Monthly Update: January 2021

Time magazine recently interviewed Toll Brothers CEO Doug Yearley on how the COVID-19 pandemic has both heated up and reshaped the housing market. According to Yearley, Toll Brothers is operating in the hottest market he has ever seen in his 30 years in the industry. Toll Brothers expects that the ability to work remotely will endure beyond the pandemic, which is translating into high demand for home offices and gyms, both in new construction and resale.

Toll Brothers is also watching tremendous growth in housing demand in southern states from east to west, as well as in markets such as Reno, Nevada, and Boise, Idaho, prompted by migrants from the East Coast and California who are attracted by warmer weather and lower costs of living. Despite the urban exodus, Toll Brothers is seeing some recovery for its urban properties, and Yearley expects that cities will be fine long term.

Read Yearley’s interview here.

The 89-room mass timber Hotel Magdalena is now open for business in Austin, Texas. Created by Texas-based Bunkhouse Group hospitality company and Lake|Flato architects, the hotel is the first mass timber hotel constructed in North America. The SLB is exploring the opportunity to host the November 2021 SLB Board Meeting at Hotel Magdalena.

The design team opted for mass timber early in the design process for its environmental sustainability and swift construction times. The team estimates that building with wood shaved three months off of its timeline compared with traditional construction. According to the architect, “We chose this approach because the system is prefabricated and quickly erected, in addition to being a low-embodied carbon and sustainable structural system.”

Read more about the project here.

According to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), single-family builder sentiment fell to 86 in December, down from 90 in November, as concerns about housing affordability grew. Limited single-family home inventories are driving up prices, while several supply-side pressures, including high lumber prices, disrupted supply chains, and skilled labor shortages, will likely combine to spell longer construction times and higher costs in 2021. The potential for higher interest rates may also hinder housing growth.

Read more of NAHB’s analysis here.

The Associated General Contractors of America have published its 2021 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook, in which the organization expects declines in demand to stifle job creation in the sector. According to the association’s CEO, Stephen E. Sandherr, “This is clearly going to be a difficult year for the construction industry. . . . Demand looks likely to continue shrinking, projects are getting delayed or canceled, productivity is declining, and few firms plan to expand their headcount.” Based on the survey results, contractors are most pessimistic about the markets for retail, lodging, and private office construction.

Read more here.

Dezeen architecture and design magazine has published its listing of the top 10 examples of carbon-neutral design from 2020, including zero-carbon and carbon-negative buildings. Mass timber construction is a common thread among the majority of such designs. See Dezeen’s full list and accompanying photos of each project here.

Paradise, by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, in the UK is a six-story CLT office.

Engineering News Record (ENR), a leading trade publication among the engineering community, recently highlighted the growth of mass timber in North America and worldwide. The piece cites WoodWorks in noting that there are currently 534 engineered wood projects in design, and another 445 that are under construction or completed, with supply-chain capacity growing commensurately to meet burgeoning demand. Forest Business Network predicts that the number of new mass timber building projects will double every two years in North America in the near-term.

The growth of mass timber has been propelled by growing consumer demand for increased sustainability; however, famed mass timber architect Andrew Waugh notes that commercial developers are now on board too, as their investors demand greater sustainability.

Read ENR’s piece here.

With support from a USDA Forest Service grant, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has developed the online “Timber Rising: Mass Timber Engagement Program” to help build the knowledge and capacity of those interested in designing and constructing tall mass timber buildings. CTBUH plans to continue research and outreach regarding mass timber construction through a growing number of online resources, including podcasts, videos, and published texts. Read more about its efforts here.

CNN Business recently explored how the coronavirus pandemic will likely result in permanent changes to how workplaces are designed. Many experts predict that workplace flexibility is here to stay, which will likely manifest itself in remote or hybrid workforces, with some workers coming in daily and others on a weekly, quarterly, or even annual basis.

This shift will inevitably prompt companies to re-evaluate their real estate needs and embark on redesigns to support more collaborative spaces.

Read more about the future of the workplace here.

ConstructConnect’s Daily Commercial News recently profiled how a growing number of designers are finding solutions to design challenges related to spans and beam depths by combining mass timber with steel or concrete. These designers are often committed to using mass timber for its sustainability benefits, design aesthetics, and shorter construction times, but by opting for hybrid solutions, they improve their projects’ interior layout flexibility and provide developers with the opportunity to extend building heights and occupancies.

Read more here.