Paul Kremer

Paul is part of the senior executive team at XLam Australia and New Zealand. XLam is the largest manufacturer of cross laminated timber (CLT) panelised construction solutions in the Southern Hemisphere. 

At XLam, Paul drives the commercial success of the organisation across Australia and New Zealand, plus the evolving Asia Pacific region. His areas of expertise include strategy, change management, marketing, research, business development and leadership. Most recently, Paul’s work has focused on prebuild and panelised construction and manufacturing. 

While he’s a senior manager by trade, Paul will always be a researcher at heart. In addition to his role at XLam, Paul is a Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Here, he undertakes research and supervises students, exploring the changing nature of construction and the impacts of new technologies on industry. 

Paul is also a published author, a Gottstein Fellow (a prestigious Australian timber industry award), and the Editor-in-Chief of the Mass Timber Construction Journal. He is a sought-after industry speaker who presents on the topic of ‘disruptive technologies’ at conferences worldwide.

Presentation Overview

Project alliance models, which emerged in Australia during the first decade of this century, began falling out of favour with treasury departments in various Australian state governments over time. Current alliance style approaches to projects are based on a relationship between client, architect and main contractor, which may include Early Contractor Involvement (ECI). There is little or no evidence for the idea that key material providers and manufacturers are engaged at the on-set of the project lifecycle, until now. This presentation will outline a revised model for supplier engagement and detail a number of case studies where ‘early supplier engagement’ has resulted in gains/efficiencies for project stakeholders.