Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Wood, Paper & Green Building

Comparing Construction Costs: Concrete vs Wood

By Mike Lillyman
Green Building Canada
January 9, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

It would be easy to quote the price per square foot for concrete home construction vis-à-vis the price per square foot for the same size wooden house. But direct comparisons like that fail to capture the complexity and nuance of these choices. That is because the building and maintenance costs are woven together with the sustainability, durability and longevity of the materials involved in the construction process. …In this article, we will explore these respective approaches, with special attention to cost, sustainability, maintenance, durability and time to build. The U.S. Department of Housing calculates that for the construction of a 2,500-square-foot house, the price difference between concrete and wood would be around $7,000. …At first glance, timber frame construction should easily be the most sustainable. After all, we are dealing with a natural, renewable product. However, there are several parts to the comparative puzzle.

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How to Build More Homes Quicker

By Ehsan Noroozinejad and T.Y. Yang
The Tyee
January 2, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada

In 2024, the Canadian government released a new housing plan aimed at building more homes and addressing housing unaffordability. As part of that plan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that $600 million in funding will be provided to build homes cheaper and quicker using “innovative technologies.” The funding is earmarked for building more housing, including prefab and modular homes, by automating processes and using materials like mass timber construction, robotics and 3D printing… Building materials like mass timber, including cross-laminated timber, offer a renewable low-carbon substitute for conventional materials, reducing a building’s carbon footprint. These modern methods have been successful internationally, producing quality construction that is quickly completedHowever, systematic obstacles like governmental inertia and mismatched incentives must also be tackled to unlock their full potential in Canada.

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Upskill Employees in Industrial Wood Processing & Sawmilling

By Linh Tran
British Columbia Institute of Technology
January 6, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Are you looking to enhance your skills in the lumber and sawmill sector? Onboarding new employees that would benefit from formal education in the field? Are you seeking to provide your employees with essential business skills for professional development? BCIT is currently offering two Associate Certificates to help you: Industrial Wood Processing (IWP) and Business of Sawmilling (BOS). Both programs were developed with industry subject matter experts and informed by industry leaders to support upskilling and professional development for individuals in the lumber and sawmill sector. Each program is 1-year, delivered online and part-time to allow students to balance work and studies. The participants are new or existing employees in the North American lumber sector and are sponsored by their employers.

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B.C. researchers aim to make the perfect T-shirt — from lumber

By Stefan Labbe
Business in Vancouver
January 9, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

A B.C. researcher looking to make the perfect T-shirt has turned to a material so ubiquitous it’s been both a major source of the province’s wealth and the bane of its international trade agreements: softwood lumber. Stephanie Phillips, a researcher at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Wilson School of Design, has been working with colleagues at the University of British Columbia to create a high-quality T-shirt that surpasses all others. Why a T-shirt? “It’s really easy to look at. It’s really easy for people to understand. It’s what I call an archetypical product,” Phillips said.  The research is the latest B.C.-based effort to try to make the fashion industry more sustainable… “Canada hasn’t really been a big contributor to the textile industry, and it would be lovely to make our mark”.

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‘Tinder of construction’ aims to keep B.C. building waste out of landfills

By Dirk Meissner
The Canadian Press in CTV News
December 30, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Recently, more than 150 development industry leaders, including those in contracting, manufacturing, demolition, deconstruction and waste management, gathered in Nanaimo and Victoria to nail down partnerships to keep waste materials in circulation and out of the dump. The launch in November of the Building Material Exchange, abbreviated to BMEx, aims at getting the word out to the construction and development community that their project leftovers have value, said Gil Yaron. …The unique in-Canada program is free to join, he said. In early 2025, the project will launch an online BMEx Marketplace, which will become a business-to-business platform for the construction industry to list and exchange excess or salvaged construction materials, said Yaron. …Recycling construction materials rather than sending them to landfills saves money, while participating in the program can elevate and showcase the business as a supporter of environmental and sustainable practices, he said.

