Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Wood, Paper & Green Building

Amid tariff dustup, RONA pivots to Canadian-made goods.

The HBS Dealer
March 10, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

Hard-nosed tariffs imposed on Canadian goods may have been postponed until April 2, but RONA, one of Canada’s largest hardware and home improvement retailers, is making a play for more locally sourced products. The company says it will be highlighting over 6,500 Canadian-made products and will “make a concerted effort” to promote these items in RONA+ and RONA stores. The company, which has over 425 corporate and affiliate stores across Canada, says it’s responding to a growing demand from consumers and contractors who want to prioritize local products. “We’ve always had a strong selection of Canadian-made products. In fact, less than 10 percent of our supply comes directly from the United States. The challenge was primarily about making these products more visible.

Read More

Canada Wood Group’s Market News and Insights March 2025

Canada Wood Group
March 10, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

These are the headlines you’ll find in this month’s newsletter:

  • Video Interview: Expanding Canadian Wood Markets & Trade Diversification 
  • Shenzhen International Equestrian Center Sets New Benchmark for Timber Construction in China
  • Nail Plate Trusses: Expanding SPF Use in Post & Beam Buildings 
  • Showcasing Canadian Wood Innovation at Japan’s Premier Construction Exhibition 
  • Professional interest in wood construction is growing in China
  • New Durability Evaluation System to Boost Wooden Offices & Commercial Buildings in Japan
  • 2024 Japan Housing Starts Report

Read More

Canada’s counter tariffs bring procurement complications

The REMI Network
March 5, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, United States

Procurement complications have arisen throughout Canada as businesses grapple with a long list of products from the US now to be subject to a 25% import tax. For the buildings sector, that brings supply chain challenges and added costs for construction, property/facilities management and operations with new surcharges attached to a broad range of structural materials, equipment and furnishings from the US. …The first round of Canada’s retaliatory tariffs are now in force. A subsequent roster of designated products, estimated at roughly $125 billion, has been posted for advance consultation. The new expanded list of Canadian countermeasures proposes tariffs on: key metals such as steel, iron, aluminum, copper, nickel, tin, titanium and zinc; stone such as granite, marble, travertine and sandstone; cement and concrete; gypsum and plasters; glass, ceramics and brick; rubber; plastics; and minerals and chemical formulations.

Read More

How Canada’s planning, design and construction industries can adapt to the Trump tariffs

By Lloyd Alter, Architect
Carbon Upfront!
March 5, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

Planning, design and construction must adapt to this new world of tariffs and trade barriers. Canada has already imposed its own tariffs on products made in the US… but it is not just about materials and products; we must change what we build and where we build it. Some ideas for a Patriotic Canadian Built Environment: 1) More Mass Timber. Nordic, Element 5, Structurecraft and others have made major investments in mass timber, much of which is exported south. If the industry is to survive, we need a massive pivot to mass timber construction in Canada. …2) Make Canadian Wood Fibre Insulation. TimberHP in Maine has shown how a pulp and paper-based timber economy can pivot to insulation. …3) Electrify everything. Canada is an electricity powerhouse. Make every building Passivhaus to reduce demand and increase resilience. …4) Restructure from north-south to east-west. …5) More renovation and retrofit. …6) Design for a Sufficiency Economy. …7) Ban Sprawl.

 

Read More

US Investigation on lumber may include paper products, furniture and cabinetry

JDSupra
March 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, United States

The full scope of the new investigation is not yet certain. The Executive Order defines the term “timber” to refer to wood that has not been processed and defines the term “lumber” as wood that has been processed, including wood that has been milled and cut into boards or planks. The Executive Order provides three examples of derivative products (paper products, furniture, and cabinetry), but does not provide a complete list and additional derivative products are likely to covered by the investigation. …A report outlining the following: (1) its findings as to whether imports of timber, lumber, and their derivative products threaten national security; (2) recommendations on actions to mitigate such threats, including potential tariffs, export controls, or incentives to increase domestic production; and (3) policy recommendations for strengthening the United States timber and lumber supply chain through strategic investments and permitting reforms. 

