designed, have all of its
radiata cladding (the manufacturer's own cladding) critically fail at
every corner in under a year, despite meeting the building code and being
constructed in accordance with the original construction details, and
would not have been under warranty. i.e. the house would have simply
unzipped at the seams, and I would have been financially wiped out if the
house had been constructed substituting radiata for the original cladding
wood. The cause of the failure was that the proposed new cladding
(radiata) was insufficiently stable to be mitre-jointed at the corners
without external soakers as per the original construction detailing. That
prompted some research, only for me to discover that radiata was (treated
or not) illegal to use for exterior cladding in most districts (including
Auckland) through most of the ear;u 1960s when the original house was
constructed, and was expressly not-recommended by the NZFR at that time
for any exterior use at all, treated or not, due to its instability and
permeability, and that the second rotation crop in use from the late 1980s
onwards had a known higher-instability. Per Cown, - the second rotation's
woods physical qualities were so deficient it needed to be treated as a
"different species" and new utilisation methods would have to be
developed, per Burdon, the reduced physical properties of second rotation
radiata had been a "nasty surprise"). That obviously led to the issue of
what role the dimensional instability (and reduced cell wall thickness,
greater lumen size, micofibril angle, reduced polysacharide content,
reduced response to conventional preservatives, and greater permeability
due to the increased use of kiln-drying and consequent effect on resin
ducts) played in the monolithic cladding failures. Particularly given the
long (50+) year history in New Zealand of relatively problem free use of
monolithic cladding prior to the late 1980s, and also given the historic
importance placed within the building industry on the stability of framing
when installing monolithic cladding. Yet there did/does not seem to be any
public mention at all in New Zealand of the second rotation/juvenile wood
as being a potential contributing cause of the building failures that
started at the end of the 1980s. That seemed odd, researchers overseas
were even in the 1980s describing the prospect of using juvenile wood in
residential construction as an "apocalyptic" scenario, and throughout the
early 1980s there had been repeated warnings by New Zealand scientists
(including Cown) that the second rotation radiata might not be able to be
used successfully in construction. In short, in the public information,
there seems a very conspicuous blind-spot at least since the early 1990s
onwards in which any mention or consideration of the fact that the
second-crop radiata properties were so massively worse might have caused
some of the novel building failures that were emerging. Yet, conversely,
there have since the early 1990s been a significant number of building
changes which seem expressly designed to work-around the issues of
juvenile wood, but without identifying the presence of juvenile wood as
being the reason why such changes were required. Lvl would be an example.
Mandatory use of expansion joints where previously not required, and so
on. What is also odd is that even from as early as 1989 there were
multiple disparate industry participants, - wood processors, builders,
BRANZ, flashing and plasterboard manufacturers that I've seen, who have
raised or discussed with their members and the industry experiences they
were having of abnormal wood movement, and resulting construction
failures, all very obviously groping for an answer as to why they were
experiencing problems, but obviously also not receiving answers, when the
reasons were identified as a hypothetical in the late 1970s, and largely
confirmed by the NZFR's research in the 1990s. So, I'm wondering why there
is an apparent blindspot, and disconnnect, between known problems with the
short rotation radiata (at least, problems with the majority of the wood
from such radiata), and the building failures that continue.
If anything is going to shed light on it, as I see it it will be the
NZFR's documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[28][FOI #13192 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[29]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

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23. file:///tmp/cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
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hide quoted sections

Dear Edward

 

Further to our email exchanges, please find attached:

o Letter from Scion in response to your OIA request;
o Conference Paper “Need for further structural mechanics study on
radiata pine wood properties” July 2004 (Scion Output Reference
14685805); and
o Report “Visit to India, February 2005” (Scion Output Reference
15330836).

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [7]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2020 6:17 PM
To: 'Edward Grove' <[FYI request #13192 email]>;
'[email address]'
<[email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email dated 30 July 2020, I had previously indicated we
would respond to your requests today.

 

Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are
therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our
decision by a further 20 working days, to 7 September 2020.

 

This extension is necessary because your request necessitates a search
through a large quantity of information and meeting the original time
limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations. 

 

Since we finalised the clarified requests, we have been working through
Scion’s record of science outputs with relevant keywords and may be able
to provide information about outputs sooner than the extended due date. 
However, searching all Scion’s other electronic records with relevant
keywords (including emails) and historic hardcopy archives is taking a
significant amount of time.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[8]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this
decision, please feel free to contact me.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[9]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[10]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [12]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [13]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [14]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 1:41 PM
To: Edward Grove <[15][FYI request #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your email.

