by Web Editor | Dec 4, 2017 | News
Congress Gears Up For A Fight Over Mass Timber Legislation
The battle over the 2017 Timber Innovation Act is gaining momentum in Washington, D.C., where two new Senate sponsors and four new Congress members have signed on to it since this past May. The pending legislation would provide funding for research into innovative wood materials and mass timber structures above 85 feet. The bill’s proponents are hoping that it will be an impetus for transforming cities and towns across the country with a bevy of mid-rise and high-rise mass timber buildings.
“I am very impressed with the large cross-aisle support,” Chadwick Oliver, director of Yale University’s Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry, said. “You have Bruce Westerman, a Republican congressman from Arkansas and Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon who has been on the side of environmental groups. This looks like a bill that is quite serious about moving forward.”
However, the concrete and steel industries are vigorously lobbying to derail the legislation, and have established a website called Build with Strength that contains a detailed critique of the new generation of wood buildings. “It is a piece of legislation that props up one industry over another and we think that it is misguided and dangerous,” Kevin Lawlor, a spokesperson from Build with Strength, said. “We don’t think that it is safe in three-to-five story buildings, and we don’t think that it is safer in taller buildings.”
The wood products industry, the U.S. Forest Service, and other advocates claim that technological advances make the new generation of tall timber buildings more fire resistant. In fact, according to Dr. Patricia A. Layton, director of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute at Clemson University, that is because of the way it chars in a fire: By insulating its interior, an exposed wood beam can actually be structurally stronger than a steel one. “Steel loses its strength at a lower temperature than does wood,” she explained. “If you expose concrete or steel it is combustible, and it does feel the effects of fire.”
Many of the act’s supporters say that allowing buildings to be built from wood technologies such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) will result in a host of economic and environmental benefits. Most of the Timber Innovation Act’s sponsors hail from states where the wood industry is struggling to recoup from the recent housing downturn and also suffering from the decrease in demand for paper that is a result of the increasing digitalization of the economy.
From The Architects Newspaper: archpaper.com
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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 | Mar 20, 2017 | News
A new piece of bipartisan legislation has been tabled by The United States Senate and House of Representatives named the Timber Innovation Act. The bills were put forward to further the development of tall timber buildings in the U.S., thereby supporting the nation’s considerable timber market and the rural manufacturing jobs it entails.
“The United States has an opportunity to bring new, sustainable mass timber technology to our construction industry, and the Timber Innovation Act directs technical assistance and research components already in place,” said Robert Glowinski, President and CEO of the American Wood Council (AWC).
The bills aim to create a focused research and development program to aid in the advancement of tall wooden structures in the United States. Federal grants will be awarded to fund the research undertaken on state, local, university, and private sector levels. This includes the provision of education to architects and builders, in relation to timber construction.
“Mass timber technology is revolutionizing and disrupting the way buildings are being built around the world. Unfortunately, the United States has been trailing other markets in this regard. The Timber Innovation Act will significantly contribute to enhancing our industry’s ability to close the knowledge gap and stimulate private sector investment,” remarked general manager of the Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC), Cees de Jager.
Additionally, the act will introduce educational and technical programs on timber design and applications, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture and state foresters. Responding to continued job scarcity in the aftermath of the recession, retrofitting buildings in regions of high unemployment will create new positions in rural areas, while also addressing environmental concerns.
From ArchDaily.com: https://www.archdaily.com/866841/new-timber-innovation-act-advocates-for-nationwide-timber-construction-in-the-united-states
by Web Editor | Feb 3, 2017 | News
For centuries, wood was civilization’s primary construction material, but as the use of concrete, glass and steel grew, wood was largely relegated to flooring and interior paneling.
An exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington challenges that narrow use. It suggests that tomorrow’s buildings will or should be constructed of wood. The exhibition, “Timber City,” highlights the wide range of benefits offered by cutting-edge methods of timber construction, showing that wood is a modern, strong and versatile material.
The show highlights the two winners of the Tall Wood Building Prize, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “One in New York City and one in Portland, Oregon, are two premier cross-laminated (engineered, pre-fabricated) timber buildings going up right now,” said the exhibition’s curator, Susan Piedmont-Palladino. “They’re similar structures. Both buildings are using this material … in slightly different ways, but the goal is to build right in the middle of the city.”
And that’s what makes timber the perfect choice in a busy district like New York’s Manhattan, where construction speed and efficiency are vital. “Buildings go up very quickly. The materials for the building — the walls and the floors and the ceilings — are manufactured off-site. They come on a truck, pre-fabricated,” Piedmont-Palladino said. “So a work crew armed with power screwdrivers can basically assemble the building extremely quickly. There’s no long-term curing of concrete” needed.
Information panels in the exhibition explain that concrete manufacturing is the world’s third-largest source of greenhouse gases, and that harvesting timber — a renewable resource — has a lower environmental cost than mining the materials needed to make steel and concrete.
From VOANews.com: https://www.voanews.com/a/museum-cross-laminated-wood-building-material/3697202.html
by Web Editor | Apr 17, 2015 | News
The American Wood Council has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to conduct research on the fire performance of mass timber buildings. AWC will partner with the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Fire Protection Research Foundation and the Property Insurance Research Group.
The AWC proposal is intended to advance the construction of taller wood buildings in the United States by demonstrating the fire performance of newer mass timber products. Over the last several years, tall wood buildings have been completed around the world using this new technology – including a 9-story building in London, 10-story in Prince George, Canada, and 14-story building now under construction in Bergen, Norway. These buildings have consistently demonstrated the successful application of mass timber technologies.
“Findings from this project will inform the building community and the insurance industry, providing an increased level of confidence in both the adequacy of this new construction type and when setting fire insurance premiums. This is a new method of construction to insurers, and in order to provide reasonable insurance coverage, they need to understand the performance of the material,” said AWC Vice President of Codes & Regulations Kenneth Bland. Increased use of wood in building construction also holds great promise for improved environmental impacts.
“Innovative mass timber wood products encourage sustainable forestry and capture large amounts of carbon, thereby reducing greenhouse emissions through both sequestration and the substitution of wood for more carbon-intensive products. The construction of tall wood buildings would put America at the forefront of an emerging global opportunity,” said AWC President & CEO Robert Glowinski.
When announcing the USDA 2015 Wood Innovations grant recipients, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Working with our partners, the Forest Service is promoting deployment of new technologies, designed to support new market opportunities for wood energy and innovative wood building materials.”
From the American Wood Council: https://www.awc.org/NewsReleases/2015/newsreleases2015.php#20150415
