{"id":18619,"date":"2024-06-23T21:53:55","date_gmt":"2024-06-23T11:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=18619"},"modified":"2024-10-21T20:17:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T10:17:50","slug":"timberlab-to-solve-mass-timber-crunch-east-of-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/timberlab-to-solve-mass-timber-crunch-east-of-mississippi\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberlab to Solve Mass Timber Crunch East of Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of America’s largest timber manufacturers, Timberlab, has opened its new 75,000-square-foot glulam facility in Greenville, South Carolina\u2014the second on the site\u2014solving a blockage in the supply of tall timber projects across the American South and East Coast. The new plant, operational since April, is critical in Timberlab’s push to drive adoption across the East Coast, the United States’ next frontier for mass timber construction.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There is an existing network of timber suppliers and glulam manufacturers in the Southeast that have been operating for decades with limited opportunities to deploy their product,” according to Timberlab’s President Chris Evans.<\/a> “We intend to expand the supply chain and, thereby, reduce the cost of mass timber structures, ultimately promoting the deployment of timber for commercial buildings along the Eastern seaboard, particularly in office, multifamily, civic, and higher education.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it stands, CNC fabrication is the significant pinch point in the East Coast mass timber supply chain, with the new plant “making a tremendous impact not only on suppliers but also on the adoption of this sustainable building system,” Mr Evans said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producing 1 million cubic feet of glulam every year, it is just one of three mass timber plants based east of the Mississippi River – and comes just months after Timberlab revealed plans to build a 250,000-square-foot CLT facility in Oregan, Portland.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Earlier
Mass timber construction is rising across the United States, with more than 2,000 low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise buildings either constructed or under construction. (Photo Credit: Wood Central using OpenAI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The move is part of Timberlab’s push to make mass timber more affordable and widely usable: “Timberlab’s objective is to remove pinch points in the mass timber industry,” Mr Evans said, adding that both plants are “focused on expanding the supply chain for mass timber.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past ten years, demand for mass timber products across the North American market has grown 40% every year, with Mr Evans stressing that “with more suppliers entering the market, the cost of mass timber will drop adequately to compete with other building systems.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March<\/a>, Wood Central reported that the mass timber construction market, which makes up just 1% of the North American building materials market, could grow 25-40 fold over the next 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to research published by the University of Georgia, “the greatest adoption rates projected for the seven-stories and higher,” fuelled by “a surge in new buildings in the (American) South (43%), followed by the West (23%), the Midwest (21%) and the Northeast (13%).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n