 

I confirm we have continued our search for relevant information.  The
suggestion to talk to Doug was not to suggest the discussion would or
could replace our response to your requests.

 

Further to our earlier exchanges regarding the requests, I confirm the
clarified requests are:

Information between 1992 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion (either upon request by third parties or not
and whether for internal or external purposes) which gives advice on any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile/core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity) of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

 

Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to influence
communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity)of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have
any queries in the meantime.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[16]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[17]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [18]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [19]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [20]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [21]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[22][FYI request #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 10:02 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[23][email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

Hi Lynda, thanks for your message. I've had a chat with Doug Gaunt who was
very helpful, and patient, with my queries.

Unfortunately however I do however still need the requested documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email last Monday, I confirm we are searching our records
for relevant information.

 

I have discussed your emails with my science colleague Doug Gaunt.  In
particular we have discussed your email below which explains the
background to your interest in the information.

 

Doug would be happy to talk with you directly over the phone regarding
your situation.  As an independent research institute, we are occasionally
contacted directly by members of the public seeking information or
guidance.  Doug thinks he could give you some useful guidance regarding
relevant publicly available information. 

 

Information about Doug can be found on our website

[1][24]https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...

 

Please let me know if you would like to talk to Doug and I can help
organise this.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2][25]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3][26]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4][27]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5][28]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6][29]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [7][30]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:51 AM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your emails.  Apologies for the delay responding.

 

I’ll look fully at your emails shortly and reply in depth.

 

Please feel free to call me in the meantime if you have any queries.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[8][31]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[9][32]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10][33]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11][34]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [12][35]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [13][36]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[14][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 9:20 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[15][email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,
The only real distinction I see between the 30 June request and second
part of the 2 July request is that the 30 June request will also include
purely internal documentation and documentation received by NZFR, whereas
the second part of the 2 July request covers advice/communications
outwards from the NZFR to third parties.

Just by way of an addendum, and perhaps explanation: I've recently been
advised by a cladding manufacturer that the house my insurers has proposed
building (a house-fire rebuild) would, as designed, have all of its
radiata cladding (the manufacturer's own cladding) critically fail at
every corner in under a year, despite meeting the building code and being
constructed in accordance with the original construction details, and
would not have been under warranty. i.e. the house would have simply
unzipped at the seams, and I would have been financially wiped out if the
house had been constructed substituting radiata for the original cladding
wood. The cause of the failure was that the proposed new cladding
(radiata) was insufficiently stable to be mitre-jointed at the corners
without external soakers as per the original construction detailing. That
prompted some research, only for me to discover that radiata was (treated
or not) illegal to use for exterior cladding in most districts (including
Auckland) through most of the ear;u 1960s when the original house was
constructed, and was expressly not-recommended by the NZFR at that time
for any exterior use at all, treated or not, due to its instability and
permeability, and that the second rotation crop in use from the late 1980s
onwards had a known higher-instability. Per Cown, - the second rotation's
woods physical qualities were so deficient it needed to be treated as a
"different species" and new utilisation methods would have to be
developed, per Burdon, the reduced physical properties of second rotation
radiata had been a "nasty surprise"). That obviously led to the issue of
what role the dimensional instability (and reduced cell wall thickness,
greater lumen size, micofibril angle, reduced polysacharide content,
reduced response to conventional preservatives, and greater permeability
due to the increased use of kiln-drying and consequent effect on resin
ducts) played in the monolithic cladding failures. Particularly given the
long (50+) year history in New Zealand of relatively problem free use of
monolithic cladding prior to the late 1980s, and also given the historic
importance placed within the building industry on the stability of framing
when installing monolithic cladding. Yet there did/does not seem to be any
public mention at all in New Zealand of the second rotation/juvenile wood
as being a potential contributing cause of the building failures that
started at the end of the 1980s. That seemed odd, researchers overseas
were even in the 1980s describing the prospect of using juvenile wood in
residential construction as an "apocalyptic" scenario, and throughout the
early 1980s there had been repeated warnings by New Zealand scientists
(including Cown) that the second rotation radiata might not be able to be
used successfully in construction. In short, in the public information,
there seems a very conspicuous blind-spot at least since the early 1990s
onwards in which any mention or consideration of the fact that the
second-crop radiata properties were so massively worse might have caused
some of the novel building failures that were emerging. Yet, conversely,
there have since the early 1990s been a significant number of building
changes which seem expressly designed to work-around the issues of
juvenile wood, but without identifying the presence of juvenile wood as
being the reason why such changes were required. Lvl would be an example.
Mandatory use of expansion joints where previously not required, and so
on. What is also odd is that even from as early as 1989 there were
multiple disparate industry participants, - wood processors, builders,
BRANZ, flashing and plasterboard manufacturers that I've seen, who have
raised or discussed with their members and the industry experiences they
were having of abnormal wood movement, and resulting construction
failures, all very obviously groping for an answer as to why they were
experiencing problems, but obviously also not receiving answers, when the
reasons were identified as a hypothetical in the late 1970s, and largely
confirmed by the NZFR's research in the 1990s. So, I'm wondering why there
is an apparent blindspot, and disconnnect, between known problems with the
short rotation radiata (at least, problems with the majority of the wood
from such radiata), and the building failures that continue.
If anything is going to shed light on it, as I see it it will be the
NZFR's documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[37][FYI request #13192 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[38]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This email and any attachments are intended solely for the addressees
named above. It may contain information which is legally privileged,
confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorised review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you receive this email in
error, please delete it. As part of Scion’s cyber security policy, Scion’s
IT systems are subject to ongoing monitoring, activity logging and
auditing, and may include 3rd party monitoring on our behalf.

