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.

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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

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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.

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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.

 

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Interdisciplinary collaborations are transforming forestry resources into the next generation of sustainable bioproducts

By the Faculty of Forestry
The University of British Columbia
March 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Single-use plastic shopping bags were banned in BC in 2023, but petrochemical-based products continue to accumulate in landfills and the food chain. Materials made from renewable resources, such as those being investigated at UBC’s BioProducts Institute (BPI), form part of the vision for a circular bioeconomy that closes the loop in the product lifecycle. Bio-based materials are made from compounds found in biological matter, such as wood fibres. …In the lab, biopolymers like  cellulose and lignin can be isolated and fractionated to create products with some of the highest mechanical strength or impact-absorbing properties, including foams comparable to their polystyrene and polyurethane counterparts. Established in 2016 as a UBC Global Research Centre, BPI brings together expertise in the natural sciences, engineering, forestry, economic analysis, policy and social sciences to find solutions to address the challenges of waste and greenhouse gas emissions, both of which are contributing to the climate and environmental emergencies.

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Grand Prairie City council votes to back Alberta’s forest industry

By Curtis Galbraith
Everything Grande Prairie
March 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

GRAND PRAIRIE, Alberta — City council has approved having Mayor Jackie Clayton write a letter of support for the Alberta Forest Products Association and its push back against American duties and tariffs. The letter is to include six points. Those include advocating for Alberta forest products in the US, keeping regulatory costs low and building with Alberta wood, including legislation similar to what B.C. and Quebec already have. WoodWorks Alberta Executive Director Rory Koska says, “To have another municipality support building with wood and helping the forest community create more jobs and create more lumber and get it to places that it’s needed.” …“We’ll then work with the provincial government on talking about reducing some duties, hopefully helping us with tariffs or creating a Build with Wood act or policy to ensure that any public buildings, moving forward, are considering using wood as part of its structure.”

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UBC Design for Manufacturing and Assembly Workshop Fosters Innovation in Multi-Disciplinary Design and Fabrication

By Jason Chiu
UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing in BC Wood
March 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

The UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing hosted a dynamic Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) Workshop, bringing together 18 participants from diverse disciplines, including architecture, engineering, general contractors, steel fabricators, and mass timber manufacturers. The workshop served as a unique platform for cross-disciplinary collaboration, blending academic insight with real-world industrial expertise. The workshop featured a series of presentations from industry professionals and academics. Experts from the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, along with professors from UBC’s Department of Wood Science, set the stage with foundational knowledge on DfMA principles. Industry leaders including; Aspect Engineering, Cadwork Software, Simpson Strong-Tie, Cadmakers, Nicola Logworks, F3 Timber Tech, and Rangate Woodworking Solutions shared their specialized knowledge… For more information on upcoming workshops and events, visit the UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing website.

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U.S. uncertainty positions Canada for more mass timber construction

By Jean Sorensen
The Daily Commercial News
March 19, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Peter Moonen

Yo-yo U.S. tariffs and chaotic White House policy clouding the next four years is making mass timber and wood construction a secure alternative in the Canadian construction market for builders planning downstream. “What can we do for ourselves?” asked Peter Moonen, the Canadian Wood Council’s national sustainability manager, a mass timber advocate. The answer is that Canada does mass timber construction well and is self-reliant with its own timber supply, mass timber manufacturing facilities and considerable construction expertise. “Vancouver has become a mass timber hotspot,” Moonen said, adding it is known for its innovative buildings and architectural and engineering expertise that has pushed the envelope in a region of Canada that has seismic concerns. If B.C. can employ that kind of engineering, architectural and constructionl expertise, it can be transferred to other provinces, according to Moonen. …Moonen said B.C. is currently working on a new value-added strategy for wood manufacturers.

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Canada Supports New Wood Construction Technologies in British Columbia

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
March 13, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC — The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced over $1.5 million in federal support for three projects focusing on the advancement of prefabricated wood construction in the province of British Columbia. These investments are aimed at promoting construction using Canadian wood and driving sustainable innovation in the forestry and construction sectors. The following projects are receiving support through Natural Resources Canada’s  Green Construction through Wood program:

  • $995,000 to the British Columbia Institute of Technology to build the two-storey Robert Bosa Carpentry Pavillion, a “wood first” mass timber building featuring glulam and cross-laminated timber.
  • $300,000 to Prefab Buildings Initiative to create energy-efficient mass timber designs for various types of buildings to … construction faster and more affordable. 
  • $219,870 to Scius Advisory to create an online directory of Canadian companies that specialize in building prefabricated parts, which can be assembled off-site and transported to construction sites. 

