October 2021

SLB Highlights

The SLB and USDA Launch Mass Timber Competition to Expand Business and Sustainability Case for Wood

The SLB is pleased to join with the USDA Forest Service to support the Mass Timber Competition: Building to Net-Zero, which seeks to expand the use of mass timber in the United States by showcasing mass timber’s application, practicality, commercial viability, and role as a climate solution. The competition, managed by WoodWorks, will provide grants totaling $2 million to multiple project teams to design and construct high-profile, replicable, and scalable mass timber projects in the United States, with a special focus on making the business case for mass timber in institutional, industrial, educational, and healthcare settings. In doing so, the competition will work to strengthen the mass timber sector and domestic supply chain, as well as illustrate the direct links between the use of mass timber and the health and resiliency of U.S. forests and rural producer communities. The last competition the SLB funded at this level of significance was 2015’s U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition. The energy and momentum created by that original competition is still being felt today – for example, the 25-story Ascent project in Milwaukee leverages research funded through the Tall Wood Building competition.

Throughout the lifetime of the grants, WoodWorks will also document and share lessons learned, cost analysis, mandatory whole-building life cycle assessment (LCA) results, carbon accounting analysis, and research findings emanating from the projects to support replication and future mass timber developments.

U.S. registered for-profit building sector organizations, nonprofit organizations, local governments, and Native American tribal governments and organizations are eligible to apply beginning in early 2022 and winners will be announced in late spring/early summer.

To learn more about the competition and how to apply, click here.

The SLB Helps Launch Mass Timber Accelerator in Boston

The Boston Planning & Development Agency and Boston Society for Architecture recently launched a Mass Timber Accelerator to broaden awareness among local building professionals and accelerate the use of mass timber in Boston and New England. In addition to providing technical support, the Accelerator will award up to 10 grants of $25,000 each to mass timber projects in early planning phases, funded by the USDA Forest Service, the SLB, WoodWorks, Think Wood, and the ClimateWorks Foundation. By bolstering mass timber construction practices, the Accelerator will serve as a key intervention to help Boston increase net-zero construction and achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

The Accelerator’s public debut included a three-day stop by the Think Wood Mobile Tour, which resumed in-person operations this summer. The Mobile Tour showcases the environmental and economic benefits of wood products and helps build knowledge, interest, and excitement for specifying wood in building construction.

Read more about Boston’s new Mass Timber Accelerator and its open call for proposals here.

SLB Board Member Testifies Before Congress on Working Forests’ Role in Carbon Markets

In September, Brian Luoma, SLB Second Vice Chair and President and CEO of the Westervelt Company, testified during a House Agriculture Committee hearing on behalf of the National Alliance of Forest Owners on voluntary carbon markets in agriculture and forestry. The hearing deepened the committee’s understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing carbon offset markets and how these markets can contribute to climate change mitigation, forest conservation, and economic growth.

In his testimony, Luoma stressed the importance of access to markets for forest products, the need for robust and reliable forest-carbon data to implement voluntary carbon markets, and the considerable economic, environmental, and carbon benefits that U.S. private working forests already provide. "There is a tremendous amount of carbon to be sequestered and stored while a forest is working, and then it can be moved into the built environment where it gets stored for a long time,” Luoma said.

Listen to Luoma’s testimony here.

The AWC Finds Success During ICC Public Comments

The American Wood Council (AWC) continues to create markets for wood products during the 2024 International Building Code (IBC) and International Fire Code development process. During the recent public comment period on proposed code changes, the AWC got a provision inserted to eliminate an overly restrictive code interpretation that added cost and complexity to large multifamily wood-frame construction. The newly approved language is based on the AWC’s Design for Code Acceptance #3, Fire-Resistance-Rated Wood-Frame Wall and Floor/Ceiling Assemblies.

The AWC also advocated for a change to permit fully exposed mass timber ceilings in wood buildings up to 12 stories tall. The proposal is based on research conducted by the AWC with funding from the USDA Wood Innovation Grant program.

All proposed changes are now subject to a two-week online voting period, which will conclude in late October. The final list of code changes will be certified in December.

Think Wood Promotes Latest Repair and Remodel Trends Among Residential Contractors

Coming off outdoor living season and heading into fall, Think Wood is keeping residential contractors up to date on the latest repair and remodel trends with content on custom single-family homes.

Think Wood’s top-performing content in September was a new Before and After home renovations blog featuring wood upgrades for every room of the house. The renovations blog was also the best performer in Think Wood’s September monthly newsletter, with more than 600 clicks. The contractor newsletter also promotes species association content, with this edition including links to Real Cedar porch makeover videos.

Think Wood will promote interior applications on social media, including videos on wood feature walls and ceilings, as contractors move to interior remodels. The campaign continues to invest in this type of targeted content to support the single-family home market.

WoodWorks’ U.S. Mass Timber Construction Manual Is Now Available

WoodWorks’ U.S. Mass Timber Construction Manual is now available to support general contractors and installers in increasing their knowledge and capacity to undertake mass timber building construction. While developers and architects have long been keen to pursue the potential of mass timber materials, the lack of experienced general contractors and installers has proven a major market barrier.

