Peter MacKeith

Mass timber products have become significant to many large construction projects in Northwest Arkansas thanks in part to the advocacy of Peter MacKeith, dean of the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. MacKeith became a fast advocate for these products when he joined the UA more than 10 years ago. The advocacy has led to multiple large-scale mass timber projects on campus, timber executive gifts to the UA and piqued the interest of Bentonville retailer Walmart enough to use mass timber products to construct its new home office. …Many drivers led MacKeith to introduce mass timber products to Arkansas. One was the state’s robust timber commodity … forests cover 56.6% of the state’s land. …MacKeith said the UA has invested $250 million in projects that use mass timber products.