Schalk Grobbelaar Receives Top Honour for Timber Project

A proud moment for Schalk Grobbelaar and the timber industry!

Sawmilling South Africa is excited to share that Schalk Grobbelaar and his team have been awarded first prize in the University of Pretoria’s prestigious Senate Conference Research Project Call.

Their winning project explores modular timber-based construction for Africa, combining sustainability, circularity, and innovative thinking across multiple disciplines — with timber engineering at its core.

This is a significant recognition of the role timber can play in building a more resilient, low-carbon future.

Honoured. Excited. Grateful.

Our team is deeply honoured to have received first prize in the University of Pretoria ’s Senate Conference Research Project Call, awarded by Vice-Chancellor Prof Francis Petersen at the recent Senate Meeting.

This initiative aims to promote novel trans– and interdisciplinary research, encouraging collaboration among academics from diverse disciplines to address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We are incredibly excited about the journey ahead. Our project, Unlocking Sustainability and Circularity through the ProtoBuilding Concept, aims to pioneer modular timber-based construction solutions for Africa, grounded in sustainability, circularity, and frugal innovation. By integrating timber engineering, architecture, genetics, and marketing, we hope to shape a future where timber plays a central role in resilient, low-carbon built environments.

Want to learn more?
Join us at the Timber Construction Conference
8–9 September 2025
Future Africa UP - www.lnkd.in/eB_Est9P

Let’s Make Today Matter.

Thank you to my team:
Johann van der Merwe, Christo van der Hoven, Sanushka Naidoo, Michelle C. van der Merwe and Tinashe Ndoro

Thank you to our HODs and Director for their support:
Prof Elma Van Der Lingen, Prof Hannes Gräbe, Prof Carin Combrinck, Prof Bernard Slippers and Prof Yolanda Jordaan.

A special thank you to Prof Wynand Steyn (Dean of EBIT) for his support.

Thank you to the departments involved in this project:
Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Pretoria, Boukunde - Department of Architecture, UP, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, and the Department of Marketing Management, University of Pretoria

Thank you to our partners:
York Timbers Chair in Wood Structural Engineering at the UP Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, RAW Modular, Sawmilling South Africa, Forestry South Africa, South African Wood Preservers, Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, the dti (Department of Trade and Industry: Republic of South Africa), and the FP&M SETA.

Source: SSA