Read More

Ontario carpenters’ union seeks to draw more women to the skilled trades

By Rich Christianson
The Woodworking Network
February 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

CONCORD, Ontario  The United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) Canadian District launched the Sisters in the Brotherhood Capacity Building Project (SIBCAP) to bolster women’s success in the construction industry. Recognizing that women comprise only 5% of the on-site construction workforce, despite representing roughly 50% of the population, SIBCAP said it aims to address both recruitment and retention challenges. SIBCAP plans to expand the Sisters in the Brotherhood (SIB) network through increased recruitment and community engagement, fostering a stronger voice for cisgender and trans women in the trades. This includes establishing 12 new SIB committees across Canada and bolstering membership in existing ones. The project will also develop a Resource Network, connecting tradeswomen with vital support services and online resources.

Read More

Canadian Wood renews sponsorship with international furniture designers

By Dakota Smith
Woodworking Network
February 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, International

High Point, N.C. After a successful first year, British Columbia wood expert Canadian Wood has renewed its Corporate Partner sponsorship with the International Society of Furniture Designers (ISFD). During the Spring Market, furniture designers are invited to discover the potential of B.C.’s softwoods at the Canadian Wood Showroom & Information Center on the sixth floor of the historic Radio Building on the corner of Commerce and Main. Canadian Wood uses environmentally friendly forest products from British Columbia. They are a preferred resource for furniture designers and manufacturers seeking information and support for using sustainable wood products from B.C. forests. Canadian Wood will share with ISFD members the benefits of using beautiful, resilient, and versatile Western Hemlock and Douglas-Fir in their work. These woods are popular because of their natural beauty, durability, and strong environmental reputation. They are affordable alternatives over traditional hardwood species and are ideal for traditional and contemporary home furnishings.

Read More

Energy efficiency meets novel technologies in emerging housing trends

By Kathy Kerr
Special to the Globe and Mail
March 10, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Chris Hill

Innovative residential construction practices such as off-site factory building and on-site 3D printing are making inroads in Canada’s massive home-building sector. While they represent a small percentage of overall builds, which are still dominated by traditional stick-framework, these sustainability-focused techniques can add speed and labour-force efficiencies. Vancouver-based off-site construction management firm B Collective specializes in wood-frame panelization, a process that uses factory-built flat panels, which are assembled into houses on location, says company president Chris Hill. Panelization allows the use of a variety of materials, including dense-pack cellulose, a recycled paper fibre that is naturally carbon-storing, Mr. Hill says. Building walls off-site also improves quality control to ensure greater airtightness and waste reduction, he adds… Speedy construction pairs with structural longevity in 3D-printing construction, another innovation that is relatively new to Canadian residential job sites. Nidus 3D, based in the Kingston area, has been using 3D printing to construct residential buildings for three-and-a-half years.

Read More

Vienna House: Affordable and sustainable multi-family housing

naturally:wood
March 6, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vienna House explores and showcases mass timber as a solution to help alleviate the current shortage of affordable multi-family housing. This seven-storey, hybrid residential building will have 123 units ranging from studios to four bedrooms, accommodating a demographically diverse range of residents including low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities. …As a Mass Timber Demonstration Program project, the design team is sharing their learnings about mass timber hybrid prefabricated construction best practices, focusing on not-for-profit housing owners/operators, and the consultants and builders who work with them. Vienna House is a partnership between BC Housing, the City of Vancouver through its Vancouver Affordable Housing Endowment Fund, and the More Than a Roof Housing Society.

Read More

Canada Invests in Sustainable Wood Construction in Ontario, Creating 319 New Residential Units

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
March 6, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

TORONTO — The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources announced a federal contribution of more than $5.9 million for four green construction and technology projects across Ontario, which will support the use of low-carbon and processed wood in the Canadian construction sector. This funding is helping to protect Canadian industry and to build more housing for Canadians. The funding includes: More than $900,000 to Assembly Corp. for the development of an innovative design and seismic system for a 62-unit, all-wood building in Toronto; $1 million to Sean Mason Homes to deploy an innovative, hybrid, mass timber and steel system for the five-storey, 38-unit Rainwater Condominium project; $1 million to Post Office Limited Partnership to deploy an innovative, wood-based and sustainable building solution to reconstruct and add nine storeys to a two-storey heritage post office in Oshawa; and more than $3 million to Timmerman Timberworks to develop, study and certify next-generation mass timber building products.

