The US government is funding “blast testing” of mass timber construction systems, with the Department of Defence and the State Department keenly interested in using cross-laminated timber in various building environments. Source: Timberbiz
That is, according to Kevin Naranjo, National Program Manager for Mass Timber at the US Forest Service Wood Innovations Program, who spoke to the Timber Construct MC, Jason Ross, about the future of timber construction in North America.
“Surprisingly, cross-laminated timber is pretty blast resistant,” Mr Naranjo said, with both departments wanting to deploy technologies that make buildings more blast resistant. “Blast testing will be a game-changer, not just for the military but for construction more generally.”
In November, the US Army Corps of Engineers has now mandated a policy that requires a “mass timber structural option be considered at the design phase in all of its vertical construction projects going forward.”
In effect, it means that the US Army will become the first military organisation in the world to embrace mass timber in both on-site installations and civilian housing projects. Published last year, it requires “all US Army MILCON and Civil Works vertical construction projects to consider at least one option where mass timber is a substantial structural component when comparing structural systems during early design.”
For Mr Naranjo, who will be travelling to Australia next month from Washington, DC, to attend TimberConstruct in person, mass timber construction systems have several advantages that make them ideal building materials for the next generation of buildings not only across America’s largest cities but also in urban, regional, and rural areas.
“It creates a safer and quieter construction site,” Mr Naranjo said, “you bring a truck in, put the pieces in place, and the truck goes away. Most projects can shave two or more months off construction and occupy the building sooner.”
“I hope it can solve the housing crisis,” he said, “here in the US, young people are not going into the trades anymore, and as more and more people are moving to urban areas, there are not a lot of trades away from the metropolitan cities.”
“We have a lot of partners that are now banking on prefabricating parts and bringing them in “flat-pack” to solve housing in rural areas.”
Mr Naranjo will fly from Washington, DC, to Melbourne, Australia, next month to present at TimberConstruct, Australia’s largest timber construction conference. There, he will participate in a panel discussion chaired by Andrew Dunn, the conference organiser.
“I’m looking forward to it; I’ve never travelled below the equator before,” Mr Naranjo said. “I’m looking forward to the cross-pollination in learning that I will during my time in Melbourne, Australia,” he said.
According to Mr Dunn, “Kevin Naranjo will join Boris Iskra, Codes and Standards Manager for the FWPA, George Konstadakos, the Development General Manager FOR Sumitomo Forestry Australia – who is now behind Australia’s largest timber-based build-to-rent scheme, and Russell Kilmartin, one of Australia’s top fire engineers.”
Part of the conference’s final session “is probably the most important of all,” Mr Dunn said. “We will investigate the code changes adopted in Canada and the USA for fire design standards in buildings up to 18 storeys high.”
