Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Market Updates - Apr 2025 - Week Fifteen
The sustainable construction revolution continues to gather momentum, with mass timber leading the charge toward a greener built environment. Fresh research from Edinburgh Napier University confirms what many in the industry have long championed – mass timber buildings produce 50% less carbon emissions than conventional construction methods, easily exceeding RIBA's 2025 targets for whole-life carbon performance.
Texas architecture firm Corrigan has stepped up with a game-changing sustainability calculator specifically designed for mass timber projects. This innovative tool helps architects accurately estimate biogenic carbon emissions, providing crucial data for environmentally conscious design decisions. Meanwhile, in Toronto, an ambitious new residential tower is set to demonstrate the remarkable efficiency of prefabricated timber construction. The 230 Royal York project will rise approximately 30 metres in a mere 90 days – a testament to how advanced timber engineering is transforming construction timelines.
The creative potential of engineered timber continues to evolve in spectacular ways. We revisit the stunning Shigeru Ban-designed Swatch headquarters with its 4,600 unique glulam elements forming a sinuous, organic structure that defies conventional expectations of timber architecture. Equally impressive is the floating groin vault ceiling created by University of Bath researchers using just four large CLT panels – showcasing how mass timber can achieve complex architectural forms previously considered impossible with wood. Don't forget to check our LinkedIn feed for images of these remarkable projects and stay tuned for next week's announcement about the Build the Impossible Rothoblast competition for 2025!
Ladies and gentlemen, we are live. This is the moment you all have been waiting for. It's time for the global sensation, the one, the only, the undisputed heavyweight podcast in the world the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. And now here's Mark Ramblin, your host. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening wherever you are in the world today, and welcome to another episode of the Mass Timber Construction Podcast, where we update news of mass timber projects around the world. Firstly, an apology. I got April fooled. There was a project in Rotorua in New Zealand. It was a faux project. I got caught. But thank you to the 300 plus people who liked the post on our LinkedIn feed, and we really do appreciate the fact that we can have a bit of humor and fun along the way as we report the serious stuff like changing an industry. Also, don't forget, coming up very, very soon is the Build the Impossible Rothoblast competition. We'll have some more news on that next week. I believe my good friend Peter Lang will be updating me very soon to announce what is happening globally for that competition, so keep your eye out for that.
Speaker 1:In the meantime, let's have a look at what's making news around the world this week in West Timber Construction Land and a few years ago we had Kai from Bloomer Lehman on the project talking about the DRMM project, which was called the Cambridge Central Mosque, by Mark Barfield barfield architects, and in that particular episode they talked about these glulam tree-like structures. Well, there's a recent image of that project up on our linkedin feed right now and an article to go with it. As the edinburgh napier university plus drmm looked at the quality of life, which was an expert advisory group that found that mass timber buildings produce an average of 50% less embodied and in-use carbon emissions in industrial equivalents to meet or exceed the Royal Institute of British Architects 2025 targets for embodied and whole life carbon. So if you'd like to read this really lovely case study, please head to our LinkedIn feed. And Texas-based architecture firm Corrigan has unveiled that it's improving the accuracy of carbon accounting in mass timber construction and have developed a sustainability calculator. This particular mass timber carbon calculator is designed to help architects and designers estimate the biogenic carbon emissions specific to their timber project. There's two posts. I've put a post of an article that has recently come up, but I've also been contacted directly by Corrigan and they have given me some specific text which is unique to us, part of a media release and there's an image of the calculator. So if you're interested in looking at the biogenic carbon calculations for mass timber projects and you're an architect or designer, head to Corrigan's website or head to our LinkedIn feed.
Speaker 1:And an ambitious new timber tower in Toronto, canada, is due to begin construction soon. Thanks to its innovative prefabricated wooden design using mass timber, the residential building named 230 Royal York is expected to rise in a mere 90 days. The project actually is the tallest timber tower residential in Toronto. We've got no exact word on how high it will be. However, it's modestly proportioned, low rise structure with a height of approximately 30 meters, which is about 100 feet, so it's not some crazy super tall tower. Structurally, it will feature concrete core preliminary consisting of sustainably produced mass timber such as glulam and CLT consisting of sustainably produced mass timber such as glulam and CLT and it's part of a prefabricated project coming out of Intelligent City, which is actually quite interesting because Intelligent City have been very vocal for many years. It's great to see something coming out of that particular planet right now. It's great to see that there's things progressing in Canada in such a strong way. Congratulations to the entire team on 230 Royal York. We will look forward to see if you hit your 90-day marker.
Speaker 1:And we have spoken about the Sugaroo Barn designed swatch headquarters in Beale and we know that Blue Lehman was also on that project and you can listen to Kai talking about that particular project many years ago on this podcast. But there has been a sustainable design network image which shows the 4,600 unique glulam elements that constitute the very snaky swatch-like building. If you're not familiar with it, head to our LinkedIn feed. It's gaining significant attraction. It has over 500 likes at the moment, 15 reposts, many, many comments. If you do want to have a look at this impressive project, please head to our LinkedIn feed. At this impressive project, please head to our LinkedIn feed. One of the most unique things that I have ever seen in my time in this particular industry is a floating groin vault ceiling that was created out of four very large CLT panels to create this impressive roof structure. The presentation of a quarter of the scale prototype cross-laminated groin vault floor system, which is at the University of Bath Structures Lab, is available now to have a look at on our LinkedIn feed. If you go and have a look at the University of Bath LinkedIn feed, you'll be able to actually see some of the projects there or you can head to our LinkedIn feed and have a look at it. It's an impressive project with some curved CLT making a growing vault ceiling Quite impressive. Go and check it out and that's it.
Speaker 1:Folks. That's all we've got time for this week in Mass Timber Construction Land. I hope that you're keeping well. Don't forget. Next week we'll come back to you with what the Rothobast Build the Impossible competition will be for 2025. We thank you for liking, commenting, sharing, reposting any of our content. Please keep sending it in to us. Go and check out the amazing posts we have on our LinkedIn feed. We have a journal manuscript that's just been accepted and will be published very soon. So look out for that on the International Mass Timber Construction Journal academic division of our global suite of offerings. And we'll catch you next time on the podcast. And it's good morning, good evening or good afternoon. Wherever you are in the world today, have a great week. This is Paul Kramer signing off on the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. Thank you.