Taking low-value wool to the wall
A self-confessed ‘wool evangelist’, Brad Stuart has turned his passion for wool as an undervalued product into a thriving wool insulation business. Words Tony Leggett.
Brad Stuart acknowledges he has an obsession with turning the lower value components of a strong wool fleece into high quality insulation and landscaping products because he believes wool is one of the most amazing raw materials.
It has been eight years since Brad founded Christchurch firm Terra Lana with significant investment in new technology and product development which turns wool into an insulation batt that he proudly says will outlast any fibreglass alternative by decades.
Terra Lana regularly takes 15-20 tonnes of wool every week through its plant, all supplied from growers on nearby Banks Peninsula, to process into its insulation and matting products. “The main value in wool for growers is in the fleece wool. But for our products, we take all the lower value wool like the bellies, crutchings and pieces which can have high vegetable matter.
“It means that growers don’t have to rely just on the return from their fleece wool to achieve a better return from their wool clips.”
Terra Lana is embracing circular economy thinking and recycles all its offcuts and waste. “Our own story at Terra Lana is based on quality and value as well as the sustainability that comes with working with a wool product.”
He is pleased to see greater collaboration emerging between companies within the wool sector, helped by organisations like Campaign for Wool and Wool Impact.
Looking ahead, Terra Lana is focused on building its sales volume and improving the efficiency of its Christchurch plant. It recently invested $2m installing new electric heating systems to replace outdated coal-fired boilers.
The company has also added extra sales staff and is starting to see results as more architects and building firms specify wool insulation over fibreglass options. A next step could be building a new plant in the North Island to service growing demand.
Terra Lana wool insulation is featured in the several new commercial and civic buildings in Christchurch, including the city’s new museum and the Otago Medical School’s Christchurch campus.
Stuart says he was also particularly pleased with the installation of wool batts in the new AgResearch facility at the Lincoln University campus south of Christchurch. Two North Island cities also chose wool insulation for new-build hospitals. “We are lucky to have Warren & Mahoney, one of the country’s leading architecture firms, as a great supporter of Terra Lana products,” he says.
More recently, Terra Lana has developed and commercialised a plant matting product called DagMat which offers landscaping and roading firms a better option for establishing plants than plastic weed matting. “We’re trying to work with local councils and urge them to nominate matting made from NZ wool like our DagMat product is rather than some cheap imported plastic alternative.”