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Fire-torn Jasper entering new year with hope and anxiety

By Jack Farrell
The Canadian Press in the Edmonton Journal
December 27, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

JASPER — About 5,000 residents and 20,000 visitors were safely evacuated before the fire breached the western edge of town and destroyed 350 homes and businesses, including 820 housing units. The Insurance Bureau of Canada pegged the damage at $880 million. Six months after the fire, debris is still being cleared — lot by lot. Locals including Kim Stark are quick to say things could have been worse. But anxiety over temporary living situations and what may be a long and slow rebuild process has many residents and municipal leaders feeling unsettled heading into 2025. For Sabrina Charlebois and David Leoni, the top concern is the Alberta government’s $112-million modular housing project. It’s to put up 250 pre-built rental units in the town and rent them to those displaced by the fire. Their anxiety is heightened when they consider the unpredictable nature of the town’s tourism economy and how it could complicate the pace of rebuilding.

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North America’s first all mass timber acute care hospital breaks ground

By Novid Parsi
Building Design+Construction
January 6, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

What’s expected to be the first all mass timber acute care hospital in North America has broken ground. The 97,000-sf Quinte Health Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital will be located in Picton, Ontario, Canada, with completion anticipated for 2027. Designed by HDR and constructed by M. Sullivan & Son, the mass timber structure integrates sustainable building practices with advanced medical technology. According to HDR, unencapsulated mass timber sequesters carbon better than any other structural material. “It’s about balancing environmental and social sustainability in the sense that mass timber in healthcare is at once about human comfort and environmental stewardship,” Jason-Emery Groen, design principal at HDR, said in a statement. To optimize energy use and reduce the carbon footprint, the design incorporates natural light, energy-efficient windows, and sustainable materials throughout, including the structure. …In line with biophilic principles, the design offers access to nature throughout the facility. 

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Toronto breaks ground on affordable housing project at 35 Bellevue Ave.

By Robin MacLennan
Ontario Construction News
January 6, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

The City of Toronto has launched construction on a new affordable and supportive housing development at 35 Bellevue Ave. The project, operated by the Kensington Market Community Land Trust (KMCLT) and St. Clare’s Multifaith Housing Society, will add 78 new homes for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness. …The building will be constructed using mass timber technology, designed to meet or exceed the city’s energy efficiency standards under the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy and the Toronto Green Standard. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. …In addition to affordable rent, tenants will have access to wrap-around services to enhance their housing stability, health and well-being.

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Ontario now allows developers to build 18 storey towers made of wood

By Becky Robertson
Real Estate Toronto
January 4, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

An update to the Ontario Building Code that just came into effect with the dawn of 2025 should mean quieter, more eco-friendly and, perhaps more importantly, faster construction of new homes across the province in the years to come. Introduced by Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra in the spring, the amendment pertains to mass timber buildings, which were previously subject to significant height restrictions, initially to up to six storeys until 2022, then to 12 storeys. As of January 1, developers can now design encapsulated mass timber developments of up to 18 storeys, which the Province says will “help the sector build more homes faster, keep the cost of construction down and boost our northern economy,” among other benefits. …Other changes to the Building Code Act as of January 1 will also help “streamline Ontario’s Building Code and reduce barriers between provinces by increasing harmonization between Ontario’s Building Code and the National Construction Codes,” the province says.

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Wood Solutions Conference Ottawa 2025

Canadian Wood Council
January 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

Join us as we showcase innovations and ideas in wood products, design, and construction. Don’t miss your chance to attend the 2025 Ottawa Wood Solutions Conference for just $99 +HST when you register by January 9, 2025. This specialized design and construction conference is dedicated to showcasing innovative advancements and applications for wood products and building systems in design and construction. Leading-edge experts from near and far will inform and inspire you at the 2025 Ottawa Wood Solutions Conference. Join us on February 5, 2025, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for a full day of inspiration, learning, and networking. Spaces are limited—secure your spot today!

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A Year in Review: 10 Top Stories from the Softwood Lumber Board

Softwood Lumber Board
January 15, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

As we close the 2024 chapter, we wanted to share a recap of the top stories from the SLB last year. As we continue to work towards our mission to make softwood lumber the building material of choice in the United States, we reflect on the impact the SLB and its funded programs made last year. 

