Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Market Updates - May 2025 - Week Nineteen
Ready for a whirlwind tour of mass timber innovation happening across the globe? From robotic fabrication in Barcelona to award-winning coastal homes in Cornwall, we're covering the most exciting developments in sustainable construction.
The timber revolution continues gaining momentum with Fife College setting new standards in sustainable education buildings. Their new campus has shattered carbon targets, achieving just 560kg CO2/m² by replacing traditional concrete with cross-laminated timber and using 95% recycled steel in their delta beams. This showcase of collaborative design between architects, engineers, and sustainability experts demonstrates how public buildings can lead the way in carbon reduction.
Meanwhile, architectural excellence in timber construction is receiving well-deserved recognition, with a stunning two-family home in Cornwall winning the prestigious 2025 RIBA West, South and Wessex Award. This "Hollywood on the sea" property masterfully integrates mass timber elements with breathtaking coastal views. At the Venice Architecture Biennale, the US pavilion is making a statement with a zigzagging mass timber canopy exploring "An Architecture of Generosity," while TU Graz's innovative "HOT" (Holz on Top) system offers modular timber solutions for urban building extensions.
Perhaps most exciting is the convergence of technology and timber, with CORE transforming a former Barcelona stable into a "cathedral of robotic artisans" where a KUKA six-axis industrial milling robot crafts extraordinary geometric forms from mass timber. These developments, alongside Sterling Solutions' new Terra-Cross CLT bridge system supporting 100 tons, showcase timber's versatility across architecture, infrastructure, and digital fabrication. Don't forget to check out the Rothobus Build the Impossible competition, now accepting entries until September, and subscribe to our channels for more mass timber inspiration!
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 competition from Rothobus is out now. Get your entries in their judging panel and all the information is on the website. So go to the build the impossible website from Rothobus and you can find out more about the competition details.
Speaker 1:Don't forget to hit subscribe, like or comment and share any of our posts or content on our linked feed or our research journal. The publications are free to read and it's free to publish, so if you're looking to publish a manuscript, please consider our humble journal with a growing impact factor. Let's have a look at what's making news around the world this week in mass timber construction, land and Woodworks in new zealand is hosting event on tuesday, the 10th of june 2025, between 4 pm and 5 pm that is the local time in cross church in new zealand. If you want to learn more about this impressive event, which is going to look at the growing capacity of use of wood in commercial and multi-residential buildings, please head to woodworks nz and you can register your interest or go to our linkedin feed. We've actually got the event hosted there and it's that time of year again with the venice architecture biennale which is out this year. The us pavilion is exploring porches as an architectural archetype for American architecture, with zigzagging mass timber canopy forming a shelter outside its neoclassic building. Titled An Architecture of Generosity, the timber canopy installation and exhibition inside the existing pavilion was curated by Susan Chin and Peter McKeith and Rob Biglow. So if you want to go and have a look at this impressive architectural monument for the Biennale, you can head to our LinkedIn feed or go to the Biennale website.
Speaker 1:And over to the UK now and the 2025 RIBA West, south and Wessex Award is a two-family house in Cornwall. Rundle Architects, which is a private client, which is the client for this the confidential contract value. The design is a genuine two-family home in Cornwall that demonstrates the intimate understanding of highly sensitive site and coastal environment, featuring a Hollywood on the sea type property. This building is impressive and inside the building is mass timber elements. If you have a look at the way that this building is massed on this particular side of the hill, getting as many coastal views as possible, plus using sustainable materials, you can see that this is beautiful wedding between these two elements of this architectural innovation, and no wonder it won an award. So congratulations to the team, and if you want to have a look at it, you can go to the RIBA awards page or our LinkedIn feed.
Speaker 1:And Fife College's new city campus is setting a precedent in sustainable construction. Having successfully passed independent verification for its embodied and whole-of-life carbon assessment for its three new buildings Set to open this year, the campus in Scotland's net zero ready tertiary education building has drawn significant interest across the public sector. The development of this exemplary embodied carbon footprint of just over 560 kilograms of CO2 emissions per meter squared the teaching building and the three other buildings, beating its original target of 650 kilograms. This success is the result of strong collaboration between Fife College, the project partners and the supply chain specialists, who featured in providing a net zero public building. The building was produced using concrete slabs and these were replaced within the original design with CLT and delta beams using 95% recycled steel. The lower, stronger carbon reduced concrete substitute for the particular project approximated 20% of a typical savings on a similar building. So this is a signatory race to zero initiative, and Fife College is actively pursuing climate action through these initiatives on its campus. Impressive work to everyone involved in the project. If you want to learn more, you can head to Fife College or you know where.
Speaker 1:And TU Graz has been added again with its technical innovations for sustainable extensions on existing buildings using modular timber construction. The team has developed a modular building technology concept in collaboration with partners as a catalogue for key building physics to be able to extend buildings by one or two storeys. So these are overbuilds or vertical extensions. This particular approach is being called HOT Holz on Top Wood on Top in German Holz Wood Project consortium comprising of people from engineers from the Institute of Timber Engineering and Wood Technology, the Institute of Architecture Technology, building Physics Services and Construction at Graz University of Technology have all developed this precise, sustainable building solution and you can see details of it on our LinkedIn feed. And Sterling Solutions not structural Sterling Solutions who are famous for their ground protection mats, has now created a cross lamlaminated timber terra-cross bridge system. The fully engineered system, made with structural steel that supports up to 100 tons over a clear span of 50 feet, offers an alternative to field bridging for construction and development projects. If you want to learn more about this innovative solution, please head to Sterling Solutions website where you can read more about it.
Speaker 1:And lastly, on the show today, the former stable in Barcelona that is now the home to robots. This is no fiction A cathedral of robotic artisans. Core, as it is known, has basically built a house for a robot. As it is known, has basically built a house for a robot. It is a KUKA six-axis industrial milling robot, and it has produced some amazing geometry and architecturally inspired shapes inside this building. It's an existing brick building with a sort of internal structure that's produced out of mass timber. You want to see these impressive photos of this cougar and what it's been able to do? Please head to our LinkedIn feed.
Speaker 1:And that's it, folks. That's all we've got time for this week in mass timber construction land. We hope you're having a great week. Don't forget the Rotha Blast Build the Impossible competition which is happening right now. Entries that go through to about September and then judging happens. So get to their website and have a look, and don't forget to hit subscribe, like, comment, share or post anything on our LinkedIn feed. If you've got a manuscript, send it to us. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening. This is Paul Kramer signing off on the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. Thank you.