by Web Editor | Nov 15, 2017 | News
The Framework: Home Forward project and the Framework team recently announced that it has been awarded $6 million to develop 60 units of affordable housing in what will be the first high-rise structure in the U.S. made from wood and the first earthquake-resilient building of its kind in America.
The funding award came through the Portland Housing Bureau’s Fast Starts program — a city initiative designed to get shovel-ready affordable housing units built as quickly as possible to react to our city’s housing crisis.
“By investing in Framework, our city will now be home to the first skyscraper made from wood in the United States,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a statement released Tuesday. “This project not only reflects Oregon’s leadership in the newly emerging wood products industry of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), it also demonstrates our city’s commitment to finding innovative ways to quickly deliver affordable units during our housing crisis.”
“Framework was selected as a Fast Starts project after a rigorous process under the city’s new effort to mobilize resources quickly to alleviate the housing crisis,” said Portland Housing Bureau Director Kurt Creager. “Because so many partners have also contributed to make this important project a reality, we have a great opportunity to begin using this innovative technology in Portland to create more resilient, sustainable, and affordable housing.”
Framework, which received building permit approval in June 2017, was selected for its project readiness, alignment with the city’s equity goals, ability to leverage city funds, new partnerships and philanthropic incentives, and innovation in sustainable materials and earthquake resilience.
From the Portland Patch: https://patch.com/oregon/portland/portland-awarded-6-million-construct-affordable-housing-unit
by Web Editor | Nov 6, 2017 | News
The Kitchen Cabinet Makers Association (KCMA) may come to the defense of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after various non-profit organizations throughout Louisiana announced they would sue the EPA for stalling its formaldehyde rule enforcement.
Through the lawsuit, Louisiana-based NGOs Sierra Club and Earthjustice are demanding the EPA be prevented from extending compliance with new regulation. Both groups survived Hurricane Katrina, in which FEMA deployed trailers containing formaldehyde-treated wood products to assist displaced victims.
“It is outrageous that people recovering from this year’s hurricanes might have to deal with the same health issues in their emergency housing that the EPA has known about — and was supposed to address — years ago,” attorney Patti Goldman said in a statement. Earthjustice published a story about their decision to sue on its website.
“Though the story is wrought with errors with respect to the alleged adverse health effects from formaldehyde exposure, the fact remains that a lawsuit has been filed that could impact the earlier granted extensions of the compliance dates to December 12, 2018,” said the KCMA in its newsletter. “KCMA is exploring our options and potential involvement in the suit; we will provide more details in the coming days. KCMA is also reaching out this week to related D.C. trade associations and will work with them to ensure a coordinated effort on this important issue.”
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/kcma-could-defend-epa-formaldehyde-lawsuit?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
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 | Nov 1, 2017 | News
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a direct final rule October 25 to update a few voluntary consensus standards in the rule governing formaldehyde emission standards for composite wood products.
The direct final rule corrects the rule at 40 CFR 770.20(b) by allowing the formaldehyde emissions mill quality control test methods to correlate to either the ASTM E1333-14 test method, or if shown to be equivalent, the ASTM D6007-14 test method. This correlation was inadvertently omitted from the original final rule, EPA wrote.
The correction aligns the mill quality control testing requirements with the California Air Resources Board standards allowing mill quality control tests to be correlated to the less expensive ASTM D6007-14 test method.
These updates apply to emission testing methods and regulated composite wood product construction characteristics. The voluntary consensus standards were updated, withdrawn or superseded to because of new information, technology, and methodology, EPA wrote.
EPA’s final rule takes effect December 11, unless EPA receives adverse comments on it by November 9.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/panel-supply/epa-publishes-final-rule-fixes-place-formaldehyde-standards?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
