Mass Timber Construction Podcast

In this episode, Happy Mother's Day! I hope you had a fantastic day. Homag Group further expands its activities in the solid wood sector with the acquisition of a majority interest in the Danish mechanical engineering company Kallesoe Machinery A/S. Homag is acquiring a good 70% of the shares in Kallesoe Machinery A/S from the Christensen family, with the residual approximately 30% remaining...

In mass timber construction news from around the world this week, Niko Fuss posted on the CLT Swimming Pool! An amazing invention, not sure if it was by luck, or misfortune! Australia's tallest engineered timber office building in #Australia , 25 King has scooped up the UDIA National award for #Environmental Excellence. BC Housing is looking to mass timber as a potential way of cutting greenh...

Salla (Palos) Eckhardt is the Director of Transformation Services with Microsoft, serving as the chair of the US National BIM Program Steering Committee and has a wealth of knowledge about BIM and the digital integration into the construction process. In this episode of the podcast Salla and I talk about the digital overlay for mass timber construction and the efficiencies that can be gained. We t...

In this week's mass timber construction news updater, a 50m-tall building made entirely of wood is capturing international attention for its innovative design and green credentials—and construction hasn't yet begun. SAWA will be Rotterdam’s first timber tower and is being touted as the Netherlands’ “healthiest building”.  April 22nd is Earth Day, an annual event that promotes environment...

In this episode I speak with Jennifer Cover of WoodWorks. WoodWorks provides education and free technical support related to the design, engineering and construction of commercial and multi-family wood buildings in the U.S. A non-profit staffed with architects, structural engineers and construction experts, we have the expertise to assist with all aspects of wood building design, including: allowa...

In this episode, Element5, Ontario’s first and only Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) manufacturer, announces that their new factory in St. Thomas, Canada achieved certification. 123 East 6th Ave. in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, will be 10 storeys and 196,000 square feet. Construction is expected to begin in 2022 and be completed in 2024. Located at 123 East 6th Avenue, T3 Mount Pleasant w...

In news this week, 28 Walker Development is currently working on 40TEN, Baltimore’s first heavy timber office . Feds contribute $800,000 to new KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence using state-of-the-art floor and tall wall wood-based systems to accommodate the large spacing between columns. Red Stag officially open their factory. The factory will produce cross laminated timber. Swinerton, aka Timbe...

Kai Strehlke joined Lehmann Timber Code AG in 2015 where he began working on the interface between digital data and CNC manufacturing of large scale timber structures. In 2019 Kai presented a timber sculpture in the municipality of Urbach,  the 14-metre-high Urbach Tower whose timber panels took on their striking form themselves. Kai was also instrumental in working on the Swatch headquarters in B...

Hoppy Easter to everybody, in this weekly update I wish you all a wonderful Easter break. In news around the world, Rotterdam-based architecture office Powerhouse Company has unveiled designs for a 12-story project will feature 11 stories built of cross-laminated timber without the use of adhesives to allow the building to be demounted and reassembled . SRG Partnership recently completed its own o...

In this weeks wrap-up, Prescot's stunning new Shakespeare theatre will have capacity for between 320 and 472 seats and is based on the iconic 17 th century ‘cockpit-in-court’ design. Moscow, Idaho, the University of Idaho, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains’ Bitterroot Range, all number of mass timber elements have been marshaled into the free-form structure Southwark station was designe...

KATERRA has an ambitious goal to transform the way we build. KATERRA's mass timber facility is a significant part of the transformation, yet over the last few years a transformation has occurred. Now KATERRA enters a new phase of working with industry in a different way and standing with partners to support a true collaboration and assist others to drive a better way to build.  In this episod...

Happy International Day of Forests, yes March 21st is the UN proclaimed International Day of Forests. The International Mass Timber Conference is just around the corner and it's time to get your tickets. The American Trucking Association is to lease Washington DC's first mass timber building. Google announce $1b commitment to the first mass timber projects at Sunnyvale, citing that the r...

