February 2026

Momentum for Mainstreaming Mass Timber

The SLB’s “From Niche to Mainstream” strategic plan isn’t just a roadmap to attaining 2.9 BBF of annual incremental lumber demand by 2035. It’s also a plan to expand lumber’s role in the built environment by both maintaining lumber’s position of strength in key market segments and building stronger preferences for wood design in high-opportunity markets.

Two recent industry articles underscore how lumber-based structural systems are gaining traction beyond early adopters. In an article about Amazon’s first mass timber logistics hub in Elkhart, Indiana, Area Development, a publication for corporate real estate executives, writes that the 171,000-square-foot project is a replicable model, especially for companies with decarbonization goals. “The Elkhart project demonstrates that sustainability, speed, and structural performance can coexist — and that mass timber may be moving from niche architecture into the mainstream of logistics and manufacturing development,” the article says.

In the commercial real estate publication Propmodo, CEO Travis Barrington highlights a broader range of projects, from Walmart’s mass timber Bentonville, Arkansas, campus to Oregon’s tallest mass timber building, Julia West House, a 12-story permanent supportive housing project (pictured above during construction). If the industry can overcome friction points, he writes, mass timber “will become part of the mainstream toolkit developers use to solve cost, carbon, and competitiveness challenges across commercial real estate.”

Distribution centers, office buildings, and multifamily housing—each highlighted in the SLB’s strategic plan—are among the sectors where this shift is already taking shape. In 2026, the SLB’s programs will focus on accelerating adoption and increasing wood’s market share in these high-opportunity segments, translating industry momentum into durable demand growth.

Supply Chain Leaders Highlight How SLB Investments Expand Lumber Demand Beyond Housing

Despite lumber’s strong market share in single-family home construction and remodeling, demand from the cyclical market is volatile, which is why the work of the SLB to expand and diversify softwood lumber demand into nonresidential and multifamily construction is significant. Through investments in Education, the American Wood Council, Think Wood, and WoodWorks, the SLB is growing lumber demand in new segments, leveraging mass timber and hybrid construction to capture structural applications not accessible to light-frame wood.

To underscore the importance of this work, the SLB is spotlighting industry leaders, programs, and partners advancing market growth. This month, Nick Milestone, COO of Mercer Mass Timber, and new alternate SLB Board Member Derek Ratchford, CEO of SmartLam, highlight the value of the SLB’s work to grow the market for lumber by expanding wood construction in new building types.

“The work of SLB-funded programs like WoodWorks and the AWC has been instrumental in securing code pathways for mass timber. That progress has pushed market adoption to the point where our industry is finally gaining real critical mass. Pulling back on our investment in the SLB now would slow that momentum and limit our ability to help shape the future of construction.”

-Nick Milestone, COO, Mercer Mass Timber; Board of Directors, WoodWorks

“The work by the SLB, WoodWorks, and Think Wood to turn architects, engineers, and developers into wood advocates has been critical for the lumber industry and for mass timber. With the support of these programs, the lumber industry is converting large multifamily and nonresidential projects that would never have used wood before. Mass timber buildings, and hybrid mass timber construction with light-frame or steel, are a phenomenal solution—and we need the help of the SLB and its programs to continue growing this important market for softwood lumber.”

-Derek Ratchford, CEO, SmartLam; Board of Directors Alternate, SLB

How AWC Standards Shape Codes, Safety, and Wood’s Competitive Position

The AWC is currently updating two of its building design standards: the Special Design Provisions for Wind & Seismic (SDPWS) and the Permanent Wood Foundation Design Specification (PWF). These updates help support access to safe construction resources, and the key changes support additional national and international standards that affect lumber’s competitive position. 

Led by AWC staff and the AWC’s Wood Design Standards Committee (WDSC), the multi-year development process for the 2027 editions of both standards remains on schedule for inclusion in the International Code Council’s 2027 I-Codes, which form the foundation of building regulations across the U.S. The AWC’s design standards are used by architects and engineers nationwide, and performance-driven updates to the standards—along with their inclusion in the I-Codes—are important protectors of lumber’s market access. 

The ongoing updates to the SDPWS are an example of how updates can advance both safety and market access. Several key changes and additions to the standard are informing similar proposals for the National Earthquake and Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) Provisions and ASCE 7. Both NEHRP and ASCE 7 are leading resources for seismic and wind requirements for wood construction, and the AWC’s technical expertise supports performance-based approaches to their updates. The research and revisions to SDPWS directly address mass timber and wood-frame construction on concrete podiums, strengthening the industry’s competitiveness in projects located in regions with elevated resilience considerations.

The SDPWS and PWF join the AWC’s three other design standards—the National Design Specification, Wood Frame Construction Manual for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, and Fire Design Specification—as leading resources for wood construction. The AWC’s commitment to strong, performance-based standards ensures architects and engineers have access to current, reliable guidance while helping to mitigate potential risks and safely expand wood use across building types.

Think Wood Accelerates Adoption of Lumber-Based Building Systems

Think Wood’s storytelling is accelerating engagement—and conversion—among commercial and multifamily design and construction professionals. By the end of 2025, the share of highly engaged professionals in Think Wood’s audience increased to 51%, up from 45% in 2024, indicating that new users are reaching deeper engagement levels faster than in prior years. This acceleration matters because 72% of highly engaged users report being more likely to use wood systems after engaging with Think Wood content.