    1. 2025 Mass Timber Competition: Building Sustainable Schools
    2. SLB’s Mass Timber Accelerator Programs Expand Demand for Wood Construction
    3. SLB Study Reveals Importance of WUI Code Work in Defending Market Share
    4. WoodWorks Supports Taller Light-Frame Wood Projects
    5. Building the Future: Architecture Students Embrace Wood at Build Fest 2024
    6. The SLB Identifies Opportunity for Steel-Timber Hybrid Construction
    7. AWC Releases Regional EPDs to Meet Market Demand for Sustainability Data
    8. Think Wood’s Single-Family Home LookBook Offers Inspiration
    9. From Forest to Classroom: SLB Faculty Workshops Drive Wood Education
    10. The SLB Sponsors Former Super Bowl Champion-Turned-Designer

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Recent Innovations in Sustainable Practices in the Pulp and Paper Industry

ResourceWise Forest Products Blog
January 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, International

In today’s rapidly evolving world, the pulp and paper industry is at the forefront of sustainability efforts, playing a crucial role in the transition towards a circular economy. …Below, we’ve highlighted the latest developments announced over the past month, showcasing significant strides made by companies and organizations in their commitment to sustainable practices and eco-friendly solutions:

  • Toy Manufacturer Lego Starts Using Paper-Based Bags
  • Minnestoa Discusses Ways to Implement Recyclable Packaging by 2032
  • Amazon Moves to Recyclable Delivery Packaging in Australia
  • Stora Enso Develops Sustainable Packaging for Wilfa’s ProBaker Product
  • Climate-Focused Frontier Coalition to Buy US$80 Million of Carbon Credits
  • Smurfit Westrock Provides Recyclable Packaging to Mindful Chef
  • Dobis Brings Out Lightweight Shopping Bags with Mondi’s Recycled Papers
  • 39% of People Are Inclined to Recycle Paper and Cardboard Products – PAMSA
  • Termotécnica Brings out DaColheita Bio Packaging to Export Fruits

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‘Some homes weren’t designed with fire in mind’: Is timber to blame for LA wildfires?

By Michael Koziol
The Sydney Morning Herald
January 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, International

Architect Greg Chasen posted a solitary home still standing in the ruins of the burnt-out Pacific Palisades. “Some of the design choices we made here helped,” he wrote. “But we were also very lucky.” Many Australians seeing images of the devastating blazes in Los Angeles might wonder whether these homes are being built in a way that makes them especially susceptible to fire. The answer is complex. …the US is heavily reliant on timber framing for residential construction …at least 90 per cent of new single-family homes are timber. …in Australia, about 80 per cent of detached homes use timber. Timber is popular in earthquake-plagued California because of its flexibility. Most LA houses are timber-framed with an exterior made of stucco – a fire-resistant, cement and sand-based render and one of the most common building materials in the US. …it’s ultimately the location of these properties … that make them susceptible to fire.

Additional coverage in The Australian Financial Review, by Kriston Capps: Why did these homes survive the LA fires?

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2025 Mass Timber Competition closes on Monday!

The Softwood Lumber Board
January 8, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

This year’s 2025 Mass Timber Competition: Building Sustainable Schools competition will award funds totaling $1.8 million to support projects that accelerate the pace of mass timber adoption in the United States, specifically in the K-12 learning environment. Eligible projects must be located within the United States and be a K-12 educational project including, but not limited to, classrooms, libraries, athletic facilities, offices, resource centers, portable classrooms, daycare facilities, and vocational centers. …If you would like to submit a project, start by downloading the Request for Proposals (RFP) document which contains all the information needed for a qualifying entry. The entry process requires the completion of the online form linked below before the deadline on Monday, January 13, 2025 at 11:59pm ET.

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Why developers are turning to modular for sustainability and resilience

By Chris Anderson, CEO of Vantem
Housing Wire
January 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

In response to drastic economic changes and environmental concerns, industries are quickly realizing the benefits of investing in sustainable practices that can positively impact their business operations. Modular construction provides housing developers with the opportunity to engage in sustainable building practices while dialing back on traditional cost increases – making it the ideal solution for industry leaders who are looking for greater resiliency in the face of unpredictable material and labor costs, evolving regulatory requirements, and the destructive impacts of increasing extreme weather. …Beyond physical resiliency, adopting modular construction methods allows real estate developers to build green without the green premium. This dials back the impact of traditional housing costs — including rising construction prices, interest rates, and the implications of fluctuating building policies — all while delivering a more energy-efficient and climate resilient product.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary unveiled a new program to support American wood processing facilities

By Tom Vilsack
The US Department of Agriculture
December 23, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today unveiled a new program to support American wood processing facilities. USDA Rural Development is partnering with USDA Forest Service to provide funding through the new Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program (TPEP). The program will support the processing and utilization of wood products from National Forest System lands to improve forest health and reduce the risk posed by wildfires, insects, and disease and the detrimental impacts they have on communities and critical infrastructure. …Through TPEP, USDA Rural Development and the Forest Service will make $220 million available in loan guarantees for borrowers to establish, reopen, retrofit, expand, or improve wood processing facilities, sawmills and paper mills, that use trees harvested from federal or Tribal lands. The program is designed to manage up to 20 million acres of national forests managed by USDA Forest Service and complement the Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy.

