Summary: We synthesise the findings from 10 years of ecological restoration in the Midlands of Tasmania, Australia, captured in the series of 14 papers in this special issue of Ecological Management and Restoration. The papers illustrate how expertise from disciplines as diverse as law, economics, social sciences, the arts, education, zoology, botany, genetics, climate modelling, agriculture, spatial sciences and fire ecology are necessary to address the complex social, ecological and financial questions that underpin restoration ecology. We highlight the complexity of the task, the multi‐disciplinary and collaborative approach needed, the importance of science to inform restoration practice and the problem of achieving functional connectivity. We also outline steps that need to be taken in the next 10 years. Together, the outcomes and recommendations from these studies provide a template for restoration in similar highly cleared and degraded agricultural landscapes affected by climate change in Australia and internationally.

Hardness is commonly used to determine the suitability of a timber species for flooring applications. In this study, Janka hardness test is conducted on sawlog managed Eucalyptus nitens and regrowth forest Eucalyptus obliqua sourced from Tasmania, Australia. Plantation E. nitens timber is currently entering the Australian market and the feasibility of using this fast grown species in value added applications such as timber flooring is advantageous. Further to testing Janka hardness on solid timber samples, a regime of engineered timber flooring prototypes consisting of plantation E. nitens top layers, veneers and solid densified E. nitens boards were developed and subjected to Janka hardness test. The results were compared against solid E. obliqua flooring and a commercially available engineered flooring product with Tasmanian Oak top layer. The results showed that Janka hardness of plantation grown E. nitens, and E. obliqua currently available in the market are lower than the values published in the literature. This indicates that the material properties of fast grown plantation timber and regrowth forest material are different to the native forest timber properties published decades earlier. Furthermore, some of the tested engineered flooring prototypes showed similar behaviour to timber flooring products currently in market, suggesting that E. nitens engineered flooring would be suitable for domestic/light commercial flooring applications despite the general conception of unsuitability due to lower densities.

As energy-efficient buildings become central to climate change mitigation, the opportunity for interior and interstitial moisture accumulation and mould growth can increase. This study investigated the potential simulation-based mould growth risks associated with the current generation of insulated low-rise timber framed external wall systems within southeastern Australia. More than 8000 hygrothermal and bio-hygrothermal simulations were completed to evaluate seasonal moisture patterns and calculate mould growth potential for nine typical external wall systems. Results reveal that the combination of increased thermal insulation and air-tightness measures between the 2010 and 2022 specified building envelope energy efficiency regulations further increased predicted Mould Index values, particularly in cool-temperate climates. This was in part due to insufficient moisture management requirements, like an air space between the cladding and the weather resistive layer and/or the low-water vapour permeability of exterior weather resistive pliable membranes. By contrast, warmer temperate climates and drier cool-temperate climates exhibit consistently lower calculated Mould Index values. Despite the 2022 requirement for a greater water vapour-permeance of exterior pliable membranes, the external walls systems explored in this research had a higher calculated Mould Index than the 2010 regulatory compliant external wall systems. Lower air change rates significantly increased calculated interstitial mould growth risk, while the use of interior vapour control membranes proved effective in its mitigation for most external wall systems. The addition of ventilated cavity in combination with either or both an interior vapour control membrane and a highly vapour-permeable exterior pliable membranes further reduced risk. The findings underscore the need for tailored, climate-responsive design interventions to minimise surface and interstitial mould growth risk and building durability, whilst achieving high performance external wall systems.

The Tasmanian Midlands restoration work includes a multi‐faceted educational programme that connects schoolchildren, university students, researchers, artists and the community in the Midlands. Here, we outline this programme and consider its many benefits and challenges through its five years of continued support.

The Learning-by-Making (LBM) program at the University of Tasmania has 20 years experience in collaborative, community-based “live” studios. Academics involved in the program have intuitively understood that a learning environment integrated with the public realm, and based in a constructed reality affords students an immersive understanding of the design process. More recently the program has shifted its focus from stand-alone, client-responsive projects to a long-term, design-led research agenda. Individual projects - including micro-dwellings, scout huts, an exhibition stand and a mobile playground - are seen as steps in the evolution of an innovative building system that harnesses the creative and socially productive potentials of digital fabrication. The benefits of this shift for academics and clients are clear. For academics, research and teaching activities can be mutually supportive, while clients benefit from a design/fabricate/assemble process that has been tested, analysed, applied and incrementally improved. The primary focus of this paper will however attempt to identify the educational impact on participating students, and will do so using the analytical lens of a relevant educational theory called threshold concepts1. The theory suggests that students can overcome barriers to learning when specific criteria or “dimensions” are present.The results of this analysis indicate that in this environment learning can be transformative, resulting in irreversible conceptual links between design idea, fabrication and practice. The conceptual space of the project is bounded by the research objective, budget, technology and client requirements, and integrative in that they inevitably involve decisions on materials, structures, habitation patterns and climate control. The learning is discursive as students are required to articulate their opinions on design decisions, both within the student group and with community collaborators. The primary data sources for this investigation have been students’ reflective journals, combined with teacher observations.

The study investigates through hygrothermal modelling the effect of different boundary conditions and varying measured vapour diffusion resistivity values on the hygrothermal performance of five pliable membranes. Previously, this research quantified the variable water vapour diffusion resistivity properties of five different pliable building membranes. The membranes were assessed under varying humidity conditions using the gravimetric wet and dry cup test method. The varying humidity conditions better represent the boundary conditions experienced by materials in the building envelope. The pliable membranes include two permeable, two impermeable, and one variable products, which are commonly used to provide air and vapour control layers in the construction of framed external wall systems. This article focusses on the transient hygrothermal modelling of each of these membranes as a component of a typical timber-framed, clay brick veneer external wall system. The simulations were completed for three different climate types, namely, hot and humid, temperate, and cool-temperate with snow, and with a northern and western orientation. The results from hygrothermal and bio-hygrothermal simulations highlighted different responses subject to climate type and orientation. These results show that there are significant differences in simulated moisture and mould growth risk between the results of pliable membranes with single vapour resistance factor value and pliable membranes with multipoint vapour resistance factor values.