91视频

While Oregon developers seem to be taking more direct action when it comes to mass-timber building techniques, Washington lawmakers are also trying to leave their mark on the industry.

According to a recent report in industry publication The Architect’s Newspaper, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee just signed into law. The legislation directs the state’s building code council to 鈥渁dopt rules for the use of mass-timber products for residential and commercial building construction.鈥�

This would allow state and local jurisdictions to work mass timber into local building and zoning codes, which is a necessary step toward the wider adoption of wood and mass-timber technology.

Industry figures are voicing support for the legislation, saying it is just one more means of addressing a shortage of skilled workers that has affected contractors on both the residential and commercial fronts.

鈥�Washington state is currently experiencing a construction boom, which is great for our industry and our state’s economy,鈥� said Andrea Smith, marketing and communications manager for the Southwestern Washington Contractors Association. 鈥淗owever, it is no secret that the construction industry is facing a workforce shortage as well 鈥� Cross-laminated timber represents an improvement in construction technology that has the potential to accelerate construction timelines while simultaneously reducing building costs.鈥�

Oregon is also a pioneer in adopting cross-laminated timber (CLT) technology.

Riddle-based manufacturer D.R. Johnson was the first in the country to become certified to produce CLT panels for use in wood-framed tall-building construction.

Freres, a company from Lyons, Oregon, recently introduced cross-laminated plywood panels that functionally serve the same purpose as CLT, while Oregon State University runs the National Center for Advanced Wood Products Manufacturing and Design and is currently building a brand new $79 million college of forestry building made from CLT.

In Washington, the state building code council will use applicable national and international standards as set forth by the International Building Code to guide CLT regulation. The IBC, meanwhile, is in the process of analyzing new guidelines for mass-timber structures up to 18 stories tall. An IBC ad hoc committee will begin hearing public testimony next month on possible revisions to the code, which already allows for CLT use in buildings up to six stories tall.

This is not the first move in favor of mass timber made by Washington legislators. Lawmakers also introduced , which would require all public buildings of 12 or fewer stories to be constructed using CLT. While the bill did not pass out of committee during the 2018 legislative session, timber proponents are still encouraged, pointing out it is the first such bill in the country to be put forward at the state level.

Oregon, by contrast, does not actually have legislation mandating the use of mass timber in public construction, while in other parts of the country there still are questions about the structural and fire safety of the technology when used in tall buildings.

Those concerns were heightened recently when the new OSU College of Forestry building experienced the collapse last month of a 20-foot-long and four-foot-wide CLT subfloor. No one was injured in the incident, which also did little to dent university officials’ faith in mass timber as a viable construction technology.

鈥淲e’re committed to CLT, and we believe it’s been demonstrated across Europe and Canada as a safe construction method,鈥� OSU spokesman Steve Clark told the 91视频. 鈥淭his university has helped bring CLT to testing and documentation and been a champion of it, so we’re completely in support of it.鈥�

Other developers are moving quickly to take advantage of the new legislation. An article in The Columbian earlier this week showed off to build a 12-story CLT commercial building at The Waterfront Vancouver development.

鈥淭his has the potential to allow for more widespread usage of CLT in our great state of Washington,鈥� Smith said with regard to SB 5450. 鈥淭hat is why you see its proposed use in the Timberhouse building on Block 3 of the Vancouver Waterfront development project.鈥