City Accelerators Grow Lumber Demand for the Industry | SLB July Newsletter

Fire service leaders shape how wood construction is understood, accepted, and ultimately used. When equipped with technical information, they become some of the most credible voices for safe wood construction. That’s why the AWC‘s fire service engagement is an important part of its strategy to support market opportunities for wood construction.

In June, the AWC convened its annual Fire Service Advisory Council (FSAC) in Leesburg, Virginia. Fire service leaders from across the country joined AWC engineers and code staff for two days of discussion, a virtual mill tour, and fire testing at the Capital Testing laboratory. FSAC members guide how the AWC directs engagement, develops resources, and prioritizes outreach, so resources and training reflect what departments actually need.

That same commitment drives the AWC’s direct outreach in Florida, where the AWC has been delivering targeted education to fire officials on mass timber construction. As Florida continues evaluating mass timber provisions for its building code, the AWC is providing technical expertise and education to help fire officials understand wood’s performance and applicable code provisions. 

In California, the AWC is actively engaged on wildfire resilience code requirements, highlighting performance-based approaches that keep material choices in the hands of builders and engineers. The AWC also works alongside fire service partners as the program tracks emerging media narratives that raise concerns about material safety, staying ready to ensure accurate, science-backed information is available when questions arise.

When fire officials are informed partners, markets stay open. The decisions being made now on mass timber, WUI regulations, and more have real market consequences, and the AWC’s relationships with fire services and marshals across the United States is critical to safeguarding and growing markets for wood products.

While mid-rise light-frame and mass timber buildings up to eight stories represent the primary opportunity for incremental lumber demand growth, tall timber buildings of 9 stories or higher serve as highly visible showcases of wood construction’s potential. And even modest market share for wood in this segment represents significant opportunity: In the 9+ story multifamily segment, for example, 15% market share would add 224 MM BF of annual lumber demand.

WoodWorks is supporting more than 200 tall wood projects in design and, over the past year, a tall wood project has broken ground each quarter. These recent examples demonstrate how WoodWorks is repeatedly converting projects that otherwise would have been concrete or steel, helping tall wood projects play a role in the return to market growth:

• Converting a Concrete-Focused Architect to Tall Wood: Targeted outreach to a Washington, D.C., architect known for concrete high-rises led to support on a Type IV-B, 12-over-3 project. WoodWorks is providing expertise and connections to position mass timber as a viable tall building alternative.
• Advancing Tall Wood Through State Policy in Virginia: WoodWorks guidance to the Virginia Department of Forestry supported early adoption of the 2024 IBC tall wood provisions, enabling mass timber housing up to 12 stories and reducing reliance on costlier concrete construction.
• Preserving Tall Wood Opportunities in Multi-Building Development: By addressing contractor concerns, WoodWorks helped a Massachusetts developer keep mass timber in a project with four buildings up to 13 stories, preventing a fallback to conventional materials.
• Converting Nashville Developer to Wood: Through sustained, proactive engagement with a developer, WoodWorks turned exploration to understanding and implementation as the developer transitions a previously envisioned seven-story concrete tower into an innovative wood solution.

Think Wood’s recent partnership with the USDA Forest Service produced new content exploring the relationship between sustainable forestry and mass timber construction. Two Think Wood case studies produced through the partnership—featuring an aerospace manufacturing facility and the National Museum of Forest Service History—showcase not only the sustainability of lumber and mass timber, but also how developing new markets for wood products improves sustainable forestry, wildfire prevention, and general forest health. The stories drive confidence in lumber’s sustainable attributes among Think Wood’s audience of architects, developers, and engineers, increasing the likelihood of specification of lumber-based structural systems.

The content partnership is just one recent example of how the SLB and the Forest Service have collaborated to deliver results for the softwood lumber industry. Since the two organizations first formalized their collaboration through a 2015 memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was expanded in 2021, the SLB and the Forest Service have jointly invested in programs and competitions that expand markets for softwood lumber and position lumber as a sustainable building solution.

Through city-based accelerators, national design competitions, and initiatives within WoodWorks and Think Wood, the SLB and the Forest Service are equipping design teams, developers, contractors, installers, and communities with the resources to build sustainably while supporting resilient forests and rural economies. These achievements underscore the power of public-private collaboration to deliver results that no single organization could achieve alone.

Faculty development creates a multiplier effect for the SLB’s education investment. Every professor trained creates years or even decades of future wood design expertise to pass along to students, increasing specification of lumber. 

To achieve that multiplier effect and expand the pool of engineers who understand wood systems, the SLB supported a Timber Engineering Faculty Development Workshop at Clemson University in June. The 2.5-day program brought together 30 engineering faculty from universities across the country for focused training on wood design education, light-frame systems, mass timber, codes and standards, and strategies for integrating timber content into existing civil engineering courses.

The workshop was designed to give faculty tools they could use immediately. Sessions led by academic and industry experts provided technical instruction, teaching resources, and examples that participants could adapt for their own classrooms. The program also connected wood design to the broader supply chain and construction process, including visits to Clemson’s Experimental Forest and mass timber buildings, along with a tour of Timberlab’s fabrication facility in Greenville, South Carolina.

That exposure is important. Faculty who have not worked directly with wood systems often need more than technical references; they need confidence, project context, and a clearer understanding of how wood products move from forest to fabrication to finished building. The workshop also included an industry panel with representatives from Timberlab; Britt, Peters and Associates; and MiTek, helping faculty better understand the skills employers need from future engineers.

“As a practicing structural engineer preparing to teach a wood design course, this workshop was incredibly valuable,” said a participant from San Francisco State University. “I came away with practical teaching resources, a better understanding of timber engineering, and ideas I can bring directly into the classroom.”