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B.C. housing innovators striving for faster, cheaper homes — and happier residents

By Dan Fumano
Vancouver Sun
March 13, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C. has long had some of Canada’s worst housing challenges. The province is home to only about 14 per cent of Canada’s population, yet it has three of the country’s four most expensive rental markets. …It makes sense, then, that British Columbians are producing innovative approaches to approving, designing and building housing. …The lagging productivity of Canadian construction has long been a source of frustration for Peter Moonen, national sustainability manager with the Canadian Wood Council. He believes prefabricated timber components can help B.C. and Canada build more quickly, sustainably, and cost-effectively. …Moonen points to a new facility in the West Kootenay, where a fourth-generation family business called Kalesnikoff, which started as a forestry company in 1939, is producing modular mass timber components for housing. …This kind of modular manufacturing is between 30 and 50 per cent faster than traditional residential construction methods, Kalesnikoff says, and 10 to 20 per cent cheaper.

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18-storey mass timber hotel proposed near Granville Island

By Kenneth Chan
The Daily Hive
March 12, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

A sizeable new hotel project is proposed for a prominent location immediately next to the south end of the Granville Street Bridge, and near the entrance into Granville Island. …Based on the City’s summary of the preliminary project details of the rezoning application, this would be an 18-storey, mass-timber, mixed-use hotel tower. At a height of 175 ft, this tower would slightly exceed the University of British Columbia’s 174-ft-tall Brock Commons Tallwood House student residence building, which was previously the tallest mass-timber building in the world when it was completed in 2017. According to Arno Matis Architecture & Urbanism, this would be North America’s tallest mass-timber hotel building. There would be a total of 168 guest rooms and a total building floor area of over 91,000 sq. ft. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Canadian Wood Council Applauds Federal-Provincial Investment in Advanced Wood Construction in Quebec

Canadian Wood Council
March 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

OTTAWA – The Canadian Wood Council (CWC) applauds the joint investment of over $8.5 million by Natural Resources Canada and Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests in four innovative wood construction-related projects across Quebec. These strategic initiatives will help strengthen the manufacturing sector and accelerate the adoption of low-carbon, Canadian-made wood products and technologies in residential construction and other critical community infrastructure. By supporting advanced wood construction methods—including modular mass timber housing, artificial intelligence to modernize engineered wood manufacturing, and the design of tall wood residential buildings—this investment reinforces the essential role of wood in delivering high-performance, low-carbon construction solutions. …these projects demonstrate how innovative wood technologies can meet urgent housing needs in a sustainable way, through scalable and repeatable, locally driven approaches.

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Canada Invests in Nova Scotia’s Local Mass Timber Industry

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
March 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

EAST HANTS, Nova Scotia — The Honourable Kody Blois, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced federal funding for MTC Mass Timber Company (MTC) to support its move to technology-driven manufacturing that will create high-value mass timber products in Nova Scotia. Through an investment of $500,000, MTC will advance the detailed design of Canada’s first large-scale, clear-span mass timber manufacturing structure that would house a new industrial plant. Once constructed, MTC will be Canada’s first vertically integrated mass timber manufacturer in Atlantic Canada, allowing further growth of the region’s offsite building construction sector and improving access to housing for Nova Scotians. MTC was also conditionally approved for $10 million in federal support, subject to the required due diligence measures, and the negotiation of a final agreement.

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Canada and Quebec Invest in Sustainable Wood Construction

By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
March 20, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

OTTAWA — Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity, Parks Canada and Quebec Lieutenant, along with the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests of Quebec, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, announced a joint contribution of over $8.5 million for four projects that will promote green construction in Quebec, including the use of low-carbon Canadian wood to accelerate new building projects. The Government of Canada is investing more than $4.7 million, while the Government of Quebec is contributing $3.83 million. …Through these investments, the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec are further accelerating the adoption of cutting-edge residential construction technologies to drive down costs and help the industry access the made-in-Canada products it needs to build more homes for Canadians.

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Manufacturing and Mass Timber Design Strategies

By Ontario WoodWorks, Element5, and WoodSure
Canadian Wood Council
March 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada East

Join us in Toronto on Thursday, May 20! An opportunity to explore the insights into mass timber manufacturing methods and capabilities, a review of design strategies and real-world challenges. Design specifications for CLT and Glulam, along with beam-to-beam connections, will also be reviewed. Anticipate an engaging evening with these two industry leaders. Kevin and Lee look forward to robust conversation and welcome questions from other mass timber enthusiasts (and newbies). Understand the evolution of the mass timber industry with a focus on manufacturing methods and design capabilities. Examine design strategies and real-world challenges in mass timber construction with a focus on practical applications and overcoming industry hurdles. Learn about design specifications for Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glulam, including beam-to-beam connection techniques for effective integration in mass timber projects.

