Karl-Heinz has a strong track record in delivering valuable insights into complex and ambitious problems as well as identifying opportunities to operationalise solutions at scale. He has a key commitment to the importance of building skills and capabilities across the sector and supporting pathways to the adoption of DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) and Modern Methods of Construction.

He has extensive knowledge and understanding of resources, processes, applications, assembly methodologies and in technologies and regulatory and certification frameworks to drive continuous improvement and provide zero or low impact.

This expertise has been gained through first-hand experience across the whole construction lifecycle from design, manufacture and traditional construction and development through to his pioneering work in engineered timber technology. This includes all aspects of design from feasibility to architectural and structural design, from customer interaction, all the way through to execution including manufacturing, logistics and site planning and completion.

Pioneering work: Engineered Timber in UK

Karl-Heinz is recognised internationally for his ground-breaking work in the application of engineered timber for construction as Co-founder and Managing Director of KLH UK (2005 and 2012), supplying and installing engineered timber product.  He provided invaluable expertise and support landmark projects such as Kingsdale Music and Sports Hall, Stadthaus Murray Grove, London and Open and City Academy Norwich, UK which were later credited with catalysing the use of engineered timber in the UK market (outlined in an article by Oliver Lowenstein in DETAIL Magazine). In his leadership capacity in KLH UK he developed and grew the engineered timber product application over 7 years from a niche application in single family houses to a generic building product for the UK construction industry, playing a pivotal role in over 100 engineered timber projects.

Pioneering work: Engineered Timber in Australia

His experiences in the German and UK markets positioned Karl-Heinz at the forefront of innovation – collaborating on landmark buildings that have shaped the future, from individual construction projects or related product development applications through to large scale, internationally significant buildings.

From this base he was also instrumental in introducing engineered timber into the Australian market in his capacity as consultant to Lendlease – in particular, the ground-breaking multi-story timber Forte in Melbourne and Library at the Dock. When later Karl-Heinz was invited to join the Lendlease team, he was influential in the development of landmark timber buildings: City of Melbourne, 25 King Street Brisbane and International and Daramu House, Barangaroo Sydney.

Product and Business Development

During his 9 years with Lendlease (2013–2022) Karl-Heinz has had key roles in start-up initiatives nationally and globally which have sought to catalyse the sector into new levels of efficiency. He was tasked with designing and delivering DesignMake a global first state-of-the-art factory merging CLT processing and frame production lines. This facility utilised CNC technologies, File to Factory and LEAN principles and included leading smarts in safety and process efficiencies. It was a “living lab” bringing together an international renowned team that encompassed design, building, engineering, technology, timber.

Lendlease DesignMake represented a vision of the future, a working model of DfMA (design for manufacture and assembly) which created impact across the construction and development sector. It delivered on its “start-up” mandate to supply a limited Lendlease pipeline and enabled the construction of award-winning landmark tall timber buildings in Australia. 

DesignMake tested commercial models and identified barriers and opportunities for scale within the Australian market. It also highlighted a key gap in the market for a digital platform to support the design and delivery of buildings … data to manufacture. The factory was divested by Lendlease and the team, including Karl-Heinz transitioned to the first stage of what was to become a stand-alone business unit within Lendlease - Lendlease Digital.

In his role as Head of Value Chain Relationship (2019-2022) Karl-Heinz expertise became an interface between the digital product development and the physical product. He worked on the feasibility of an innovative delivery model for large scale pipeline for the US market called “Supply Park”: where supply chain partners are physically collocated to increase levels of prefabrication and manufacture, accelerating the delivery of significant pipeline into a very congested area (such as the Bay Area of California).

He provided advice, support and mentoring to the Lendlease MX Studio team. MX Studio explored physical product development for a product platform based delivery; finding existing products and systems which could be adopted or modified and identifying gaps in the market for new product. Later he was a key team advisor when MX Studio successfully commercialised “Connectors” for structural elements with Hilti chosen as the global manufacturing and distribution partner.

Research, Education and Training

Karl-Heinz is currently Professor of Practice, Monash University, School of Design Art and Architecture and Research Associate, Melbourne University, Dept Infrastructure Engineering. His deep commitment to supporting students and educators has always existed in parallel to his professional pathway.

In his previous executive leadership role as Head of Research and Development and Technical Director DfMA, Lendlease Digital (2020-22), Karl-Heinz was a key collaborator in Building 4.0 CRC research initiative since its inception in 2020. This collaborative research agenda represented a ‘whole-of-system’ approach to drive innovation in the entire construction value chain and unlock opportunities for growth and productivity.

Prior to this Karl-Heinz represented Lendlease as industry partner in a CRC-P with Sydney University (2016-2019) – Innovation in Advanced Multi Storey Housing Manufacture. This CRC laid the groundwork for the development of self-locating and self-propping “Connectors” designed to significantly improve install time for engineered timber projects. 

He was also instrumental in establishing an R&D collaboration from 2018 onwards between Sumitomo Forestry Japan (Tsukuba Research Institute) and Lendlease to jointly investigate key challenges of tall timber structures. This encompassed all aspects of fire safety, robustness and connections, efficient fibre usage and looking into sustainability from different perspectives

Karl-Heinz is a qualified Master Timber Craftsman and an award-winning industrial designer.