by Web Editor | Nov 3, 2017 | News
American Wood Council released the following statement regarding the U.S. House of Representative’s passage of the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017 (H.R. 2936). The bill (H.R. 2936) includes the research title of the Timber Innovation Act (H.R. 1380/S. 538), which would establish a performance driven research and development program for advancing the use of innovative wood products in building construction.
“The United States has an opportunity to help bring an innovative and sustainable technology to our nation’s construction industry,” said AWC president and CEO Robert Glowinski.
“This bill includes language directing the technical assistance and research components already in place at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to facilitate the use of these innovative wood products into mainstream construction through research and development, education, and technical assistance. Supporting mass timber construction is a win-win because it would introduce new carbon-neutral building materials to our urban areas, as well as job creation in rural areas.”
Congressmen Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Mike Conaway (R-TX) and Mike Thompson D-Calif.) helped sponsor and advance the bill.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/pricing-supply/wood-council-applauds-house-passage-resilient-federal-forests-act?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Oct 11, 2017 | News
As a crane lowered a glulam beam and construction workers on either end deftly guided it into connection with two upright wooden columns, a tour group member shook his head and said, “It’s like Lincoln Logs.”
Kind of. Which may in part explain some of the attraction of builders and designers to the potential use of strong, precisely engineered, carbon-storing wood beams, columns, wall panels and floor decking. As Chris Evans, a Swinerton Builders project manager put it, wood is the first building material people use to make the forts, homes and hideouts of childhood.
These days, builders and designers are joining mill owners, university researchers and policy makers in taking a fresh look at advanced wood products, “mass timbers” and what’s come to be called “tall wood” design. Advocates believe it can replace concrete and steel in mid- to even high-rise buildings, and provide an economic jolt to rural Oregon in terms of forest management and mill jobs.
In Hillsboro, Evans and Swinerton Builders are overseeing construction of the largest known U.S. building to date that uses cross-laminated timber, or CLT, for flooring, and glulam posts and beams. The Oregon headquarters of First Tech Credit Union will be five stories high and have 156,000 square feet of office space. Swinerton Builders is the general contractor.
Another tall wood building planned for Portland, called Framework, will be 12 stories high and will have five floors of affordable housing. That project was awarded a $1.5 million federal design competition grant to help with seismic and fire testing and certification.
From Capital Press: https://www.capitalpress.com/Oregon/20171005/nations-largest-mass-timber-building-under-construction-in-oregon
by Web Editor | May 15, 2017 | News
Mass Timber: The Next Great Disruption Of Construction, Wood Products Industries
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The seeds of Andrew Waugh’s great disruption were planted in 2003. “Back then, people were saying we could ‘fix’ climate change by putting a solar panel on top of everything we built,” he remembered. “But we knew that wasn’t even close to enough.”
So Waugh’s East London architectural firm started studying mass timber, knowing it was the truly renewable building material – albeit largely unknown and untested in large-scale developments. “We were entranced by the opportunities this new material could provide,” he said.
It took five years for Waugh Thistleton Architects to hone their ideas – “so we could talk about the economic benefits of this kind of building” – and to bring that vision to reality in the world’s first mass timber tower, Murray Grove. The nine-story apartment complex in London’s Hackney borough was made from cross-laminated timber manufactured by KLH, an Austrian company.
Spruce strips were stacked crosswise three layers thick and glued together, producing horizontal beams and vertical structural wall boards that were harder than steel or concrete, with none of the associated carbon loss. The economic savings came at the construction site. Murray Grove was built in 27 days by four men, without a tower crane.
Using wood saved 1,150 tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere – the equivalent of running a wind turbine on top of the building for 210 years. And 29 families moved into new homes in a country with an overwhelming housing shortage.
From Treesource: treesource.org.
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by Web Editor | Mar 29, 2017 | News
Over the past several years, there has been a rise in mass timber construction around the world, demonstrating the strength, stability, and design flexibility of next-generation lumber technologies. To help inform architects, engineers, developers, industry professionals, students and interested parties, reThink Wood has launched the reThink Wood Research Library to serve as the go-to industry resource for those seeking information on the latest advancements in wood’s performance and advantages in the built environment.
reThink Wood is a body of research hoping to push boundaries and shift perceptions about building with wood.
Today, mass timber technologies, including cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail laminated timber (NLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam), are gaining traction in the U.S. for mid-rise and tall wood structures. The publicly accessible and comprehensive reThink Wood Research Library will be frequently updated with the latest research on wood building products and systems worldwide, as well as demonstrate where research gaps currently exist.
“The future of mass timber in the U.S. is really starting to heat up,” said Lucas Epp, head of engineering at StructureCraft. “In the next few years, there will be considerably more mass timber buildings built than we have today. The industry is starting to see that this type of construction is fast, cost effective and sustainable.”
Advocates of CLT say it can be used to construct buildings of equal strength and fire-resistance as those made of steel and concrete. It has also fueled the passions of architects and environmentalists, who believe it to be a much greener method for housing the world’s growing population.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/wood-research-library-advances-timber-building-construction?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Jan 4, 2017 | News
When the 12-story Framework building planned at Portland’s Northwest 10th Avenue and Glisan Street is complete, it may look to passers-by like any other Pearl District condo tower.
But it will hold a special distinction in the sustainable building world: the nation’s tallest building made primarily from mass timber (long pieces of timber, glue-laminated together).
Designers and engineers across the country are chasing an innovative style of mass timber construction pioneered in Europe, which they believe will go a long way to reduce the carbon footprint of large buildings.
The breakthrough came with the development of cross-laminated timber or CLT: Large, layered flat panels used as floors and walls (rather than just beams as vertical posts).
As Oregon moves on multiple fronts to take the national lead in all-wood construction for tall buildings, Portland State University stepped up early to do basic research. PSU won a three-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation grant to study two aspects of mass timber construction: its sustainability and how well it resists earthquakes.
From Sustainable Life: https://pamplinmedia.com/sl/337694-214716-psu-tests-new-green-woods-seismic-strength
