Imagine stepping into the heart of an Irish forest, where the supply of wood is set to double by 2035. Picture yourself part of an innovative building project in Massachusetts, where sustainability and hybrid working environments are the order of the day. This exciting episode of the Mastery in Construction podcast, hosted by your guide, Paul Cramer, brings you these stories and more, as we traverse the globe to bring you the latest in mass timber construction.
We start with an inside look at Timberspec's free online CPD resource for specifiers – a treasure trove of practical guidance for the wood workers and specifiers among us. Then, we'll whisk you across the pond to the streets of Brockton, Massachusetts, spotlighting a pioneering urban infill project – the C Gerald Lucy building. You'll be privy to the intricate details of this first publicly funded commercial scale project in the state that was constructed using mass timber. We'll also reveal exciting updates on Harvard University and Tishman Spire's ongoing construction of the Research, Enterprise, and Innovation Centre. Our journey concludes in Texas, unveiling the upcoming State Emergency Operations Centre. Don’t miss out on this enlightening episode as we navigate the ever-evolving world of mass timber construction.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are live. This is the moment you all have been waiting for. It's a compile for the global sensation, the one, the only, the oldest you've made it Anyway. Podcast in the world, the past, timber construction podcast, and now here's what's right on your house. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, wherever you are in the world today. Welcome to the Mastery in Construction podcast. My name is Paul Kremer, your host, and thank you, Bruce Buffer, for the amazing introduction. Before we get into it, just make sure that you hit the subscribe button. Please like or comment, and if you've got an academic paper that you want to submit to us we have a great academic journal that we'd be very, very pleased to review your manuscript and if you need support in writing it, we'd be pleased to support you in that respect as well. And thank you very much for staying tuned each week as we bring the news, and don't forget our special guest episodes that come intermittently throughout the year. We have an amazing back catalog of content that might support you and your journey in either establishing accelerating mass timber around the world.
Paul:
Let's have a look at what's making news around the world this week in mass timber construction land and Timberspec offering a free online CPD resource for specifiers. The supply of wood from Irish forests will double by 2035. And the forestry industry is an island which represents the Irish forestry supply chain, forest to end market, a place in great emphasis on supporting the sector by addressing this challenge. Timberspec is an online free CPD series of modules developed by the forest industry island, targeting those who work with wood and those that specify it. The CPD series aims to provide practical guidance for specifying and handling timber and helps to support effective decision making. Each module has been developed by highly engaging e-learning platform using state-of-the-art imagery, animation and video content, and Timberspec uses interactive tools and learning checks to engage with users to reinforce the learning experience. So if you're interested and maybe you don't have to be in Ireland head along and have a look at Timberspec and its free online CPD programs. And especially as you're in the UK, to the US now.
Paul:
And a new urban infill project building in Brockton, massachusetts leaned on older technologies to create a model of sustainability and hybrid working environments for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The C Gerald Lucy building for Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance is the first publicly funded project in a commercial scale in the state that was constructed using a mass timber, specifically cross laminated timber and glue laminated timber. The 33,000 square foot building established a new benchmark for the Commonwealth funded projects and throughout the design, the cost-effective models of highly sustainable standards and materials were used. The $28.3 million building, which broke ground in December 2019, was completed in July 2022. However, we're just finding out about it now, so it's amazing how the news travels slowly and construction has begun on the Research, enterprise and Innovation Centre being developed by Harvard University and the real estate company Tishman Spire. We have reported this previously, but there are new images that have come out on the master plan for this 900,000 square meter first phase of the Enterprise Research Campus. This was designed by studio gang and Henning Larsen, with the landscape architecture by Skate and Urban Planning as well. It was included by U-Title. The building includes residential areas, offices, laboratory spaces, as well as a hotel conference centre, restaurants, shops and public spaces. It will contain two buildings designed by studio gang, one milestone west and the other Mass Timber, the David Rubenstein Treehouse Conference Centre. We look forward to seeing the progress on this project as it moves forward.
Paul:
Some great visuals on our Mass Timber construction journal link in feed head there and you can see them straight away, and the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted on Thursday to begin construction on the $370 million State Emergency Operations Centre, which is the agency headquarters for the Texas Division of the Emergency Management in the Austin area, near the International Airport just east of it. The modern, flexible state of the art emergency centre will be 90,068 square feet and it will be designed to withstand 200 mile an hour windstorms. It is comfortably seating about 300 people and provide ample seating room spaces and joint information centre, a press conference room and GIS work room and space for food services. The new facility also provides adequate space to facilitate coordination between the TDEM and partner agencies and local community representatives, improving critical response operations and minimizing impacts on the state's citizens and economy. The headquarters will be a combination of traditional steel frame and you guessed it Mass Timber construction. So if you want to see some images of this amazing project that's going to break ground very soon, please head to our Mass Timber construction journal linkedinfeed.
Paul:
And that's it, folks. That's all we've got time for this week in Mass Timber construction land. We hope that you have a wonderful week and thanks for tuning in. Make sure you hit the subscribe button if you haven't done so yet and please update us on any projects that are happening masstimberconstructionjournalcom. Masstimberconstructionjournalcom. Or hit us up through the linkedinfeed and we'll be able to put it forward to anyone in the world that's willing to listen. And thank you for tuning in each week. You don't have to. You've got a lot of choice out there, but you do and you continue to come back, so we appreciate the support. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, wherever you are in the world today, have a great week. This is Paul Kramer signing off from the Mass Timber Construction podcast.