Additional coverage in Woodworking Network by Larry Adams: Biden-Harris program allocates $220M in loan guarantees for wood processors

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Special Report: Mass Timber On The Rise

By Brynn Shaffer
The Los Angeles Business Journal
January 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

LOS ANGELES — Amid rising surface temperatures and an ongoing climate crisis, scientists and architects alike are working hard to think of creative ways to reduce carbon emissions when it comes to the building sector – which is responsible for roughly 37% of total greenhouse emissions, according to the World Economic Forum. This in part has manifested a rise of mass timber projects across the globe. …“We’re looking for solutions to reduce our carbon impact and timber, wood, is the lowest embodied carbon product,” James Donaldson, a partner at Elysian Park-based architecture firm Johnson Fain, said. “And if you can reduce the embodied carbon of a building, you’re forever locking down its carbon footprint.” …Chinatown welcomed one of the first and largest hybrid CLT buildings in Los Angeles, 843 N. Spring St., when developer Redcar Properties Ltd. unveiled the five-story property in August. 

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Housing solutions: The mass timber promise

By Kelley Christensen
University of Oregon, Office of the VP for Research and Innovation
January 9, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

It’s a familiar story: For years, housing costs have soared while demand rapidly outpaced new construction. Adding to the crisis are a stuttering supply chain, outdated building codes, and too few forestry professionals. In such a landscape, the American Dream of owning a home begins to seem but a fantasy. But this isn’t where the story ends; rather, it’s the beginning of a new one. A collaborative effort between universities, private industry, and state agencies combines new research, innovative manufacturing and construction, forest stewardship, and sustainable design into a force that’s greater than the sum of its parts… After a hollowing out over the past 50 years, the forestry industry has continued to face two critical challenges: the high cost of forest restoration and a shrinking, aging forestry workforce.

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Why Does California Keep Building With Wood Despite Its Wildfire Risk?

By Sofia Delpueche
Secret Los Angeles
January 17, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

The massive fire that began in Pacific Palisades on January 7 has kept the city on edge ever since, with multiple other outbreaks flaring up around L.A. in the following days. While many have been contained or extinguished, the devastation left in the fire’s wake is astonishing, with homes reduced to ashes. In light of this reality, one question remains: why is wood the primary choice for construction in an area so prone to wildfires? The U.S. is rich in forests making wood a readily available material. [Wood is] more affordable, with lower prices than other materials like steel or concrete. …The tradition of building with wood in the United States dates back to the arrival of European settlers… Wood allows for faster construction, making it an attractive choice for building homes. …However, the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires may serve as a wake-up call, prompting a shift to fireproof materials like concrete.

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Google Pioneers Mass Timber in new California Tech Campus

By Marcus Law
Technology Magazine
January 6, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Google’s Sunnyvale facility promises 96% carbon reduction compared to traditional construction methods, marking shift in Silicon Valley architecture. Google has entered its third decade of environmental initiatives as the technology company pursues its target to eliminate carbon emissions from its global operations by 2030. …”We’re in our third decade of climate action and our programme and our plans are always evolving,” Adam Elman, Head of Sustainability EMEA at Google said. “We’re aiming for net zero by 2030 that’s supported by our goal to move to what we call 24/7 carbon-free energy.” …The latest demonstration of Google’s environmental strategy has emerged in Sunnyvale, California, where the company has unveiled its first mass timber office building. The facility represents a departure from Silicon Valley’s conventional glass and steel structures, and demonstrates the company’s evolving approach to sustainable construction. …Google sourced all structural timber from Forest Stewardship Council certified forests.