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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.

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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.

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Eco-friendly detergent made from wood and corn shows promise

By American Chemical Society
Phys.Org
March 22, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

From laundry detergent to dishwasher tablets, cleaning products are an indispensable part of life. Yet the chemicals that make these products so effective can be difficult to break down or could even trigger ecosystem-altering algal blooms. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Langmuir have addressed those challenges with an environmentally compatible detergent made of tiny wood fibers and corn protein that removes stains on clothes and dishes just as well as commercial products. …The researchers combined cellulose nanofibers from wood with zein protein from corn to create an emulsion. Cellulose can attract and repel water, so it is effective at forming such emulsions and attracting different types of stains. The zein protein, on the other hand, helps stabilize the emulsion and trap oils. 

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Amazon Hit with Greenwashing Suit Over Paper Products

By Katie Rogers, and Gonzalo Mon
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
March 23, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Last week, consumers in four states filed a proposed class action against Amazon, accusing the company of greenwashing by misleading consumers about the sustainability of the company’s Amazon Basics line of paper products. Here are some of the key allegations: Amazon uses a Sustainability Leaf and a Climate Pledge Friendly logo to suggest that Amazon’s supply chain for Amazon Basics paper products uses sustainable forestry practices. …However, because Amazon sources its Amazon Basics paper products from suppliers who clearcut and burn centuries-old forests, Amazon is exaggerating any environmental benefits. …The Forest Stewardship Council (or ​“FSC”) requires companies to use different FSC logos to depict different levels of commitment to responsible forest management. Despite this, Amazon uses an unqualified Forest Stewardship Council logo. …This Complaint challenges an arguably very sustainably-minded company. We learned this week that Amazon announced the launch of a new carbon credit investment service.

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Mass timber, 3D printing may be future of military construction for Army, Navy

By C. Todd Lopez
US Army
March 12, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States

Army and Navy barracks may one day be 3D printed or built using mass timber construction that involves large wooden structural beams manufactured from smaller lumber… Additive construction — 3D printing buildings — high performance cement and concrete mixes, geosynthetics, mass timber, composite materials, industrialized construction, tension fabric structures and carbon fiber reinforced polymers were all part of the discussion with lawmakers about how the Army and Navy can develop the most cost efficient and resilient military construction projects… In Hampton Roads, Virginia, the Navy is now piloting the use of mass timber, also called cross-laminated timber (CLT)… “Department Of Defense (DOD) has expressly acknowledged the applicability of CLT with the creation of a guide specification,” Hamilton (chief engineer for Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command) said. “As the CLT construction industry matures, CLT may prove more competitive and could be utilized more broadly in DOD construction.”

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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.

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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. 

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New fire maps put nearly 4 million Californians in hazardous zones. What does that mean for the people who live there?

By Ben Christopher
CALmatters
March 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

CALIFORNIA — With the release of its fourth and final round of color-coded hazard maps this morning, California’s firefighting agency is showing just how much of the state is prone to wildfire — and how much that computationally-modeled danger zone has grown since the state issued its last round of local hazard maps more than a decade ago. With a few notable areas where the orange and red tide receded, like the hills above Berkeley and Oakland, territory deemed “high” or “very high” hazard exploded across the state, increasing by 168% since 2011. All told, the size of these orange and red patches on the new maps is 3,626 square miles. …That’s home to roughly 3.7 million people.  That means roughly 1-in-10 Californians are subject to an array of building code, defensible space and real estate disclosure rules, all of which could have lasting effects on how people live, communities plan and housing markets function. 

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Wildfire victims look to nontraditional materials, methods as a solution to rebuilding homes

By Phillip Palmer
ABC 7 Eye Witness News
March 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US West

LOS ANGELES — Many fire victims are facing a daunting question: How do I rebuild? With what? …Ryan Palos used ICF, Insulation Concrete Forms. Their home is designed and permitted as non-combustible and built using only foam, concrete and rebar. There isn’t much that would identify it as nontraditional, but by eliminating wood from the structure, they also reduced their risk of fire. …Evangeline Iglesias will use Emergent Construction to build her home. Emergent has printed several homes in Redding and even one on the campus of Woodbury University in Burbank and will only require 30 hours to print the walls, which can save up to two months on construction time while offering incredible flexibility. …A home made with concrete is clearly fire resistant, but in Paradise where the Camp Fire destroyed 90% of the town’s homes, a house made with hay is also groundbreaking in its ability to resist fire.

