Air New Zealand Readying Hangar With Hemisphere’s Largest Single-Span Timber Roof

Air New Zealand is just a few months away from moving into Hangar 4, which will become one of the world’s largest single-span timber arch hangars once completed, Wood Central reported (11-15-24).

Designed by New Zealand-based Studio Pacific, it includes 1,200 cubic meters of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and cross-laminated timber (CLT), all supplied by Xlam. The 98-meter structure is set to become the largest single-span timber arch hangar in the southern hemisphere and the first to achieve a 6-Star Green Star rating.

The LVL, produced by Nelson Pine, is shipped to Hunter Laminates in the city, where it is glued into five 25-meter sections per truss, according to Wood Central. These sections are then transported to Auckland and onward to Xlam in Māngere, where the CLT from Australia is joined to the sections before being delivered to the hangar site.

Standing ten stories tall and nearly as wide as a rugby field, the hangar—which will eventually house the airline’s Auckland-based maintenance fleet—will be long enough to fit a Boeing 777, Dreamliner 787, or two single-aisle A320/21 jets and close the doors behind them.