Region Archives: US East

A tenant at the Ascent has been criminally charged with attempted arson, accused of trying to intentionally start a fire inside his apartment at the tallest mass timber structure in the world. Enrique Torres was charged Tuesday by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. …first responders discovered a pot filled with aerosol cans and bottles inside of Torres’ oven on Sunday.  …An employee with New Land Enterprises, the owners of the building, said Torres was in the lobby area of the building loudly singing the word “burn” repeatedly. …Modern-day wooden structures, such as the Ascent, are far less of fire hazard compared to wooden structures of the 19th century, but the Ascent was originally prevented from building due to fire safety concerns and U.S. building codes, however developers received an exemption.

Cécile Faraud, for clean construction at C40 Cities said misconceptions about sustainable building materials are hindering the practice from becoming mainstream. “As kids, most of us read ‘[The] Three Little Pigs,’ and what does it say? Straw and timber will get you eaten by a wolf, and you need bricks to protect you from danger,” Faraud said. …Faraud and her team assert that sustainable building materials like timber are quite capable of standing up to the elements — whether it’s the “I’ll huff and I’ll puff” of the Big Bad Wolf or the high-speed winds of a Massachusetts nor’easter. …Sara Kudra says, …lobbyists for fossil fuel and concrete companies also have contributed to the public perception that sustainable materials are weaker. …Timber is a relatively inexpensive building material that holds up well over time and is plentiful in New England, according to Michael Fiorillo, at Boston Architectural College.

BALTIMORE — Under Armour’s (UA) 280,000-square-foot global headquarters rising in Baltimore stands out for its form – a sports stadium-like face – but also for its mass timber structure, an unusual material choice on a high-profile project in the city. Set in Baltimore Peninsula at the heart of UA’s 50-acre global campus, the new HQ is primarily being constructed of cross-laminated timber on a concrete foundation. The structure is being laid out in a 30-by-30-foot grid, allowing the design team, led by architectural firm Gensler, to standardize beam depths and column sizes for ease of construction and cost efficiency, says JJ Rivers. …The building aims to achieve LEED v4 Platinum certification, the WELL Building Standard and meet net-zero energy criteria. “This building is like being a kid in a candy shop for architects,” says Rivers. “We talk about these sustainability systems all the time but very infrequently do they all get employed.

DALLAS, Texas — As the use of mass-timber construction gains momentum in the multifamily development business, it’s still taking baby steps in the U.S. industrial market. Last October, Affinius Capital and Seefried Industrial Properties attracted plenty of attention when they completed a 161,000-square-foot wood-paneled warehouse outside Dallas, one of the first of its kind in the country. Affinius plans a similar project in Northern California. Outside Toronto, Prologis is building a 250,000-square-foot (23,200 sq m) wood-framed warehouse with walls made of a concrete substitute, a pilot design it could roll out in other markets. Affinius and Prologis are pioneers in a warehouse construction industry that’s a voracious consumer of concrete, a problem for developers and tenants concerned about climate change. …But industrial developers in the United States have been slow to embrace mass-timber construction, says Melissa Kroskey, technical director at WoodWorks.

Urban wood could help save the environment and small businesses at the same time. Jason Tervol, the owner of Tervol’s Wood Products in Hillsdale County, Michigan says getting lumber from urban sources is a growing alternative in Michigan and nationwide. Urban wood can mean wood from city trees, but the definition is broader, said Paul Hickman, the CEO of Urban Ashes, an Ann Arbor consultant who helps municipalities recycle wood. “Urban wood can be defined as any wood that was not harvested for its timber value and was diverted from or removed from the waste stream and developed or redeveloped into a product,” Hickman said. That includes wood from demolished buildings, fresh-cut urban trees and salvaged lumber, Hickman said.

The Portland Museum of Art had the opportunity to participate in the International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Oregon. …The PMA Blueprint — our sustainable campus expansion and unification project in collaboration with LEVER Architecture — is the bellwether this emerging industry has been waiting for. Mass timber is an exciting, new, and sustainable technology. One of the key benefits is its ability to sequester carbon. …Maine almost had a CLT plant in 2018, but lost the bid to a site in the south that is now a profitable economic driver in Alabama. In our preplanning for our building, we’re discovering a shared desire and drive for a CLT plant in Maine by our policymakers at all levels, the University of Maine, Indigenous leaders, landowners, forestry advocates, businesses, and more. …The time is now to incentivize mass timber as a go-to building material to maximize long-lasting and positive outcomes for our economies and environment. 

Environmentalist and engineer T.J. Fiala, the owner of Structural Biocomposites, has been chosen as one of 10 recipients in NY State to receive a $50,000 grant through the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund created by FuzeHub. The funding will help Fiala bring ‘Hemp Lumber,’ a tree-free alternative to traditional forest service products, to market. An acre of hemp produces four times as much biomass as an acre of trees. “I think that this product is going to be world class. I think it’s going to really have the opportunity to transform the entire construction industry. And so all of your nonvisual items such as floor joists and trusses for the roof, they can all be made of industrial hemp lumber. And so we can save our forests for the natural beauty of wood,” said Fiala. …Over the next year, he’ll flush out the material characteristics for the product and coordinate with factories to get production rolling.

West Virginia yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera—also known as the tulip tree) lumber can serve as an affordable, sustainable alternative to traditional building materials like softwood, steel and concrete, according to West Virginia University professor Joseph McNeel. The professor and director of the WVU Appalachian Hardwood Center at the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design has been testing the effectiveness of yellow poplar, an abundant West Virginia species, as a source of engineered wood building material. Yellow poplar grows straight, has small limbs and processes easily, making it well suited for construction. These large, thick panels are known as cross-laminated timbers. CLTs come from lower grade material. They’re used for long spans in walls, floors and roofs and do well as load-bearing elements. The panels are typically manufactured using softwoods – spruce, fir and pine – but not with hardwoods. Research suggests that certain Appalachian hardwoods, like yellow poplar, work well in structural applications.

What may be considered lower grade West Virginia hardwood lumber can serve as an affordable, sustainable alternative to traditional building materials like softwood, steel and concrete, according to West Virginia University professor Joseph McNeel. The professor and director of the WVU Appalachian Hardwood Center at the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design has been testing the effectiveness of yellow poplar, an abundant West Virginia species, as a source of engineered wood building material. While traditional lumber comes as a single piece, it’s possible to create a sturdy, durable product by gluing and pressing multiple pieces together in layers. …The next step will be to get yellow poplar accepted as a permittable raw material by the American Panel Association. At that point, CLT manufacturing companies will be able to use yellow poplar CLTs in commercial construction.

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Construction sites are popping up across the Charlotte area, and if you look closely you will notice something similar about most of them. New apartment complexes in our region are primarily wooden structures, much like the construction site in SouthPark that caught fire two weeks ago, killing two workers. …Following the massive blaze in SouthPark, people in the fire industry are pushing for changes at the state level. …The Chief State Fire Marshal for North Carolina said… “What we know is that all buildings under construction have a higher risk of fire”. Wooden structures add to the risk because they’re more flammable. …Taylor said the Fire Code Revision Committee will look at adopting a fire code from the National Fire Protection Association known as 241. …The safeguard list recommendations for tall wood construction sites.

Additional coverage in Firehouse Magazine: Tougher Codes Eyed Following Deadly NC Construction Site Blaze