News in offsite construction

The town of Ashland Maine recently joined a new initiative that has as its goal to begin investing in a more environmentally sustainable wood building product. Original Mass Timber Maine is a three-year market development program with the goal of opening at least one facility to manufacture original mass timber, also known as structural round timber (SRT), within the next two years.

According to people familiar with the matter, Katerra, the six-year-old startup construction company, told its employees in a video call on Tuesday (6-1-21) that it plans to shut down. The executive on the video said the effects of COVID-19, as well as rising costs of labor and construction materials contributed to the company’s latest cash crunch.

A recent Think Tank entitled “Working with Timber – New Possibilities for Design, Construction and Sustainability” brought experts from the design and timber industry together to discuss and celebrate this remarkable transformation.

U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden (both from Oregon) have announced that over $1.6 million in federal funds that will support mass wood products production and affordable housing construction are on their way to Oregon through a program Merkley spearheaded back in 2018.

Structurlam Mass Timber Corp. has announced that they are on schedule for a June 1, 2021 opening of one of the world’s largest laminated-timber production facilities in Conway, Arkansas. The Conway facility will be the largest mass-timber producer in North America and joins the manufacturing plant that Structurlam has been operating in British Columbia for about 60 years.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsak, announced on Friday (5-7-21), that the USDA is awarding more than $15 million to fund grant proposals to develop and expand the use of wood products, strengthen emerging wood energy markets, and protect community forests.

A problem as complicated as climate change requires revolutionary innovation to solve it — a principle embodied by Seattle-based McKinstry, a full-service design-build-operate-and-maintain (DBOM) firm specializing in consulting, construction, energy and facility services. This pioneering approach to design thinking was a driving force behind the firm’s development of the Catalyst Building in Spokane, Washington, the new zero energy and carbon home for several Eastern Washington University departments and McKinstry offices, which is on track to become one of the largest International Living Future Institute (ILFI)-certified Zero Energy (ZE) buildings in the world.

Canada’s usage of mass timber in construction is continuing to accelerate. That is leading some Canadians to question whether the supply can keep up with the ever-growing demand. Tim Buhler, technical manager for the Canadian Wood Council, Wood WORKS! Ontario is confident that it can.

Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, is about to become the home of a new 400,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that will produce cross-laminated timber (CLT) house kits for residential construction use in Canada. The house kit also includes all interior workings of the house.

Element5, Ontario’s only cross-laminated timber (CLT) manufacturer announced on Friday (4-16-21) that its new factory in St. Thomas, Ontario, has received Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) Chain of Custody certification from SCS Global Services.