Read More

Introducing DowelLam, a division of StructureCraft dedicated to the delivery of Dowel Laminated Timber

By Gerald Epp Jr.,
StructureCraft
February 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

In 2017, we brought this all-wood mass timber panel to the North American market with the world’s largest automated DLT manufacturing line.  Since then, StructureCraft has delivered over 150 projects with DLT across nearly every typology… Now, StructureCraft has made the strategic decision to separate DLT manufacturing services into a separate brand, DowelLam. This differentiation will give clients – including developers, contractors, architects, and structural engineers – a direct line of service for DLT sales, technical support, and design assistance. …the two brands will maintain their services: As StructureCraft – structural consulting engineering and construction using all structural materials, including steel, concrete, glass, and timber; and As DowelLam – design-assist, engineering, manufacturing, and supply of DLT products. All DLT product inquiries will be addressed through DowelLam, allowing us to serve clients in a more focused way throughout the design, manufacturing and delivery phases. DowelLam has also launched its new website. Learn more here: www.dowellam.com

Read More

City of Vancouver staff oppose single-staircase residential buildings due to safety risks

By Kenneth Chan
The Daily Hive
February 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

The Government of British Columbia recently approved and enacted changes to the BC Building Code to enable just a single staircase for new small multi-unit residential buildings. However, in response to Vancouver City Council’s approved directive requesting City staff to consider similar changes to the separate Vancouver Building Code, City staff are strongly opposing such a flexible allowance, primarily due to safety concerns. This negative recommendation to City Council takes into account critical feedback previously provided by fire rescue departments in BC during the provincial government’s consultation on its proposed changes. The provincial government’s new regulations enable residential buildings up to six storeys — designed for no more than 24 residents per floor — to have just one egress staircase. Previously, such buildings with three or more storeys required at least two egress staircases.

Read More

Yukoner makes chairs from fire-killed wood, as association pushes for easier access to deadwood

By Julien Greene
CBC News
February 18, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

From Ulrich Trachsel’s driveway, just west of Whitehorse, you can see the deep orange slash of the Takhini burn — a visible scar from a past wildfire. Stands of trees that even from a distance look like toothpicks fringe the spine of a hill. Trachsel uses trees like these to make furniture. “I just see all this wood around and I want to use it,” he said. “I just started to really appreciate dead standing wood and how convenient it is — and also how pretty it is.” Most lumber sold in the Yukon is trucked up from places like Alberta and British Columbia… Right now, the majority of wood commercially harvested in the Yukon is sold as firewood… Peter Wright, executive director of the Yukon Wood Products Association, said he wants to see more local timber used not just as a heat source.

Read More

Forest Enhancement Society funding earmarks BioNorth Energy

Vanderhoof Omineca Express
February 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

BioNorth Energy biomass power generation plant will be accessing more fibre thanks to funding from the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC). Uneconomic residual fibre is being delivered from locations farther from town to BioNorth, a joint venture partnership in Fort St. James between Arrow Group of Companies (Arrow), the Nak’azdli Development Corporation (NDC), the economic development arm of the Nak’azdli First Nation, and low-carbon infrastructure developer, Nexus PMG. The project, which began in the fall of 2023 after an intense wildfire season, will finalize this winter, helping reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere while also generating economic and social benefits for the community… Chris McGourlick, RPF, operations manager with FESBC, said the estimated fibre utilization from this project is equivalent to 4,635 truckloads.

Read More

Natural Resources Canada invests $6 million in Ontario green construction projects

By Robin MacLennan
Ontario Construction News
March 11, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

The federal government has announced $6 million for four green construction and technology initiatives across Ontario, aimed at promoting the use of low-carbon and processed wood materials. The funding includes more than $900,000 for Assembly Corp. to develop a seismic system and design for a 62-unit, all-wood residential building in Toronto. The eight-storey, mixed-use rental building will serve as a model for future projects across several sites, advancing sustainable construction practices that reduce the environmental impact of the industry… “Investing in Canadian timber not only supports forestry jobs but also helps us meet broader goals such as increasing housing supply and lowering emissions,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of natural resources… The funding comes from Natural Resources Canada’s Green Construction through Wood (GCWood) and Investments in Forest Industry Transformation programs.

