US Army Moving Forward With Green Military Installations Using Mass Timber

The US Army is looking to build greener, safer, and more resilient military installations, starting with a $100 million, 89,000-square-foot, three-story facility that broke ground last week, Wood Central reported (8-16-24).

Additionally, the world’s fourth-largest military base will also build its next generation of barracks out of mass timber, with the US Army pledging to start construction on a Mass Timber Barracks at Joint Base Lewis–McChord in Tacoma, Washington, next year.

In a statement, Paul Farnan, the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy, and environment, said, “Through better and more innovative building techniques, the Corps of Engineers has designed a cost-competitive barracks that will provide the highest quality of life for our soldiers while reducing emissions and the impact on the environment.”

Major General Matthew McFarlane, deputy commander of I Corps added that “Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) is committed to providing modern and high-quality living spaces for all of our enlisted personnel.”

The materials used to construct the barracks at JBLM aim to reduce embodied carbon—emissions from manufacturing, transportation, and installation of building materials—by at least 30%: “We are proving that we can build better; we can save money, increase our resilience, lower our emissions, and still deliver the highest levels of quality for our soldiers,” said Farnan.

Construction on the barracks is slated to be completed by 2027, with the pilot’s insights influencing future military projects, including the upcoming JBLM Mass Timber Barracks project—one of two mass timber projects in design, with a third being built at Fort Liberty.

The JBLM Mass Timber Barracks is a precursor for a new policy requiring “a mass timber structural option to be considered at the design phase in all of its vertical construction projects going forward.” Announced in November, it is part of a push by the US Department of Defense to decarbonize, with the US Army Corps of Engineers focused on the engineer regiment, military construction, and civil works.

According to Wood Central, this means that the US Army will become the first military organization to embrace mass timber in both on-site installations and civilian housing projects.