Bamboo has long been viewed in Australia as a backyard plant or garden screen. But globally, bamboo is being engineered into multistorey buildings, structural panels, and composite materials, and is increasingly recognised for its potential in climate resilient infrastructure. It’s not just a sustainable curiosity; it’s a serious structural material offering exceptional strength, rapid renewability, and a credible pathway to carbon neutral construction.
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Engineered bamboo, such as laminated bamboo lumber or bamboo scrimber (constituted wood product created from small diameter logs), has structural properties comparable to or exceeding many hardwoods and softwoods. Bamboo scrimber delivers compressive and tensile strengths on par with steel, and a strength to weight ratio superior to timber. Globally, multi-storey buildings — including the world’s first six storey engineered bamboo structure in China — demonstrate the material’s viability and performance.
With uptake accelerating in China, Colombia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and parts of Europe, engineered bamboo is proving its worth. Yet in Australia, its potential remains largely dormant — not due to lack of suitability, but due to lack of recognition and coordinated development.
The global market for engineered bamboo was valued at approximately US$38 billion in 2023 and is projected to exceed US$47 ($A72) billion by 2030. Australia is well positioned to participate in this growing sector — but only if it moves now.
Australia’s bamboo industry – who’s involved?
Australia’s bamboo industry remains in its formative stages. While interest is rising, coordinated action is only just beginning. Key players include:
Growers
There are currently no commercial scale bamboo plantations in Australia. Most growers operate on a small scale, supplying plants, occasional edible shoots, or poles for decorative and cultural purposes. However, interest in plantation scale cultivation is emerging — particularly on former sugarcane land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, which offer ideal conditions for bamboo’s growth.
Designers and architects
Australia do not manufacture engineered bamboo locally. However, House of Bamboo, established in 1972, is the longest running supplier of bamboo materials in the country. We specialise in architectural and structural applications of engineered bamboo, importing and customising products for the Australian built environment. Meanwhile, firms such as Cave Urban and Giant Grass continue to explore raw bamboo poles in design, art, and temporary structures, adding creative visibility to the material.
Engineers and structural codes
Bamboo is not currently recognised as a structural material under Australian building codes. As a grass — not a tree — bamboo lacks appropriate classification and standards for structural applications, which presents a significant barrier to uptake. Most engineers in Australia have had limited exposure to the material. However, international precedents and growing data offer a foundation for future change.
Innovators and byproducts
Biochar is one of several promising bamboo by products under early stage investigation. Small scale initiatives across Australia are exploring bamboo biochar, biofuels, and livestock feedstocks, showing regenerative potential in agriculture, land rehabilitation, and carbon sequestration.
Policy and strategy development
We are currently spearheading national efforts to bring together growers, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders. We hold events to lay out the groundwork for a coordinated roadmap to support the development of a bamboo industry in Australia.
Traction with builders, consumers, and designers
Despite the lack of certification under the National Construction Code, engineered bamboo is gaining attention across the construction ecosystem.
Builders are increasingly intrigued by international examples of engineered bamboo in load bearing, fire rated, and multi-storey applications. Climate conscious consumers are drawn to bamboo’s low carbon footprint, and designers and architects are embracing its regenerative cycle, biophilic appeal, and aesthetic warmth in residential and commercial projects.
As global supply chains strain under the pressure of deforestation and timber scarcity, bamboo offers a material that is rapidly renewable, regenerative, and highly versatile — one that deserves serious attention in Australia’s sustainable construction future.
What the science says
Bamboo’s natural performance and environmental credentials are among the most compelling in the materials world:
- tensile strength comparable to steel; compression strength similar to concrete
- grows 10 to 30 times faster than timber, with some species capable of growing up to 1 metre per day
- sequesters 30 to 40 per cent more CO2 per hectare than most tree species
- Harvestable in 3 to 5 years, compared to 25–80 years for traditional timber
- no deforestation — bamboo is harvested without felling, allowing the root system to regenerate and prevent erosion
- strong potential to contribute to carbon credit generation under voluntary market schemes
This combination of structural strength, rapid renewability, and environmental benefit positions bamboo as a next generation solution — if the regulatory and market frameworks evolve to meet it.
Rather than focus on barriers, we need to provide a platform to:
- ignite cross-sector collaboration
- address regulatory gaps through shared knowledge
- draw on lessons from timber to fast track recognition of bamboo
- map out the roadmap for cultivating, using, and certifying bamboo in the built environment
What Australia needs now
To realise the potential of bamboo as a structural material, coordinated national action is required:
- policy recognition: position bamboo within embodied carbon strategies and sustainable material frameworks
- certification and testing: fund research to establish local standards and include engineered bamboo in the National Construction Code
- investment in infrastructure: support cultivation, processing, and material innovation across key growing regions
- collaboration across sectors: unify industry, research, First Nations knowledge holders, designers, and policymakers
This is a defining moment.
We have the science, the sustainability case, and the design community ready to engage.
It’s time to connect the dots—and begin to build the future of bamboo in Australia.
Jennifer Snyders is the president of the Bamboo Society of Australia, who will be hosting The Next Frontier Summit, a national event series taking place from 18 to 20 June in the Sunshine Coast, Sydney, and Melbourne. The summit will bring together leaders in agriculture, infrastructure, design, and policy to co-develop a roadmap for a structurally engineered bamboo industry in Australia.