Read More

Northern Ontario First Nations create DIY housing kits to tackle housing crisis

By Faith Greco
CBC News
March 10, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

In northern Ontario, First Nations communities have watched modular homes arrive, only to deteriorate and be condemned within two decades. Frustrated with temporary solutions, three First Nations in the Chapleau area launched a non-profit initiative in 2019 to build homes using do-it-yourself building kits named One Bowl… These kits include doors, windows, a prefabricated frame, and thermal logs — a material designed specifically for cold climates. The logs consist of white pine on the exterior and interior, with expanded polystyrene insulation in the middle. Those logs are currently made from white pine harvested in Québec, but One Bowl hopes to soon be producing that material in northern Ontario. ‘Living in a full white pine building itself is gorgeous. The smell is amazing, and it’s definitely a shift over conventional construction technology,; said Candace Larsen, a business development manager for One Bowl.

Read More

Eco Guardian Announces Upcoming Sustainable Packaging Manufacturing Facility in Ontario

Cision Newswire
February 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

Eco Guardian, a leading innovator in sustainable packaging solutions is proud to announce the upcoming opening of its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ontario, set to be fully operational in Q4 2025. This strategic expansion enhances Eco Guardian’s ability to produce high-quality, compostable, and recyclable paper cups and bowls in Canada, reducing dependency on foreign imports and reinforcing the ‘Made in Canada’ movement… Eco Guardian’s facility will produce 100% compostable and recyclable paper products, meeting the highest environmental standards. The company is committed to reducing carbon footprints by leveraging sustainable raw materials, cutting-edge manufacturing processes, and responsible sourcing practices.

Read More

Quebec’s Cecobois launches wood building construction campaign

By Harold von Kursk
Sustainable Biz Canada
February 18, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

Quebec-based Cecobois has launched an ambitious campaign to promote wood as a viable, low-carbon material for future construction projects in Quebec. This initiative – entitled Construction bas carbon avec le bois (Low-carbon construction with wood), or CBCB – encourages the province’s architects, engineers and property developers to increase the use of wood in new buildings as part of the effort to decarbonize the built environment. Cecobois, an independent, non-profit agency funded by the Quebec government, Natural Resources Canada and the wood industry, is committed to accelerating mass timber construction and the corresponding use of wood products. …Parallel to the announcement of the CBCB campaign, Cecobois was also awarded $1.2 million in new funding from the Government of Quebec as part of its Policy on the Integration of Wood in Construction. …Second only to B.C. as Canada’s leading softwood lumber producer and endowed with vast forest regions, Quebec is ideally positioned to harness wood as a natural, low-carbon renewable resource.

Read More

One of the United States’ Largest Cross-Laminated Timber Manufacturing Facilities is Underway in Oregon

PR Newswire
March 11, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Timberlab Inc. (Timberlab), a subsidiary of Swinerton Incorporated (Swinerton) and leading national provider of holistic mass timber systems, has teamed up with Swinerton Builders, Lindgren Development, LEVER Architecture and other project partners to design and build a 190,000-square-foot world-class cross-laminated timber (CLT) manufacturing facility. This facility will be one of the largest CLT production sites in the United States… The manufacturing facility will be built with glue-laminated timber (GLT) produced at Timberlab’s other Oregon facilities using locally harvested timber.  Timberlab has sourced top-tier equipment for advanced timber and wood processing. Kallesoe is providing a complete CLT processing line, including an automated feeding system, high-speed cross-cut saws and a top-of-the-line finger-jointing system. The facility and its cutting-edge equipment will revolutionize the timber industry by delivering a superior product.

