Mass Timber: The Next Great Disruption Of Construction, Wood Products Industries

by | May 15, 2017 | News

Mass Timber: The Next Great Disruption Of Construction, Wood Products Industries

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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U.S. Laminates To Hit $6.8 Billion In 2020

by | Apr 13, 2016 | News

Increased cabinets and furniture demand will continue to drive the growth of decorative laminates in the United States 2.5 percent annually, reaching 11.6 billion square feet —$6.8 billion — in 2020, according to new research by The Freedonia Group.

According to the Decorative Laminates study by the Cleveland-based research firm, the use of these decorative surfaces will grow concurrent with projected increases in domestic manufacturing of cabinets, furniture, retail fixtures, wall paneling and other products made from composite wood. Cabinets and furniture are the two largest markets for laminates in 2015, and through 2020, the cabinet market is projected to post the more rapid gains.

“Increases in the number of new homes built through 2020 will provide opportunities, since many of these new homes will include stock cabinets, which are often made using saturated paper and other low-pressure laminates on an engineered wood substrate,” says analyst Pamela Safarek.

Low-pressure laminates, which account for more than 80 percent of the market, will post the fastest average annual gains through 2020, Freedonia says, adding that “the cost advantages of these products outweigh the durability benefits of higher priced high-pressure laminates,” particularly in the cabinets and store fixtures market.

High pressure laminates are used in many horizontal applications, including flooring, countertops and desktops. “Sales of high-pressure laminates will continue to depend on their advanced performance characteristics, such as long-term durability and greater resistance to scratches,” Freedonia says.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/us-laminates-hit-68-billion-2020-cabinets-spur-demand