The new manual is one of several steps WoodWorks has recently undertaken to address the capacity gap head-on. In addition, WoodWorks has launched a Construction Management Program, which provides management-level training for professionals who estimate, procure, and manage new commercial and multifamily projects, and set up partnerships with carpenter unions and merit-based training centers to develop and deliver installer training. The U.S. Mass Timber Construction Manual will provide a seminal resource across all these training elements.

Download and share the U.S. Mass Timber Construction Manual today.

WoodWorks Helps Guide University of Washington to CLT in New Health Sciences Building

A “Culture of Care” is the central concept for the University of Washington’s new 100,000-square-foot Health Sciences Education Building, designed by The Miller Hull Partnership. The concept is reflected in all aspects of the building, including an innovative cross laminated timber (CLT) floor and roof system created in collaboration with KPFF Consulting Engineers.

WoodWorks supported the Miller Hull team early in the project’s design when it was evaluating potential materials by giving advice on new construction types approved for the 2021 IBC, fire ratings, acoustic assemblies, sustainability, and cost premiums versus savings. WoodWorks also met with the university and general contractor to address concerns stemming from negative claims made by other industries, allowing the entire project team to better evaluate available mass timber options.

During the post-assist audit, The Miller Hull Partnership team said, “WoodWorks is a great resource to have. They provided key information and were a great asset.”

The University of Washington’s Health Sciences Education Building is now under construction and set to consume the equivalent of nearly 1.09 million board feet of softwood lumber, with nearly 11 board feet consumed per square foot of construction.

Low Housing Inventory, Uncertain Commercial Demand Influence Real Estate Market Predictions

Forbes recently surveyed its 11-member Real Estate Council of experts on key predictions influencing housing prices, consumer behavior, and the overall U.S. real estate market.

Overall, Forbes’s experts expect the tight housing market to continue, driven by extremely low inventory, rising prices, and high demand, including as more millennials attempt to enter the market. The United States’ shortage of affordable housing will continue, forcing more consumers to turn to multifamily and other rentals, which may in turn drive up rental prices. The experts are watching inflation’s impact on mortgage rates, which may cool the market, though not necessarily to the benefit of first-time home buyers as opposed to investors.

Commercial real estate will likely continue to face challenges, as the shift to a more hybrid workforce persists, irrespective of the pandemic.

Read all 11 of the council’s predictions here.

Bowdoin College Unveils First All-Mass Timber Commercial Project in Maine

Bowdoin College’s Barry Mills Hall will soon be Maine’s first complete mass timber structure, from grade level to roof. The building features a mix of glued-laminated timber beams and columns and a CLT wall system to resist wind and seismic loads, also a first in Maine.

Bowdoin, which achieved carbon neutrality in 2018, chose mass timber specifically for its lower embodied carbon footprint and faster construction time. Designers at HGA Architects and Engineers estimate that by using mass timber, they will reduce the embodied carbon of the building to roughly 25% of a steel alternative, while construction firm Consigli Construction predicts faster install times and lower labor demands than would be incurred if building with masonry.

Barry Mills Hall is scheduled to open in 2023 and will ultimately house the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies. The U.S. Forest Service, in partnership with the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, provided funding to support Bowdoin in pursuing climate-smart, sustainable building solutions on its campus.

Read more about Barry Mills Hall and see images here.

New Defense Bill Includes Support for Mass Timber Pilot Project

The House Armed Services Committee’s recent markup of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act bill included language to establish a pilot program to evaluate the effects of using mass timber products in Department of Defense construction projects. The AWC has been working with the DOD for more than five years to raise awareness of mass timber and build the evidence base demonstrating mass timber’s performance capabilities in relation to DOD construction standards.

In response to the markup, AWC President and CEO Jackson Morrill stressed how the mass timber pilot program will help the DOD address the military’s housing needs while also contributing to carbon-reduction goals. Morrill noted, “Mass timber construction will speed up construction times, ultimately saving money and getting service members into housing more quickly. The DOD saw a 37% reduction in schedule duration and a 31% increase in expected energy performance in its first mass timber construction project.”

Read more about the proposed pilot program here.

San Francisco Welcomes First Multistory Mass Timber Building

Completed earlier this year by architects Perkins&Will and developer SKS Partners, with project support from WoodWorks, the 58-foot-tall, 134,000-square-foot 1 De Haro is San Francisco’s first multistory mass timber building.

The 1 De Haro project includes three stories of exposed glulam columns and beams, CLT floor slabs, and a concrete podium. The development team chose mass timber for its light weight, which translated into a less expensive foundation system; time savings created by mass timber’s off-site fabrication and installation methods; and sustainability benefits, including an estimated 51% reduction in embodied carbon compared with a comparable concrete structure.

The California design community is optimistic that 1 De Haro will be just the first of many mass timber structures in the state, enabled by California’s recent adoption of the tall wood provisions of the 2021 IBC, which allow for mass timber buildings of up to 18 stories. California is one of nine jurisdictions to adopt the standards thus far.