Read More

Leaders at Ironworkers’ IMPACT Conference Focus on Growth Opportunities

By Pam McFarland
Engineering News-Record
March 10, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Despite a shift in federal government that has left it less friendly to labor unions than the previous administration, the mood at the annual conference of the Ironworkers union and its signatory contractors, held in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 24-26, was upbeat. Major topics included a new mental health and suicide prevention website … and mass timber. …mass timber’s popularity as a sustainable and viable option globally has soared in recent years, due to greater availability of cross-laminated timber (CLT), along with changes to the International Code Council’s standards allowing CLT to be used for taller multistory buildings. Nick Milestone, senior vice president at Mercer Mass Timber, said these factors have contributed to a market expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades. “A great opportunity” for ironworkers, he said. Brandon Brooks, program manager at WoodWorks… said rather than taking away jobs, mass timber projects could provide opportunities. 

Read More

Four Research Teams Rethink Particleboard Construction and Reuse

By the American Chemical Society
News Wise
February 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

For a few hundred dollars, a bedroom can be refreshed with the latest flat-pack offerings. Wood particleboard furniture is affordable and generally easy to assemble, but particleboard is often held together with formaldehyde-based resins that make it hard or impossible to recycle. Now, with the help of science, old pressed-wood furnishings could be repurposed, and new modular decor could incorporate more environmentally friendly materials. Four articles published in ACS journals reveal how.

  1. Adhesive-free particleboard joined by plant fibers. 
  2. Self-bonding bamboo fiberboard.
  3. Thermal insulation made from cardboard. 
  4. Repairing joints with recycled wood.

Read More

Sterling Structural Announces New Mass Timber Workforce Training Tool

GlobeNewswire
February 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Sterling Structural, a leading manufacturer of cost-effective, pre-fabricated mass timber and hybrid structural systems in North America, today announced the availability of a new Mass Timber Mock-up training kit. The kit is designed to help vocational schools, training programs and unions educate and train the construction industry workforce on the emerging use of Mass Timber in a wide range of structures. The kit includes everything needed to construct a mock-up of a small-scale mass timber building. It’s designed to educate and train installers on the fundamentals of mass timber construction. This hands-on learning tool showcases key components of prefabricated CLT and glulam systems, demonstrating best practices for installation, connection detailing, and material handling.

Read More

Cambium Introduces Carbon Smart™ Wood for Mass Timber: The First Cross-Laminated Timber Product Made from Salvaged Wood

WebWire
February 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Cambium, the supply chain technology company revolutionizing the wood industry with sustainable materials and smarter supply and logistics, today announced the launch of Carbon Smart™ Wood for mass timber, the industry’s first cross-laminated timber (CLT) product made from salvaged wood… The launch marks a significant advancement for the mass timber market. The product will enable developers to meet environmental targets efficiently, provide architects with versatile, sustainable materials, and give builders access to high-quality products that accelerate construction timelines. The result is a solution that drives economic growth and local communities’ environmental stewardship.

Related content: 

Read More

Trump administration drops work on stronger building codes for disasters

By Lauren Sommer
NPR News
February 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

For the past 25 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has helped develop building codes, the construction standards that help houses survive hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes. Now, the Trump Administration has ordered that to stop. …FEMA is dropping out of the latest effort to improve building codes. …The recommendations FEMA submitted were filed with the International Code Council, an independent association that develops building codes used by states and local governments. The proposals FEMA is retracting its involvement from focus on helping homes survive strong winds, seismic shaking and rising floodwaters. …The ICC convenes experts and stakeholders in the building industry to review and improve building codes every three years, and is developing a new set of standards now. After they’re approved, many local and state governments across the country adopt the codes, which set the mandatory construction rules in their communities.

Read More

Softwood Lumber Board Update: Industry Leaders Reflect on SLB’s Impact

The Softwood Lumber Board
February 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Throughout the year, we’ll be highlighting industry, SLB program, and partner leaders illustrating how and why the softwood lumber industry is working collectively to ensure we continue to grow market share in the years to come. This month, the SLB’s former Board Chair, Brian Luoma, describes the importance of the SLB’s work to grow market share for lumber in multifamily and nonresidential buildings.