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Designed to improve quality of life for ALS patients, modular, eco-friendly homes also show what the future of homebuilding could look like

By EJ Iannelli
The Inlander
January 6, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

…Theresa Whitlock-Wild, whose husband Matt Wild was diagnosed with ALS about 10 years ago realized that one of their top needs was a safe, affordable environment that improved the quality of life for those afflicted with this degenerative disease. With the aim of advocating for and supporting people with ALS, they established the Matt’s Place Foundation. …”We learned something from [building Matt’s Place as a traditional stick-built house],” she says. “So we started the process of building Matt’s Place 2.0 in 2019 in Spokane, using CLT. The idea was to make it scalable and shippable anywhere around the country.” …Nevertheless, Matt’s Place 2.0 is only a milestone on a much longer road. Matt’s Place Foundation and its partners are already working on iteration 3.0, which will apply the same advanced materials and modular concepts to a multi-family building. The prototype unit will be a direct neighbor to the 2.0 house in Spokane.

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One Night in the Self-Proclaimed “First U.S. Carbon-Positive Hotel”

By Emma Dries
Dwell
January 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

My first reaction upon being invited to Denver’s Populus, which claims to be the country’s first “carbon-positive” hotel, was, admittedly, one of skepticism. After all, the transport, construction, and hospitality industries are among the most damaging to the environment, and the 265-room hotel, designed by award-winning firm Studio Gang and developed by Urban Villages, covers all those bases. …Another immediately confusing design choice was the building material: concrete, one of most carbon-intensive materials on the planet. …The concrete used for Populus is the proprietary ECOPact low-carbon mix by Holcim, which claims to have 30 percent lower carbon emissions compared to standard concrete. But why use concrete at all—particularly when mass timber, for example, is more sustainable, and often more durable? …But the existing building code did not allow timber for a 13-floor structure and the city was ultimately not comfortable issuing a variance.

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Polyhaus’s Tiny Mass-Timber Home Offers a Possible Solution to a Very Big Housing Problem

By Russell Fortmeyer
Architectural Record
January 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

San Diego — Unlike many of the prefabricated accessory dwelling units (ADUs) flooding the California market, the Polyhaus does not fit on a flatbed truck fully assembled. The polyhedron-shaped house was conceived by Daniel López-Pérez as a solution for expediently producing quality housing at scale in the smallest footprint possible, rather than as a rectangular box for ease of shipping. With his wife and Polyhaus LLC cofounder, Celine Vargas, López-Pérez built the first two-story, 540-square-foot proof-of-concept in 2024 in San Diego. López-Pérez, who is professor and architecture-program director at the University of San Diego, developed the Polyhaus system by starting with a simple cube and then repeatedly truncating the edges until he optimized the form for the largest volume and smallest footprint. The 440-square-foot ground floor includes a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and nook for a desk and washer/dryer, with the bedroom on the 100-square-foot mezzanine.

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Lever Architecture grafts hybrid mass-timber structure onto LA parking garage

By Ellen Eberhardt
Dezeen Magazine
January 2, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

Los Angeles, California — US architecture studio Lever Architecture has renovated a former 1980s warehouse in Los Angeles, placing a new cross-laminated timber and steel office building atop its parking garage foundation. At 145,000 square feet 843 N Spring Street is located near Dodger Stadium in Chinatown and contains offices as well as retail space. “Technically a renovation, the project takes a windowless, 1980s-era retail warehouse with a parking garage underneath and grafts a new structure on top of it, creating one of the first and largest hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings in Los Angeles,” said Lever Architecture. The building consists of two, four-storey wings placed on top of the garage. The wings flank an interior courtyard, atrium and walking path through its centre, with landscape design by Field Operations. …The building’s facade is clad almost entirely in glass, while its structure consists of 3- and 5-ply CLT panels and concrete slabs.

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Are mass timber buildings going higher?

By Brent Sohngen, Ohio State University
The Associated Press in DJC Oregon
December 27, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

A material that’s been around since people built shelters – wood – is increasingly being proposed for low- and mid-rise buildings. …One way that researchers assess the environmental footprint of a product or service is called a life-cycle analysis, which calculates the cradle-to-grave impact. One life-cycle analysis found that using mass timber in a 12-story building in Oregon had an 18% lower global warming impact compared with constructing the building with steel-reinforced concrete. The carbon emissions benefits are even greater when comparing timber with steel. …Tree cutting is one of the most widespread disturbances in forests, yet, after accounting for all harvesting, fires, land use change and other disturbances, forests in the United States still remove a net 754 million tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere, an amount equivalent to 13.5 percent of U.S. emissions. …To examine whether wood is sustainably sourced it is instructive to consider the economics of forest management.

