The US Congress has recently voted for a new bill meant to organize research for better performance in advancing tall wood building construction in the U.S.
The "Timber Inovation Act" would, thus, authorize the Tall Wood Building Prize Competition through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) annually for the next five years. Also, it would create federal grants to support state, local, university and private sector education, outreach, research and development, including education and assistance for architects and builders, which will accelerate the use of wood in tall buildings.
Moreover, the bill would authorize technical assistance for USDA, in cooperation with state foresters and state extension directors (or equivalent state officials), to implement a program of education and technical assistance for mass timber applications.
The American Wood Council (AWC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC) and Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA) announced their support for the new bill, which was introduced by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (MI) and Mike Crapo (ID). Sens. Amy Klobuchar (MN). Steve Daines (MT) and Maria Cantwell (WA) are also original co-sponsors.
“Advancing the construction of tall wood buildings will help lower the cost of building construction and reduce reliance on fossil fuel-intensive materials. This in turn helps avoid production of greenhouse gases that would have otherwise been emitted during manufacture of alternative products." said AWC President and CEO Robert Glowinski.
With the recent advances in technology, engineering and safety have made it possible to build taller wooden buildings using newly-developed mass timber products, like cross-laminated timber (CLT). In the last five years, 17 buildings between seven and 14 stories have been built using heavy timber construction globally. Canada, Norway, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and France all have constructed and occupied multiple tall-wood buildings.
Other countries such as the UK and Sweden are considering wooden skycrapers. Stockholm and London will see in the near future two timber structures of this kind.