A recent profile of the JJ Carroll Redevelopment from MASS Design Group puts the spotlight on the advantages of light-frame construction in affordable housing, with the architecture firm highlighting its value and speed of construction benefits. Affordable housing represents a significant opportunity to increase demand for light-frame and mass timber construction, with estimates of the housing shortage ranging from 1.5 million units… Wood-focused design competitions continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of architecture and engineering education by inspiring students to explore innovative applications of wood and mass timber.

Read More

Cement industry undergoing ‘unprecedented transformation,’ says World Cement Association CEO

By Grant Cameron
The Daily Commercial News
February 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, International

The cement industry is at a crossroads as decarbonization is expected to take its toll, resulting in a significant decline in demand, according to a paper by the World Cement Association (WCA). “The cement industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation,” explains WCA CEO Ian Riley. “As we move towards a decarbonized future, understanding the true demand for cement is critical to ensuring that policies, technologies and investments align with reality.” The white paper examines disruptive factors such as alternative materials. …The report challenges prevailing forecasts and projects demand for cement and clinker will dip, mainly due to the rise of timber, greater use of admixtures, the move towards decarbonization of the industry as well as design practices that will reduce the concrete used. ..According to the paper, timber has replaced concrete and steel in many highrise buildings but limitations on the supply of timber are expected to curb its growth.

Read More

Portland’s airport hypes sustainable timber, but those lofty claims are more complicated than they seem

By April Ehrlich
Oregon Public Broadcasting
March 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

…“All of the wood in the roof comes from within 300 miles of where we’re standing — sustainably harvested from 11 forestland nonprofit and tribal owners,” Curtis Robinhold, executive director of the Port of Portland, told OPB. “We can tell you where the wood came from and where it was milled.” But the truth is more complex. The terminal designers say it’s not possible to track the exact forests where they got most of their wood, so they only know where just over a quarter of the wood came from. …Part of the challenge …is logs travel through a string of mills and manufacturers that mix them in with other wood products, making it tough to trace what came from where. …In the end, the terminal’s designers don’t know how much of its mixed-credit wood came from sustainably managed, FSC-accredited forests, and how much came from forests following bare minimum forestry standards.

Read More

Mass timber plant breaks ground north of Albany

By Anthony Macuk
KGW8 News
February 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

ALBANY, Oregon — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and several other elected leaders gathered Thursday to mark the groundbreaking of a new mass timber manufacturing facility in Millersburg, north of Albany, described as one of the largest and most advanced plants of its kind in the United States. The 190,000-square-foot facility is a joint venture from Portland-based Timberlab and its parent company, California-based Swinerton, and will itself be constructed from mass timber manufactured at other Timberlab plants in Oregon.

Read More

Oregon Building Codes Division launches innovative housing option for attached, stacked duplexes

By Barney Lerten
KTVZ 21
February 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Building Codes Division has adopted new residential code provisions that will allow the construction of attached stacked two-family dwellings (such as duplexes) under the residential specialty code, the division announced late last week. This innovative code change will allow stacked duplexes to take advantage of existing code provisions for townhouses. It allows for a slightly different configuration that permits the total number of dwelling units to be doubled, while maintaining reasonable safeguards and unit compartmentalization. …Developers and builders will be able to use the residential code to stack two dwelling units vertically, while being attached to other stacked dwelling units horizontally. This will result in denser housing, as well as provide more options for smaller lots and infill. 

Read More

California rules will require more fire resistant homes in Palisades, Altadena

By Jeff Collins
The Pasadena Star-News
February 23, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

LOS ANGELES — A blizzard engulfed Michael Kovac’s house as the Palisades fire approached. …As thousands of residents in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades prepare to rebuild homes demolished in last month’s firestorms, Kovac’s house could serve as an example. Constructing a fire-hardened home is not only within reach for most fire victims, experts say, it’s in the building code. Unless Gov. Newsom suspends fire-safety rules, all new homes in areas designated as very-high fire risks zones or abutting to wilderness must be built to one of the nation’s most stringent set of fire-resistant standards, known as the WUI code. Adopted in 2005 and gradually strengthened over the past 17 years, the wildland-urban interface building code requires new homes to include flame-repellent designs and materials. While studies show fire-hardening improves the odds of a home’s survival, some fire victims are wondering how much extra it will cost.