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This startup is creating a global tech platform for recycled wood

By Diana Olick
CNBC
March 17, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

Each year 36 million trees fall due to decay, disease, natural disasters or clearing for new development. The vast majority of those trees are either burned, sent to a landfill or ground up for mulch, which wastes energy and causes carbon emissions. Now, new technology is being used to find, transport and recycle that wood and make it useful once again. Cambium is a startup aiming to disrupt the wood recycling space. Its Baltimore-based researchers are working on new ways to track, treat and transfer old wood into the supply chain. It bills itself as the platform “where timber meets tech.” …Every piece of Cambium’s “carbon smart” wood has a barcode. Scan it, and Cambium’s app will identify what the species is, when it was milled and what its grade is. …Cambium doubled its sales last year, and CEO Ben Christensen said the big growth was on the software side.

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DS+R designs all-electric, fossil fuel–free, mass timber tower at Boston University

By Daniel Jonas Roche
The Architect’s Newspaper
March 13, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: United States, US East

DS+R is designing a new purpose-built home for the Frederick S. Pardee School for Global Studies at Boston University. Upon completion, the 12-story building will, according to the firm, be the tallest mass timber structure in the northeast United States. The Pardee School, established in 2014, educates students in international relations and public policy. …The school’s “vertical collaboration network” will be broadcast on the building’s facade, wherein large spans of glazing reveal the timber construction inside. …The mass timber structure will be all-electric and fossil fuel-free. Its innovative structural frame is estimated to reduce embodied carbon by 87 percent, in comparison to an initial steel-and-concrete iteration.

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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.

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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.

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Concrete Shrinkage Reduced with Natural Fibers from Wood Pulp

By Taiwo Agunbiade and PS Mangat
MDPI Sustainability Foundation
March 26, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

This study investigates the influence of nanocellulose fibre (CF) derived from wood pulp on the hydration, mechanical, shrinkage, and pore properties of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) mortar. The CF was incorporated into mortar mixes at varying dosages (0.15–1.5% by weight of mortar) to evaluate its effect on physical, mechanical, and microstructure properties. …The results suggest that an optimal CF dosage of 0.45% provides a balance between workability, mechanical properties, and durability, making it an effective additive for enhancing the performance of OPC mortars in sustainable construction applications. The study promotes the use of recycled cellulose fibres in mortars, which helps reduce the reliance on non-renewable resources. By carefully managing CF content, it is possible to achieve an acceptable balance between workability, mechanical strength, and durability. 

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Australian Forest Products Association Video Unveils Essentials We Can’t Live Without

Mirage News
March 23, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has launched a candid new video that demonstrates the importance of the essential and sustainable products our sector creates, Chief Executive Officer of AFPA, Diana Hallam said today. “This video Try living without Aussie timber and paper is the latest development in AFPA’s 2025 Federal Election Campaign following the launch of our policy Platform Australian Timber.

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“Woodflow builds up material only where it is needed” says Daniel Ortiz del Río

World Architecture News
March 25, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Unlike traditional engineered timber, which relies on subtractive processes such as cutting and laminating, Woodflow builds material only where it is needed, says Daniel Ortiz del Río, architect and a chief technology officer at strong by form, a company that creates lightweight structural solutions combining the sustainability of wood with high performance and productivity. …”By combining materials science, digital fabrication, and computational design, we create ultra-lightweight yet structurally strong components that outperform conventional materials in sustainability, weight, and mechanical performance,” he added. …Del Río emphasizes that using Woodflow technology reduces wood consumption by up to 75 percent, significantly lowering carbon emissions compared to natural wood. …”A key advantage of our process is that we maximize the efficiency of forest resources by using veneer in the form of flakes, allowing us to utilize a much larger portion of the tree for structural applications,” Del Río explained.

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Impact report highlights need to close the ‘green skills gap’ in Scotland’s built environment

Project Scotland
March 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

SUSTAINABUILD has unveiled its latest ‘Green Skills’ Impact Report, outlining insights and recommendations from its recent ministerial-led Assembly. The Assembly, opened by Scotland’s minister for higher and further education, Graeme Dey, focused on the need to close the green skills gap within the built environment. The report identifies ‘urgent’ workforce priorities to help Scotland meet its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Among key recommendations are the establishment of a national green skills strategy and stronger collaboration between educational institutions and industry to establish high-quality training programmes. Other measures include inclusive hiring practices as well as targeted mentorship and scholarships to support women and underrepresented groups entering green careers.

