Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Market Updates - Apr 2025 - Week Sixteen
Mass timber is reshaping the construction landscape across the globe through groundbreaking projects that showcase this sustainable building material's versatility, efficiency, and environmental benefits.
Western Michigan University's new 270,000-square-foot resident hall stands as a powerful example of how mass timber can revolutionize student housing. This innovative project accommodates 1,000 beds while striking the perfect balance between sustainability, affordability, and occupant wellbeing through hybrid construction techniques that combine engineered wood with advanced prefabrication methods.
Meanwhile, in Canada, mass timber is breaking new ground in the industrial sector. Sudbury developers are pioneering the use of engineered wood products for commercial and warehouse facilities, setting themselves apart from conventional construction in the region. This expansion into industrial applications signals an important evolution for mass timber, demonstrating its suitability across increasingly diverse building types.
The podcast also explores Stockholm Wood City, poised to become the world's largest wooden urban development. This ambitious $1.4 billion project spans 250,000 square meters and will include 2,000 residential units, office spaces, retail outlets, and cultural venues by 2027. Construction began in October 2024, with the first phase expected to reach completion by the end of 2025.
Despite these exciting developments, political uncertainties surrounding tariffs have created challenges for sustainable building practices and affordable housing initiatives in North America. The podcast touches on these policy pressures while highlighting technical advancements like the American Wood Council's updated connection calculator that continue to support mass timber's momentum.
Whether you're a construction professional, sustainability advocate, or simply interested in the future of building, this episode offers valuable insights into how mass timber is transforming our built environment. Subscribe to the Mass Timber Construction Podcast for weekly updates on this rapidly evolving industry, and visit our website to learn about submitting research to the Mass Timber Construction Journal.
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 Paul Kramer, your host. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening wherever you are in the world today, welcome to the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. My name is Paul Kramer, your host. Thank you, bruce Buffer. Veteran voice of the Octagon.
Speaker 1:It is very close to the Christian holiday for Easter this year. I hope that you have a great celebration if you're celebrating Easter, and make sure that you take some time out to be with family, friends and loved ones and catch up on the latest news from around the world. In my semi-construction land, I certainly will be taking some time off, and so this podcast is a couple of days delayed and late because of the Easter holiday, but you've got to take time out from work. Let's have a look at what's making news around the world this week in Mass Timber Construction Land, as institutes nationwide face mounting pressure to deliver student housing that meets ambitious targets for affordability, sustainability and occupant well-being, western Michigan University's new 1,000-bed, 270,000-square-foot resident hall is a game-changing example of how projects and objectives can be delivered and met by harnessing hybrid construction, which marries mass timber with advanced prefabrication technique. The project demonstrates fast, affordable and sustainable housing to meet the mutually exclusive needs of students and their accommodations whilst they're at university. If you'd like to have a look at this amazing project, you know where to head, and CBC News is reporting that mass timber is now being used in industrial construction in Sudbury for the first time. A Sudbury developer says he's enjoyed using new types of materials for building his industrial projects that provide a difference to all other buildings in the surrounding areas. Based in Cambrian Heights, the project is intended for use in commercial and warehouse purposes, and the new building will be fully leased on the highway 69 south to Sudbury, and it will look to build another in the west of the city when the development comes online. It's an impressive pathway forward using mass timber in industrial spaces. We know that there are others around the world doing the same. Let's see if this trend continues, because I think it's quite an innovative approach, and I hope you do too.
Speaker 1:I don't like to get into political commentary when it comes to the podcast. However, there's an undeniable stirring happening in North America and Canada, and this really does impact sustainable architecture and affordable housing when it comes to the casualties of tariffs that are being laid, and it is important to understand that low carbon building and affordability in housing. Particularly being hit by the uncertainty around tariffs being applied means that the markets are plunged into chaos and this creates unsettling times for the long-term policy. For things like the American Institute of Architects saying that the way of moving forward is using construction materials that are sustainable is now in a bit of doubt or in a bit of question. There is news that there's hope on the horizon that things will progress and things will revert back to a point where sensibility kicks in. We will all have to wait and see what happens in supply chains, but pressures on supply chains and mass timber are not foreign, and if you want to read more about this in interesting area of policy, you can head to our linkedin feed.
Speaker 1:And we've spoken about sweden's largest wooden all wooden city in stockholm, spanning 250 000 square meters. Stockholm wood city will be the world's largest wood built urban urban city, at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion, according to the website. The project, which is located in Stockholm, which has been under construction since October 2024, and the first phase of the city is expected to be completed at the end of this year, 2025. The city is expected to include 2,000 residential units by 2027 and it will have a high school space for approximately 7,000 office spaces, shops, restaurants, cultural venues all within walking distance of each other. It's an impressive project. If you want to learn more about it, we posted something on it two days ago, so head to our LinkedIn feed.
Speaker 1:The American Wood Council has released an updated version of its connection calculator. The calculator supports users by calculating capacities for bolts and nails and large screws in accordance with the 2024 National Design Specification for Wood Construction ANSI, awc, nds 2024. The key update includes adding design provisions for calculating fastener head pull-through and nails and wood screws, and the addition of explicit lateral design provisions for smooth shank metal hardware nails and deformed shank nails. If you want to hear more about that, head to the American Wood Council. You can read some articles on that and take a walk through the additions to the calculator.
Speaker 1: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 great Easter. If you are celebrating. If not, have a relaxing time. I'll catch you next week. That's what's making news around the world this week. Don't forget to hit subscribe. If you've got a manuscript that you want to put into an international journal for peer review, please head to our LinkedIn feed and you can get the link to the Mass Timber Construction Journal. Or you can head straight to masstimberconstructioncom and you'll go straight to the website so you can submit. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, wherever you are in the world, have a great week. Catch up with you next week. This is paul cramer signing off on the mass timber construction podcast. Thank you, bye.