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University of Maine’s new forest bioproducts program critical to $22 million ‘Tech Hub’ investment

UMaine Newsroom
January 16, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Following the recent announcement by Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s Congressional delegation that Maine’s Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub will receive an additional $22 million to position Maine as a global leader in forest-based biomaterial production and manufacturing, the University of Maine is advancing plans to launch its Forest Bioproducts Technology Maturation Program, a critical component of the Tech Hub. The Forest Bioproducts Tech Hub’s goal is to accelerate research and development of natural polymers and other wood fiber bioproducts that can sequester carbon and replace plastics and toxic chemicals, while bolstering “Made in America” supply chain goals… The program will demonstrate new technologies and manufacturing processes at commercial scale, unlocking the potential for forest biomaterials to reach new high-value markets such as plastics and fuels replacements, textiles, building materials, biomedical applications and packaging.

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University of Kansas Plans Mass Timber Building for School of Architecture & Design

Tradeline
January 15, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

The University of Kansas is planning to begin construction in summer of 2026 on the Makers’ KUbe in the heart of its Lawrence campus. The School of Architecture & Design will occupy the $120 million facility and collaborated on its design with Bjarke Ingels Group, BNIM, and StructureCraft. Showcasing timber tectonics, traditional joinery, and sustainable materials, the 50,000-sf facility will act as a living curriculum with exposed structural and MEP systems. An iconic central staircase will connect six levels of studio and lab spaces illuminated by natural light. Encased in a stripped-back glass façade, the mass timber building will utilize tight-fit dowels and notched glulam to create an all-wood structure with columns that run diagonally, eliminating the need for steel plates or fasteners. Enclosed bridges to the adjacent Marvin Hall and Chalmers Hall will foster interaction and promote ease of circulation in the winter months.

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Maine Delegation Announces $22 Million Headed to State for Recycled Forest Product Manufacturing

WAGM TV Maine
January 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, and U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, today are announcing the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration’s decision to award $22 million in funding for Maine’s Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub, led by the Maine Technology Institute. The grant will support the advancement of two projects that aim to further position Maine as a global leader in forest-based biomaterial production and manufacturing that include: Connecting forest bioproducts technological innovations with the commercialization resources and partnerships; and Strengthening a pipeline of innovations to accelerate the most promising innovations.

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How bamboo could help lock in carbon and slow climate change

Yale Climate Connections
January 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Bamboo is a tall, fast-growing plant that can be used to make everything from flooring and furniture to fabric and cutting boards. And some scientists say bamboo could also help reduce climate change. As bamboo grows, it quickly absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Using bamboo to manufacture products like floors or furniture, locks carbon in the products for a long time rather than returning to the atmosphere. …Project Drawdown, a climate research group, has suggested that bamboo could be grown on hundreds of millions of acres of degraded forestland around the world to help slow the pace of climate change. Some types of bamboo spread aggressively …but other bamboo species are less likely to become invasive, and many parts of the world have native bamboo species they could plant. So this versatile plant could help reduce global warming.

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Sweden is Building the World’s Largest City Made Entirely From Timber

By Maddy Savage
Time Magazine
January 18, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A yellow crane hovers above a building site in Sickla, a former industrial neighbourhood that’s home to one of Stockholm’s biggest real estate projects. But instead of delivering concrete, it’s manoeuvring giant chunks of wood to construction staff working in sub-zero winter temperatures. This is the beginning of what Swedish property developer Atrium Ljungberg describes as “the largest mass timber project in the world.” On the outskirts of Sweden’s capital, construction of ‘Stockholm Wood City’ began in October and is set to provide 2,000 new homes by 2027. The company’s core goal is to improve the sustainability of construction projects. Building with wood instead of concrete and steel would… help offset half of Europe’s construction industry emissions. …Atrium Ljungberg also hopes the wooden buildings themselves will boost locals’ wellbeing. There is already a small but growing body of academic research linking wooden materials with lower stress levels.