Think Wood’s Q4 content continued to highlight sectors with high potential for incremental lumber demand, emphasizing building types where wood systems can be replicated at scale. For example, education buildings represent a segment with an annual incremental lumber opportunity of 203 MM BF. Think Wood’s case study of the Anthony Timberlands Center at the University of Arkansas highlighted the work of Grafton Architects—recipients of the Pritzker Prize (often described as the Nobel of architecture—demonstrating how the building itself functions as a teaching tool for mass timber design and construction). Grafton Architects worked closely with architect of record Modus Studio, a winner of the SLB’s 2023 Mass Timber Competition, underscoring how SLB support enables firms like Modus to contribute to more wood buildings.

Together, this content and engagement strategy supports the SLB’s “From Niche to Mainstream” plan by highlighting building types most likely to move lumber-based building systems into standard practice, accelerating users into higher engagement tiers where repeatable wood solutions drive project-level consideration and specification.

From Forest to Studio: Building Mass Timber Literacy at Carnegie Mellon

Last fall, the SLB sponsored Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) School of Architecture’s first-ever mass timber-focused advanced design studio, extending real-world material literacy into the classrooms where the future architectural workforce is formed.

Led by Professor Juney Lee, the studio challenged students to move beyond conventional column-and-beam systems and reimagine mass timber structural logics for mid-rise buildings. Rather than treating wood as a prescriptive “kit of parts,” students explored how structure itself can generate architectural form—positioning mass timber as a serious, performance-driven alternative to steel and concrete in complex urban contexts.

A defining element of the studio was an immersive field trip to Alabama and Georgia, connecting design inquiry to the full material supply chain. Students visited a working forest, Rex Lumber’s production facility, SmartLam’s CLT manufacturing operations, and mass timber fabrication shops before touring completed mass timber buildings in Atlanta. Seeing these processes firsthand reshaped how students understood the material. As CMU architecture student Tina Han reflected, “This shifted my view of timber from a purely natural material to one that is highly engineered and optimized for performance.” Exposure to precision manufacturing, digital optimization, and quality control grounded students’ studio work in the realities of contemporary mass timber construction.

Integrating wood more deeply into design studios matters because these experiences shape near-term workforce readiness. Students leave with a grounded understanding of how mass timber moves from forest to factory to frame—and how design decisions affect material use, manufacturing efficiency, and constructability. By supporting a rigorous, experiential studio at a top-tier institution like CMU, the SLB is extending its education investments directly into student learning, shaping future design professionals, and advancing the longer-term goal of reinforcing mass timber as a credible, scalable building system rather than a novelty.

Five Years In, the WoodWorks Innovation Network Drives Engagement and Growth

In 2025, the WoodWorks Innovation Network (WIN) marked five years as a resource for design and construction professionals to experience and explore innovative light-frame and mass timber projects. As it evolves, WIN remains focused on connecting design professionals, manufacturers, and suppliers while highlighting real-world projects that encourage wider use of wood in construction.

Usage growth continues to accelerate. WIN website page views increased 75% in 2025 compared with 2024, and 146 companies have joined as members to showcase their skills with innovative light-frame and mass timber construction. 

WoodWorks continues to improve the platform’s functionality, including improvements to company profile pages that better support partners with large project portfolios. WoodWorks integrates WIN into its project support and education efforts, sharing relevant local light-frame and mass timber project examples with firms seeking to build confidence with their clients. Think Wood also features WIN projects in its newsletter, extending the network’s reach to a broader professional audience. WoodWorks Technical Directors use WIN in association partnership meetings and education planning sessions to demonstrate the technical support WoodWorks provides—reinforcing wood as a viable, well-supported structural material choice.

WoodWorks Helps Architects Choose Mass Timber Over Steel for Wellness Center

Each month, the SLB features a wood project made possible through its funded programs. This month’s project highlights how WoodWorks helped an architect specify mass timber in place of steel for a healthcare building—a segment with 196 MM BF of annual incremental lumber demand potential.

When architecture firm SmithGroup was designing the 74,000-square-foot San Mateo County (California) Wellness Center, the client was open to mass timber but requested a backup steel design in case cost or constructability proved prohibitive. SmithGroup initially adjusted the structural grid to 30x30 to accommodate standard steel dimensions, a change that risked increasing the cost of a mass timber solution. SmithGroup consulted WoodWorks, and the Regional Director recommended optimizing the grid for CLT, providing technical guidance drawn from a WoodWorks webinar. SmithGroup ultimately proposed three grid options—mass timber, steel, and a hybrid approach.

Throughout design development, WoodWorks provided ongoing technical input on topics including diaphragm design, notches and penetrations in CLT, concrete topping slabs, and fire-tested connection details. The mass timber design was approved, and the project will move forward with CLT floors and a glulam post-and-beam frame, projected to use 23 bf/sq. ft. and open in early 2027. General contractor XL Construction recently provided a project update, writing: “The mass timber structure not only defines the building’s warm, natural aesthetic, it also significantly reduces embodied carbon compared to traditional concrete and steel, supporting a more sustainable approach to construction.”

Healthcare facilities are not traditionally associated with wood construction, making this project a clear example of how mass timber—when supported by early, project-specific technical expertise—can displace steel in nonresidential markets and expand lumber demand into new building segments.

“Working with the team at WoodWorks was an outstanding experience,” said Marcela Cortes, Associate at SmithGroup. “Not only were they incredibly responsive, but they also took the time to genuinely educate our team at SmithGroup on the specifics of mass timber construction. Their deep expertise is clear, and they are extremely resourceful, providing project recommendations based on their comprehensive industry experience. We highly recommend their services for expert guidance and support.”