15 years Wood Conference South Africa
The anniversary event confirms the importance of the development of timber construction in South Africa
Around a thousand interested parties from the construction industry, architects, students and planners as well as representatives from politics and business attended the 15th Wood Conference South Africa in Cape Town on 24 February 2026, ensuring a proud anniversary response that did full justice to the exclusive platform for the promotion of sustainable construction in Southern Africa.
With its 15th anniversary, the conference impressively emphasised its role as the leading knowledge transfer hub for sustainable building in South Africa. In this decade and a half, not only has the event itself grown continuously, but timber construction has also developed dynamically internationally. A development that the timber processing industry can look back on with pride. The response to the anniversary edition was correspondingly high. Participants followed the programme either on site at the Cape Town International Convention Centre or digitally in the tried-and-tested hybrid format.
Shortly after 7 a.m., the first participants arrived at the registration stations in the CTICC, where the organisation team provided them with name badges, conference documents and the coveted Lindt chocolate.
Hannu Garny, in his role as Master of Ceremony, opened the conference punctually at 9 a.m. with his usual professional, South African charm.
The anniversary programme under the motto "Celebrating Timber, Innovation and Expertise - Connecting South Africa and the World" combined the past, present and future of modern timber construction worldwide and in South Africa.
Afterwards, Roger Kuratle warmly welcomed the participants and explained in his opening speech that the promise of the idea, which was born fifteen years ago in a small circle, to sustainably communicate "building with wood in South Africa" via the Wood Conference knowledge platform, has been successfully fulfilled with this year's 15th anniversary. In his speech, he also emphasised the Kuratle Group's long-term commitment to the South African market and the continuous development of the knowledge platform. The Wood Conference has become a firm highlight of the timber industry in South Africa and offers great potential to further strengthen the use of wood in construction and thus the industry's contribution to CO2 reduction. In close cooperation with the local partner Universal Plywood & Timbers, the joint goal is to further anchor awareness of wood as a sustainable and future-proof building material in the South African market.
The high status that the exclusive knowledge platform in South Africa has achieved among architects, planners, investors, developers, teachers and students in recent years was also confirmed by the acceptance speeches of the two guest speakers Andreas Rufer (Consulate General of Switzerland) and Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews. Their presence testified to their great appreciation for the creation of this knowledge platform and its organisers.
The anniversary event honoured the impressive development of structural timber construction in South Africa and internationally. High-calibre speakers from South Africa, Europe and Switzerland presented visionary projects and showed how timber has developed into a mainstay of sustainable construction in recent years.
The history of the Wood Conference goes back to the initiative of George Kuratle, who recognised the potential of timber construction in the South African market early on - with the aim of networking experts, promoting the international exchange of knowledge and further developing the local timber construction industry.
The Création Holz team, led by Hermann Blumer, also played a key role from the outset, pursuing the goal of advancing modern timber construction worldwide and making its constructive and ecological potential visible. Together, they initiated the first Wood Conference South Africa in 2011. Today, the event is one of the most important industry gatherings for sustainable construction in the country. As the expertise network behind numerous innovative timber constructions, Création Holz is supporting this development with pioneering projects in Switzerland and around the world.
The 15th Wood Conference impressively demonstrated how a visionary idea has become an established international knowledge and networking platform. With its focus on innovation, practice and cooperation, it remains a key driver for the development of timber construction in South Africa and beyond. The consistently positive feedback from the participants confirmed the careful choice of topics and the professional organisation of the conference under the direction of Zaida Davids and provides the ideal basis for planning the next conference in February 2027.
To mark the 15th anniversary, an after-party celebration was held following the event.
