Monthly Update: September 2018

Architect Magazine, Aug. 27

Automating the laborious and often-maligned process may save time and resources, but code consultants and officials may still have the upper hand over technology. At the same time, building officials are increasingly under pressure to speed up their code-compliance review process to keep up with increasingly tight construction schedules. However, many building departments are short staffed because of shrinking municipal budgets.

But what if, instead of manually reviewing drawing sets, an architect or building official could press a button and generate a code-compliance report automatically? That is the goal of several software start-ups that are leveraging the increasing amount of building data available through BIM software to automate and streamline the code-review process. Read more about San Francisco–based UpCodes and how it is approaching the plan-review challenge.

A new five-story office project currently under construction will become the first building in Austin, Texas, to incorporate CLT. Developed by Endeavor Real Estate Group and designed by Delineate Studio, the 901 East Sixth project features hybrid steel/timber construction and will use CLT in walls, floors, ceilings, and more. Endeavor selected CLT for both its aesthetic and structural qualities, but it is capitalizing on the desirability of wood to attract tenants and in particular millennials.

According to Endeavor’s press release: “Every generation wants to connect with the spaces they interact with, and Millennials are no different; to live and work in authentic spaces that feel undeniably their own, with a mix of old and new character. The use of Cross Laminated Timber offers a sense of warmth and authenticity of an older building mixed with state-of-the-art design and new technologies.”

FORMAINE – Forest Opportunity Roadmap/Maine – Maine’s forest industry has announced a plan to diversify the state’s wood products businesses, attract capital investments and develop greater economic prosperity for communities impacted by recent mill closures, and has announced an action plan to grow Maine’s forest economy from the current $8.5 billion (annual) to $12 billion by 2015. A roadmap outlines how the industry will achieve the 40% growth by building on traditional strengths as well as developing innovative bioproducts such as textiles, biofuels, and wood-based plastics – many of which can be made from the residuals of other wood manufacturing processes.

LBM Executive, Sept. 4

Today, modular holds less than 2% market share in U.S. residential construction overall. By comparison, estimates are that more than 30% of multifamily projects and roughly 20% of single-family homes are panelized.

So, if the LBM channel is about to be disrupted and displaced, odds are, it’ll be panelization that inflicts the damage. According to John McManus of Builder magazine and others, it’ll be done by companies like Menlo Park, Calif.-based Katerra; Ripon, Calif.-based Entekra; or Baltimore-based Blueprint Robotics.

Among the major players, Entekra is the one to watch. It has something no other offsite systems provider has: a track record.

Recent analysis by Seagate Structure Ltd. shows that mass timber, and particularly CLT, is a viable solution for creating better, more affordable housing based on mass timber’s comparative benefits related to cost, time to construct, and environmental performance. Seagate Structures is a well-known light wood and mass timber framing contractor whose projects include the 18-story UBC Brock Commons student residence in Vancouver, British Columbia, which was built using CLT and is the world’s tallest wood building. Seagate Structures is actively exploring mass timber solutions to create opportunities and new demand in the affordable housing market.

As mass timber construction becomes common, more building professionals can document and share their firsthand experiences, lessons learned, and construction best practices with others in the industry to help guide future projects. This is a welcome trend as peer-to-peer learning and knowledge transfers are proven ways to support the uptake of new technologies like mass timber.

For example, practitioners at PCL Construction Services in Colorado recently took the initiative to document and share their learning in an effort to promote more mass timber construction. PCL Construction earned its experience through multiple mass timber projects, including the eight-story Wood Innovation and Design Center office building and The Pavilion at Laurel Village, which was Colorado’s very first mass timber project using CLT panels, located on the Colorado State University campus. Writing in the Colorado Real Estate Journal, PCL Construction Services shared its firsthand learning on issues such as structural grid layout, fire rating of floor assembly, repeatable designs, prefabrication planning, humidity control, and finishing, with a keen eye toward successful planning and balancing costs.

As the mass timber market grows, hopefully so, too, does the generation and sharing of best practices.