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Report on mass timber use highlights benefits

Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining
March 24, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

UK — The Measuring Mass Timber project presents research led by architecture practice dRMM, conducted in collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University and the Quality of Life Foundation. The methodology was developed with a goal to assess the quality of life and whole-life carbon impacts of five case study projects across different sectors. These are UK buildings for education, infrastructure, worship, residential and commercial uses. According to the report, mass timber is a readily available option to help achieve embodied carbon targets, while the quality of life assessment of the case study buildings show benefits healthwise. Each building was subject to detailed lifecycle analysis, internal environment monitoring and user consultation over the two-year study. dRMM believes this could be seen as a first step in building an evidence-driven case for timber construction using whole-life carbon and wellbeing metrics.

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Canadian Wood Celebrates World Wood Day with a Seminar in Hyderabad

Interiors and Decor
March 22, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Canadian Wood, commemorated World Wood Day (March 21st) by hosting a highly engaging seminar on the theme “Wood is Forever – Sustainable & Renewable.” The event, held at Taj Krishna, Banjara Hills, brought together leading architects, developers, manufacturers, and industry professionals from across Hyderabad to explore the significance of wood as a sustainable and renewable resource in modern architecture and designs. The seminar opened with insightful presentations by Mr. Vivekabhilash Sharma from Artius Interior Products and Mr. Ashok Kuriakose from Kelveneers, who shared their experiences and passion for integrating wood into their projects. Their presentations set the stage for an engaging panel discussion, moderated by Ar. Kuldeep Singh, Founder & Director of ARKA Integrated Project Management Solution. The discussion focused on sustainability, benefits and practical applications of wood in contemporary and hybrid construction, highlighting its ecological advantages and long-term viability.

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Coffins made from invasive vine a sustainable alternative to wood

ABC News, Australia
March 17, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Ms Zimmi Forest, a basket weaver in northern New South Wales, has tapped into the desire to do death differently, and her workshops have been booked solid since they started 18 months ago… Ms Forest said the idea of weaving coffins came to her after she was invited to make baskets at a property where a Landcare group was working to remove invasive Cat’s Claw vine. The Brazilian vine is perfect for weaving; once it is stripped from the trees and pruned back, it forms long, flexible strands. “The great thing about a woven coffin is it’s permeable, all the microorganisms in the soil can get in and its breaks down so much quicker. “For cremation, why would you burn solid timber?” The process to make a woven coffin took about 150 hours, and Ms Forest said she had made about 15 coffins at the workshops and on her own as commissioned projects.

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Future Timber And Lumber Trade With India Takes A Positive Step Forward

Wood Processors & Manufacturers Association of New Zealand
Scoop Independent News
March 17, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

NEW ZEALAND — Signing of a ‘letter of intent’ on forestry co-operation between New Zealand and India as part of the Prime Minister’s delegation visit to India this week is welcomed by the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association of Newzeald (WPMA). The ‘letter of intent’ is between the Ministry for Primary Industries and our nearest counterpart Indian agency, the Ministry of Environment Forestry and Climate Change. The key subject areas, reflecting MOEFCC’s and MPI’s respective mandates and scope, includes sustainable forest management; research and innovation; education and capacity building; and utlilisation and certification. …India is the most populous nation in the world yet for our forestry exports India currently ranks 11th (down from 5th in 2019). …With a recent ruling from the Indian government stipulating that federal housing schemes include ‘a greater mix’ of wood, there are new opportunities opening, for example, in the Indian residential market for our sustainable wood products.

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CHYBIK + KRISTOF’s ‘forestry in the forest’ to be czech republic’s largest timber structure

Designboom
March 14, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Amid growing interest in sustainable construction, CHYBIK + KRISTOF is advancing the position of timber architecture in Central Europe. Titled Forestry in the Forest, the project will serve as the new headquarters for the Czech National Forestry in Hradec Králové and become the Czech Republic‘s largest wooden structure in an effort to shift industry norms and position timber as a viable material for large-scale development. The complex is envisioned as a cluster of five elongated timber volumes … connected through a central hall. …Forestry in the Forest’s structure then makes use of a combination of timber construction methods … to demonstrate wood’s capacity to deliver efficient, durable, and engaging design solutions. …‘The walls are constructed in the two-by-four system; the ceilings, horizontal slabs, built-in subcenters and railings are made of CLT panels; and for the large-span structures wooden glued trusses are used,’ says CHYBIK + KRISTOF.

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