References

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31. file:///tmp/cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340
32. file:///tmp/cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
33. file:///tmp/cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
34. file:///tmp/cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
35. file:///tmp/cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
36. file:///tmp/cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
37. mailto:[FYI request #13192 email]
38. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

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Dear Edward

 

Further to our email exchanges, please find attached:

o Letter from Scion in response to your OIA request;
o Conference Paper “Need for further structural mechanics study on
radiata pine wood properties” July 2004 (Scion Output Reference
14685805); and
o Report “Visit to India, February 2005” (Scion Output Reference
15330836).

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
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  [7]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2020 6:17 PM
To: 'Edward Grove' <[FYI request #13192 email]>;
'[email address]'
<[email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email dated 30 July 2020, I had previously indicated we
would respond to your requests today.

 

Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are
therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our
decision by a further 20 working days, to 7 September 2020.

 

This extension is necessary because your request necessitates a search
through a large quantity of information and meeting the original time
limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations. 

 

Since we finalised the clarified requests, we have been working through
Scion’s record of science outputs with relevant keywords and may be able
to provide information about outputs sooner than the extended due date. 
However, searching all Scion’s other electronic records with relevant
keywords (including emails) and historic hardcopy archives is taking a
significant amount of time.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[8]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this
decision, please feel free to contact me.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

 

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

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[10]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [12]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
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  [14]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2020 1:41 PM
To: Edward Grove <[15][FYI request #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thanks for your email.

 

I confirm we have continued our search for relevant information.  The
suggestion to talk to Doug was not to suggest the discussion would or
could replace our response to your requests.

 

Further to our earlier exchanges regarding the requests, I confirm the
clarified requests are:

Information between 1992 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion (either upon request by third parties or not
and whether for internal or external purposes) which gives advice on any
actual or potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata
juvenile/core wood and residential building failure after building
completion that has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the
Building Code) and performance (including structural integrity) of the
residential building (which may or may not impact on building
weathertightness).

 

Information between 1987 and now, either received by Scion from third
parties or written by Scion which in any way sought to influence
communication by Scion (including its employees) regarding any actual or
potential causal link between the properties of Pinus radiata juvenile
/core wood and residential building failure after building completion that
has an adverse impact on the longevity (according to the Building Code)
and performance (including structural integrity)of the residential
building (which may or may not impact on building weathertightness).

 

We will be in contact but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have
any queries in the meantime.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

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[17]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [18]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [19]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [20]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [21]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

 

From: Edward Grove <[22][FYI request #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 10:02 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[23][email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,

Hi Lynda, thanks for your message. I've had a chat with Doug Gaunt who was
very helpful, and patient, with my queries.

Unfortunately however I do however still need the requested documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

-----Original Message-----

Dear Edward

 

Further to my email last Monday, I confirm we are searching our records
for relevant information.

 

I have discussed your emails with my science colleague Doug Gaunt.  In
particular we have discussed your email below which explains the
background to your interest in the information.

 

Doug would be happy to talk with you directly over the phone regarding
your situation.  As an independent research institute, we are occasionally
contacted directly by members of the public seeking information or
guidance.  Doug thinks he could give you some useful guidance regarding
relevant publicly available information. 

 

Information about Doug can be found on our website

[1][24]https://www.scionresearch.com/about-us/a...

 

Please let me know if you would like to talk to Doug and I can help
organise this.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

Reception +64 7 343 5899  DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[2][25]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[3][26]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [4][27]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [5][28]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [6][29]cid:image006.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
  [7][30]cid:image002.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30         

 

From: Lynda Frew
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:51 AM
To: Edward Grove <[FOI #13192 email]>
Subject: RE: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Edward

 

Thank you for your emails.  Apologies for the delay responding.