Read More

Sterling Structural Announces New Mass Timber Workforce Training Tool

By Sterling Structural
Globe Newswire
February 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

PHOENIX, Ill. — Sterling Structural, a leading manufacturer of cost-effective, prefabricated mass timber and hybrid structural systems in North America, today announced the availability of a new Mass Timber Mock-up training kit. The kit is designed to help vocational schools, training programs and unions educate and train the construction industry workforce on the emerging use of Mass Timber in a wide range of structures. The kit includes everything needed to construct a mock-up of a small-scale mass timber building. It’s designed to educate and train installers on the fundamentals of mass timber construction. This hands-on learning tool showcases key components of prefabricated CLT and glulam systems, demonstrating best practices for installation, connection detailing, and material handling.

Read More

Applications open for second cohort of New York City Mass Timber Studio

New York City Economic Development Corporation
February 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

NEW YORK, NY—New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced the launch of applications for the second round of the NYC Mass Timber Studio, a technical assistance program to support active mass timber development projects in New York City. Mass timber is an engineered wood-based building construction material with a low carbon footprint. The NYC Mass Timber Studio helps to facilitate partnerships with government agencies and create navigable regulatory paths for mass timber development while sparking cutting-edge innovation. The second iteration of the NYC Mass Timber Studio will be jointly-operated by NYCEDC and Newlab, a global venture platform headquartered in Brooklyn, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice with technical assistance provided by WoodWorks, and advisory support from the NYC Department of Buildings, Fire Department of the City of New York and the American Institute of Architects New York.

Read More

Tech forestry awarded $300,000 to study new South Campus building

Louisiana Tech University News
March 5, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Louisiana Tech University School of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry professors Nan Nan and Joshua P. Adams received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s Wood Innovations Grant Program. The grant will fund their research into monitoring and investigating the Forest Products Innovation Center, a newly-designed mass timber building on Louisiana Tech’s South Campus. The study aims to provide a case model to guide forest products manufacturers by exploring the potential of sustainable construction materials in Louisiana which can be applied broadly in the southeast and nationally. By examining the use of mass timber, a renewable building material, the project seeks to support innovation in the construction industry and promote the use of wood in future commercial, institutional, and multifamily buildings.

Read More

UK Government commits to increase the use of timber in construction

Builders’ Merchants News
February 28, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

LONDON – Ambitious new plans to increase the use of timber in construction were announced by Environment Minister Mary Creagh at the Timber in Construction Summit in London. The new Timber in Construction (TiC) Roadmap is being introduced to help get Britain building using timber – creating economic growth, rural jobs and helping meet housebuilding targets in a sustainable way. The TiC Roadmap was first published at the end of 2023. This new and improved version goes even further, highlighting the Government’s ambition to boost the domestic timber industry and kickstart the construction sector without compromising on quality, safety or carbon emissions. …Alex Goodfellow, Chair of the Confederation of Timber Industries, and CEO of Donaldson Offsite, represented the timber industry when he said: “The Minister’s support for the Timber in Construction Roadmap shows the Government’s firm commitment to a growth agenda: growth for forestry, for housing, for low-carbon skills and for the economy.

Read More

New report: five buildings which ‘make the case’ for mass timber

Architects’ Journal UK
February 28, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

A new study led by dRMM in collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University and the Quality of Life Foundation has highlighted the low-carbon and wellbeing benefits of five mass timber buildings in the UK. The study demonstrates that mass timber buildings not only significantly reduce carbon emissions but also provide healthier and more comfortable environments for occupants, its authors claim. The research, titled Measuring Mass Timber, found that these structures produce, on average, 50 per cent less embodied and operational carbon than conventional buildings. Additionally, they foster a strong sense of comfort and connection to nature among users. The findings were released as Government plans to increase the use of timber in construction were announced yesterday by Environment Minister Mary Creagh at the Timber in Construction Summit, coinciding with the launch of an updated Timber in Construction Roadmap.