In this episode I talk with Amy Heilig from Dlubal. For more than 30 years, the German-Czech company Dlubal Software has developed engineering programs for FEA, structural analysis, and design. More than 10,000 companies and 86,000 satisfied users in 95 countries use the Dlubal Software programs every day.  We talk about the progression of mass timber within the RFEM software and get a real sense...

In this weeks update, Russia opens its first CLT plant to produce 50,000m3 p.a., whilst Stora Enso Wood Products has launched its new digital hub: the Wood House Effect. New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) announces that Professor Robert Hairstans has joined as Founding Director of its Centre for Advanced Timber Technology (CATT). Michael Green Architecture has just complete...

Insurance is such an important part of any construction project; from building phase through to completion insurance provides a level of comfort in the protection of an asset. In this episode we talk with Marcus Saunders and Jake Concannon  from Gallagher a global insurance broker who are creating awareness and education about mass timber through the insurance sector.  Gallagher is a full-service...

In this weeks Mass Timber Construction news, we look at the recently released report on five compartment fire testing scenarios you can find out more here www.ri.se .  In other news, Tokyo is set to receive a tall mass timber building the construction company Takenaka Corporation have obtained approval to erect a 70-meter-high wooden building in the Japanese capital. The new head office for Vancou...

They are one of the largest timber processing equipment providers in the world,  and Sam Rowe talks with me about the future of Hundegger equipment and series of 'Industry' machines. We also discuss the future of digital fabrication and the way Hundegger are positioning themselves to play a bigger role in the sense of 'digital fabrication'. Sam also provides some grapevine news...

Rotho Blaas' Build the [Im]Possible  competition is in full swing with over 40 entries from many countries across the world. Good luck to the project teams and we look forward to hearing more about the progression of the competition over time. Microsoft and Skanska have developed a new tool aiming to fix the C02 problem, and it’s already helping companies like Microsoft and construction giant...

Antony Wood has been Executive Director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat since 2006, responsible for the day-to-day running of the Council and steering in conjunction with the Board of Trustees, of which he is an ex-officio member. Based at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Antony is also a Research Professor in the College of Architecture at IIT, and a visiting prof...

Vestas are using timber to build wind turbines, claiming that compared to more traditional forms of construction using concrete and steel, timber is a more sustainable product. In Holland, the Dutch Mountains is a new project featuring a "U-shaped" twin tower system that forms a unique structure in the Dutch skyline. The "Off-site Wood" app for Autodesk has been launched.  Roth...

Chris Evans and Sam Dicke from Swinerton talk about the genesis of 'sustainability' within the 130 year-old employee owned organisation. We learn what is happening in Milwaukee in some funny grapevine news. More importantly we explore the way mass timber construction differs from a pre-construction engagement process and what makes for an effective mass timber project collaboration.  Pro...

Valentines day means a lot of fun and Rothoblass provides an innovative offering to its die hard fans, find out what it is.  We are on the hunt for Bill Gates to ask him about timber and how it fits into his conceptualisation of modern sustainability efforts. If you know Bill, please hook a brother up! Berlin will get a new 98m tall mass timber tower, StructureCraft are completing a massive timber...

Part two of a two part series.  In the second part, we talk about technology, insurance, the future of mass timber in the UK and offer invitations to other construction technologies to support in joining forces to build better around the world.    Listen to this great conversation between two important influential stakeholders who have collectively transformed and forged the [mass] timber movement...

Thank you for making the podcast rate in the top 10%, we welcome Rotho Blaas as the first sponsor for the podcast, thank you very much Rotho Blaas. News out of Melbourne Australia is that Timberlink have selected Hundegger for the new CNC machine for the plant in South Australia. Also in Melbourne, the new Geelong Council project will be built in mass timber. Rothoblaas top-out on the new fully au...

Two of the most powerful timber organisations in the United Kingdom have joined forces. The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and the Timber Research And Development Association (TRADA) are now on a quest to change the world, one mass timber project at a time.  Listen to this great conversation between two important influential stakeholders who have collectively transformed and forged the [mass] timbe...