 

I’ll look fully at your emails shortly and reply in depth.

 

Please feel free to call me in the meantime if you have any queries.

 

Regards

 

Lynda

 

Lynda Frew
Legal Counsel

Scion

49 Sala Street, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand

DDI +64 7 343 5482

My days of work are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

[8][31]cid:image001.jpg@01D21EEB.27017340

[9][32]cid:image005.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [10][33]cid:image004.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30   [11][34]cid:image003.jpg@01D2100F.2F61FB30
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From: Edward Grove <[14][FOI #13192 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 9:20 AM
To: Lynda Frew <[15][email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Directives issued to, or
by, NZFRI restricting mention of Juvenile Wood in relation to Building
Failures

 

Dear Lynda Frew,
The only real distinction I see between the 30 June request and second
part of the 2 July request is that the 30 June request will also include
purely internal documentation and documentation received by NZFR, whereas
the second part of the 2 July request covers advice/communications
outwards from the NZFR to third parties.

Just by way of an addendum, and perhaps explanation: I've recently been
advised by a cladding manufacturer that the house my insurers has proposed
building (a house-fire rebuild) would, as designed, have all of its
radiata cladding (the manufacturer's own cladding) critically fail at
every corner in under a year, despite meeting the building code and being
constructed in accordance with the original construction details, and
would not have been under warranty. i.e. the house would have simply
unzipped at the seams, and I would have been financially wiped out if the
house had been constructed substituting radiata for the original cladding
wood. The cause of the failure was that the proposed new cladding
(radiata) was insufficiently stable to be mitre-jointed at the corners
without external soakers as per the original construction detailing. That
prompted some research, only for me to discover that radiata was (treated
or not) illegal to use for exterior cladding in most districts (including
Auckland) through most of the ear;u 1960s when the original house was
constructed, and was expressly not-recommended by the NZFR at that time
for any exterior use at all, treated or not, due to its instability and
permeability, and that the second rotation crop in use from the late 1980s
onwards had a known higher-instability. Per Cown, - the second rotation's
woods physical qualities were so deficient it needed to be treated as a
"different species" and new utilisation methods would have to be
developed, per Burdon, the reduced physical properties of second rotation
radiata had been a "nasty surprise"). That obviously led to the issue of
what role the dimensional instability (and reduced cell wall thickness,
greater lumen size, micofibril angle, reduced polysacharide content,
reduced response to conventional preservatives, and greater permeability
due to the increased use of kiln-drying and consequent effect on resin
ducts) played in the monolithic cladding failures. Particularly given the
long (50+) year history in New Zealand of relatively problem free use of
monolithic cladding prior to the late 1980s, and also given the historic
importance placed within the building industry on the stability of framing
when installing monolithic cladding. Yet there did/does not seem to be any
public mention at all in New Zealand of the second rotation/juvenile wood
as being a potential contributing cause of the building failures that
started at the end of the 1980s. That seemed odd, researchers overseas
were even in the 1980s describing the prospect of using juvenile wood in
residential construction as an "apocalyptic" scenario, and throughout the
early 1980s there had been repeated warnings by New Zealand scientists
(including Cown) that the second rotation radiata might not be able to be
used successfully in construction. In short, in the public information,
there seems a very conspicuous blind-spot at least since the early 1990s
onwards in which any mention or consideration of the fact that the
second-crop radiata properties were so massively worse might have caused
some of the novel building failures that were emerging. Yet, conversely,
there have since the early 1990s been a significant number of building
changes which seem expressly designed to work-around the issues of
juvenile wood, but without identifying the presence of juvenile wood as
being the reason why such changes were required. Lvl would be an example.
Mandatory use of expansion joints where previously not required, and so
on. What is also odd is that even from as early as 1989 there were
multiple disparate industry participants, - wood processors, builders,
BRANZ, flashing and plasterboard manufacturers that I've seen, who have
raised or discussed with their members and the industry experiences they
were having of abnormal wood movement, and resulting construction
failures, all very obviously groping for an answer as to why they were
experiencing problems, but obviously also not receiving answers, when the
reasons were identified as a hypothetical in the late 1970s, and largely
confirmed by the NZFR's research in the 1990s. So, I'm wondering why there
is an apparent blindspot, and disconnnect, between known problems with the
short rotation radiata (at least, problems with the majority of the wood
from such radiata), and the building failures that continue.
If anything is going to shed light on it, as I see it it will be the
NZFR's documentation.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Grove

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