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Architects are bringing nature home by making trees part of the plan

By Kim Cook
Coast Reporter
January 15, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

By now, you may be familiar with biophilic design — it’s the idea of integrating nature into design to enhance our connection to the environment. Sustainability, wellness and harmony are usually part of the deal. Some architects and home designers are using one particular biophilic element to striking effect: trees. We’ve already seen public spaces around the globe incorporate trees in remarkable and beautiful ways. The Ford Foundation in New York boasts a 12-story-high atrium filled with magnolias, eucalyptus, jacaranda, cryptomeria, iron bark and pear trees. The Winter Garden atrium in lower Manhattan’s Brookfield Place is home to 16 40-foot-tall Washingtonia palm trees. Singapore’s Jewel Changi airport features 2,500 trees — natives to Madagascar, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia — in a 6-acre indoor forest with walking trails. If you’re flight’s delayed, lucky you.

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Building green: how engineered wood is transforming sustainable architecture

Lombard Odier
January 13, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

At the dawn of the Neolithic Revolution, humanity discovered the power of building with wood, marking the shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to permanent settlements. This fundamental advancement, alongside the rise of agriculture, laid the foundation for the civilisation we know today. For over 10,000 years, timber was the primary building material, until the Industrial Revolution introduced concrete and steel, which combined the strength and durability of stone with the workability of wood. …Advances in EWPs are revolutionising modern construction, enabling the creation of timber skyscrapers through industrial prefabrication techniques. …The rise of carbon taxes may further drive EWP adoption by making high-emission materials like concrete and steel more costly. …While EWPs may facilitate the storage of carbon in buildings, it is forests that play a pivotal role in removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. EWP demand must align with a sustainable wood supply that preserves our forests’ ability to sequester carbon.

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Waugh Thistleton Architects’ Murray Grove was the most significant building of 2009

By Tom Ravenscroft
Dezeen Magazine
January 15, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

We continue our 21st-Century Architecture: 25 Years 25 Buildings series with a look at Waugh Thistleton Architects’ Murray Grove, “the original timber tower”. On an unassuming street in the east London borough of Hackney is a relatively small housing block that looks entirely unremarkable. But this building – the world’s first plyscraper – kickstarted a timber revolution. A blockbuster year for architecture, 2009 saw numerous landmark projects opening around the globe. …However, the much more low-key Murray Grove would have the greatest impact on architecture in the following years. Described by east London studio Waugh Thistleton Architects as “the original timber tower”, it was the first high-rise housing project in the world to be constructed almost entirely from engineered timber. “The exemplar project has spearheaded the introduction of CLT [cross-laminated timber] in the UK, and pioneered a wider international movement in its use,” said Waugh Thistleton Architects co-founder Andrew Waugh.

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Local Architecture Network “deliberately exposes” mass-timber structure of Paris apartment block

By Jon Astbury
Dezeen Magazine
January 13, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Chunky columns wrap the exterior of Wood Up, an apartment block in Paris by French studio Local Architecture Network (LAN) with a glued-laminated and cross-laminated timber structure. Created for developers Semapa and REI Habitat, the 14-storey building in the city’s 13th arrondissement provides 132 timber-framed apartments raised on a concrete base containing commercial units. Paris-based LAN created the fifty-metre-tall block with timber sourced entirely from France and transported via the river Seine. It is left exposed both externally and internally. “Wood Up is one of the first buildings in France to surpass the typical height limits for timber constructions,” said the studio. “…the wooden structure is deliberately exposed. It is entirely encapsulated in glass to make it visible. Usually matte, the wood becomes reflective thanks to its protective layer.” The glued-laminated timber and cross-laminated timber structure is formed of Douglas fir on the exterior and beech and spruce on the interior…

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Smurfit Westrock’s paper pallet wrap set to drive down supply chain emissions

By Smurfit Westrock
January 9, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Smurfit Westrock’s innovative new paper pallet wrap is helping companies to make their supply chains significantly more sustainable. Smurfit Westrock has produced a 100% paper-based alternative to the polyethylene stretch wrap which is commonly used to stabilise pallet loads in transportation. The global stretch wrap market was valued at USD 4.27 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow significantly. The innovative new solution is made from Nertop® Stretch Kraft paper which is fully recyclable. Its capabilities also include high energy absorption and strong performance in humid conditions. …Encirc, a leading glass supplier which manufactures over three billion containers annually, was the first company in the UK to use the new paper wrap. …The Better Planet Packaging paper pallet wrap is manufactured in Smurfit Westrock’s Nervión paper mill in Spain.

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Is Paris’s Wood Up a template for future timber housing projects?