Read More

Sawdust superpower: Wood waste battery retains 60% capacity after 10,000 cycles

By Jijo Malayil
Interesting Engineering
March 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

SPAIN — Researchers at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) have developed a hybrid supercapacitor using carbon derived from Pinus radiata waste. The lithium-ion capacitor features electrodes made from discarded wood particles, offering a sustainable and cost-effective energy storage solution. With abundant biomass resources in the Basque Country in Spain, the team utilized environmentally friendly and inexpensive processes to create high-performance electrodes. Their findings highlight the potential of biomass-based materials in producing efficient, eco-friendly energy storage systems. …The UPV/EHU team developed a cost-effective lithium-ion capacitors using carbon from Pinus radiata waste, an abundant and sustainable resource in Biscay, Spain. They produced high-performance electrodes using carbon sourced from biomass instead of costly chemicals or energy-intensive procedures. …Not all biomass provides suitable carbon for energy storage applications, but results demonstrated the effectiveness of carbon derived from insignis pine.

Read More

Ligna Exhibition to celebrate 50th anniversary

By Stephen Powney
The Timber Trades Journal
February 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

The global woodworking press gathered in Hanover for the media launch of this year’s Ligna exhibition – the world’s largest woodworking technology fair. The official Ligna Press Preview event, held at Hannover Messe on February 20 and attended by TTJ, saw Ligna organiser Deutsche Messe reveal that more than 1,200 exhibitors from all over the world will occupy around 112,000m2 of exhibition space in May, sending a strong signal in a challenging industry situation. The event on May 26-30 will be the 50th anniversary of Ligna. Ligna, which attracts around 100,000 people every two years, showcases technologies from across the woodworking spectrum – from forestry to sawmilling, timber product processing, panel production equipment, furniture machinery and surfacing.

Read More

Trial turns leftover forestry wood into roads for logging trucks: ‘It could be a viable alternative’

New Zealand Herald
February 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

A Hawke’s Bay trial to convert leftover forestry wood into roading material for logging trucks to travel over is showing promising results. Managing woody debris left after harvesting is a common challenge in forestry. …Transporting it out of the forest is costly, while leaving it piled on landings poses environmental risks during severe weather events. With funding from Forest Growers Research (FGR), Pan Pac and FGR have been trialling a promising solution – using it as roading material. …Compared to metal roads, shredded wood roads offer the environmental advantage of repurposing waste wood while reducing traditional roading material transport distances, thereby lowering the carbon footprint. …The results so far indicate that shred wood roads could be a viable alternative to metal roads, where the grade is not too steep in wet conditions.

Read More

Is it time to normalise mass timber in construction?

By Nick Hewson
Architecture Australia
February 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Humans have been building with wood for thousands of years, but the last few decades have seen a renaissance in timber construction with the rise of mass timber. Products like cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (GLT) have exploded in popularity recently with ever larger and more elaborate buildings completed. Australia has been punching above its weight on a global stage with several landmark examples attracting worldwide acclaim… Many projects delivered so far have been relatively “purist” buildings with most components made from mass timber but products are becoming normalised to a point where we can pick the right material for the right job. Timber is an incredibly capable material, but can be limited in some applications, so often a hybrid approach is a better way to get timber into more projects.

Read More

Biobased lignin gels offer sustainable alternative for hair conditioning

Stockholm University
February 21, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Mika Sipponen

Researchers at Stockholm University have developed a fully biobased hair conditioner using lignin gel emulsions, offering a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional haircare products. Hair conditioners typically contain 20–30 ingredients, many derived from petroleum and oleochemicals, raising concerns about sustainability and environmental impact. A new study published in Science Advances, demonstrates that micellar lignin gels can effectively stabilize emulsions with natural oils, reducing the need for synthetic surfactants and complex stabilizers commonly used in commercial formulations. The research team, led by Mika Sipponen at Stockholm University, sought to explore lignin, a common and renewable component in wood biomass, as a multifunctional component for hair conditioning. “By using wood-derived lignin directly without any chemical modification, we not only simplify the ingredient list but also eliminate the need for organic solvents, making the process more eco-friendly,” said Sipponen.

Read More