Use of Mass Timber Frames on Upswing in U.S.

While coming late to the game, mass timber frames in the U.S. are on an upswing. Thanks in part to the sustainable material being renewable and recent changes in building codes. According to WoodWorks, a nonprofit technical group that promotes the use of wood in nonresidential and multifamily building, there are 445 engineered wood projects completed or under construction in the U.S. and 534 more in the design process. Forest Business Network is predicting that the number of new mass-timber building in North America will double every two years. In the U.S., in response to greater demand for mass timber, there has been an increase in the number of suppliers, especially of CLT. The first two U.S. CLT plants opened in 2012. Currently, there are eight operating and three more in development. Robert Malczyk, director of mass timber engineering at Katerra, a supplier and fabricator of cross-laminated timber (CLT) said, “North America is in the early stages of a mass-timber construction boom, driven by increasing demand and expanded building code acceptance of larger mass-timber structures. We’ve seen adoption of mass timber across a range of building types, market sectors and [locations] particularly in academic, institutional and multifamily sectors.”