By John Jervis
The RIBA Journal
January 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

As well as providing Parisians with housing, LAN Architecture’s 16-storey tower has also served as an experimental research project for the development of timber as a building material, with each of its elements requiring laboratory testing from scratch. Is timber a functional proposition for housing in Europe’s densest city? …With their proposal for a 16-storey tower on the banks of the Seine, competition winners LAN Architecture and REI Habitat undertook to achieve the necessary density. …Wood Up is a hybrid structure, with a three-storey concrete base tackling the complexity of the site’s 7m drop to the Seine and creating new connections between river and neigbourhood. …The glulam timber structure above is braced by the concrete of circulation areas, while floors are fabricated with a wood-concrete composite. But the principal material is beech. Wood Up is the first building constructed from France’s most plentiful timber, transported to the site by barge from Normandy.

 

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Renewable packaging innovation accelerates amid growing planetary health concerns

By Natalie Schwertheim
Packaging Insights
January 3, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

We explore the latest advancements in renewable packaging, guided by insights from industry experts at Stora Enso, Borealis and BASF. From alternatives to fossil-based materials to biopolymer developments, we examine how companies are shaping a more sustainable future for packaging. Seven out of ten European consumers prefer renewable materials over fossil-based plastic in packaging, according to Stora Enso. The packaging materials supplier finds that younger consumers, in particular, generally prefer paper bag applications. …This year, BASF expanded its biopolymers portfolio by introducing biomass-balanced (BMB) ecoflex, a polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) that is frequently used in the compounding of biopolymers. …“Our ecoflex BMB, an industry-first on the global biopolymers market, advances the sustainability efforts in the packaging industry by reducing the use of fossil resources, decreasing GHG emissions and driving the use of renewable feedstock derived from organic waste and residual biomass.”

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Production and properties of particleboard and paper from waste poppy straw

By Kateřina Hájková et al.
Nature – International Journal of Science
January 2, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

This research concerned the possible use of waste poppy straw as an alternative source for producing lignocellulosic materials. The suitability of the materials for paper products and particleboard was determined based on the selected properties measured. While poppy-based particleboards need further optimization to match wood fibres, they show comparable properties to agricultural residues. Future research should focus on improving resin types and pressing conditions to enhance performance. From the point of view of paper products, poppy pulp produced by the pulping process has better properties than nitrate-alkaline pulp. …Therefore, both applications of waste poppy appear to be alternative raw materials in the future, especially in the case of wood scarcity, which can ensure the continuity of production and composite materials in an economically advantageous and more environmentally friendly way. Using poppy straw has environmental benefits such as reducing deforestation and the carbon footprint…

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Top Fire-Resistant and Durable Materials for Modern Safety

By Jenna AL-Saggat
ArchUp, a space for Arabic architectural content
December 27, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Fire-resistant and durable materials play a critical role in ensuring safety and longevity in modern construction, manufacturing, and design. These materials are engineered to withstand extreme conditions, including high temperatures, mechanical stress, and environmental exposure. By effectively resisting fire, they can prevent structural failures and significantly reduce the risk of property damage or personal injury. Advancements in technology have enabled innovative material development, combining strength with enhanced thermal insulation. Common examples range from treated wood composites to high-performance alloys. …Fire-resistant materials, such as concrete, gypsum, and fire-rated glass, provide critical protection in high-risk environments by mitigating fire spread. Durable options like reinforced steel and engineered wood combine strength with resilience to withstand prolonged exposure to harsh conditions. Innovative solutions, like intumescent coatings and advanced composites, offer additional layers of safety while optimizing performance. 

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True or false: Wood as a construction material is good for health?

UPM Biofore
December 20, 2024
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Answer: Yes, at least for well-being. Wood has many qualities that are impossible to replicate. There are many academically approved studies highlighting the positive impact of forests and trees on humans. Recently, there has also been high-quality research on the benefits of using wood as a construction material. Wood is a restorative material that supports well-being. A Slovakian study found that wooden materials with brownish colours are ideal for relaxation. Another study highlighted that the use of wooden materials positively impacts the human nervous system due to their appealing aesthetics. Seeing or smelling wood in a building boosts positive feelings and reduces negative perceptions of the environment. And this – a positive feeling about the environment – is not a minor thing, says Riina Muilu-Mäkelä, Research Manager and Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

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