Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Construction Podcast
Mass Timber Market Updates - August 2025 - Week TwentyNine
Mass timber construction continues its remarkable global ascent as sustainable building practices gain momentum across continents. This week's roundup captures the pulse of an industry transforming our built environment through innovation and environmental consciousness.
The United Nations Human Settlements Program has taken a significant step forward by advocating for green building codes that prioritize biobased materials—particularly mass timber—alongside circular construction principles and nature-based design elements. This global endorsement amplifies what practitioners have long understood: timber construction represents one of our most powerful tools against climate change.
Australia celebrates a milestone with the ACT government's unveiling of the new Canberra Institute of Technology wooden campus. Designed by Grey Poxon, this stunning facility seamlessly integrates education with community life through thoughtful design that eliminates traditional barriers between learning and civic participation. Meanwhile, Canada's housing shortage is driving unprecedented interest in mid-rise mass timber buildings (7-12 stories), perfectly positioned to address urban density needs while meeting sustainability goals.
We spotlight several breathtaking projects that showcase timber's versatility: McCallum Sather's Passive House certified affordable building in Hamilton; Vancouver's PNE Amphitheater with its innovative acoustic-controlling wooden roof design; and Western Arch Rib's record-breaking storage facility featuring a 160-foot curved glulam beam spanning an astonishing 233 feet. Each project demonstrates how mass timber continues to push boundaries of what's possible in modern construction.
Don't miss the Build the Impossible competition from Rathoblast and start planning now for the landmark 10th International Mass Timber Conference coming to Portland in 2026. Have research to share? We welcome manuscript submissions to help advance industry knowledge. Subscribe, like, and join our growing community of timber enthusiasts shaping a more sustainable built environment.
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. This is Paul Kramer, your host, and welcome back to another weekly episode.
Speaker 1:Don't forget the Build the Impossible competition from Rathoblast. Don't forget the International Mass Timber Conference is actually ramping up its activities to get ready for its 10th event in Portland, oregon, next year, 2026, when you can get down to meet all your friends from around the world and a network opportunity for everybody, globally, for the mastimber construction industry. So get your accommodation booked early, get your tickets sorted out and get your registration in, because I think there's early birds that are coming up very, very soon, if not already open. Let's have a look at what's making news around the world this week in mastimber construction land and the un, through the un habitat, the united nations human settlements program, has released some information about the co2 emissions annually for different types of material and construction, obviously showing that construction contributes a lot to greenhouse emissions. However, what it is working on is green building codes to cut energy use, circular construction, reuse, recycle, reduce natural base design, like rooftop gardens, biodiversity, biobased materials, including mass timber, and built-in renewables, and it is trying to, I guess, capture the essence of what construction means moving forward, and it has a number of sources it lists to achieve this outcome. So if you want to be in touch with what's happening with the UN Habitat, please head to UN Habitat on their LinkedIn feed or go to the webpage and view their Human Settlements Program initiative.
Speaker 1:And to Australia now, and the ACT government has opened the new Canberra Institute for Technology, which is a wooden campus designed by Grey Poxon and featuring mass timber, all electric systems, cultural integration, and the campus blends education with community life. The new state-of-the-art wooden campus is officially opened and is setting a new standard for education infrastructure in our country. Designed by Grey Poxon in collaboration with the infrastructure, canberra, cit and Lendlease, the wooden campus features active street frontages, public spaces and direct transport connections, eliminating traditional barriers between learning and civic participation and seamlessly embedding education within the daily life of the local community. The images are a fantastic representation, so thank you very much for providing those images to us and check it out on our LinkedIn feed. Canada's housing shortage is calling for increased residential density, particularly buildings in the 7 to 12 story range, ideal for mass timber, environmentally sustainable in their construction and often seen as added prerequisite. The result of the projects that developers may cast their eye to could be all mass timber construction solutions as a national and provincial code begins to allow taller encapsulated mass timber. Woodworks says designers are looking at combination of mass timber with other structural materials to integrate more sustainable and efficient solutions into their projects. Switching away from traditional concrete and steel to this mid-height construction realm provides many resources for multi-family hospitality projects with interior wall layouts, adaptable CLT floor plans and you can check out more by heading to our LinkedIn feed. And McCallum Sather delivers the Mass Timber Passive House Affordable Building in Hamilton. The project was designed and constructed through an integrated design build model and aims to offer a replicable approach to delivering high performance housing with long-term value for residents. Element 5 was proud to provide the CLT and the glulam for that project, so congratulations to the team there. If you want to see some more about this amazing Passive House certified project, please head to.
Speaker 1:You know where our LinkedIn and the pne amphitheater is a performance and event space devised by rivalry architecture. The project is located in hasting parks, surrounded by residential neighborhoods, adjacent to the important hastings commercial cordon, and is overlooking the north shore mountains of vancouver in canada. The amphitheater was designed as an intervention that was based on large wooden roof. It aims to provide an ecological solution compatible with the surroundings in the environment and reduce the acoustic impact as much as possible from large events that are held there. This is is an incredible structure. If you have not seen images of this structure, please head to our LinkedIn feed and have a look at it. It is one impressive building.
Speaker 1:Now I'm a little bit slow for the uptake here, but Western Arch Rib posted an amazing video of a storage facility that features the largest glulam volume ever supplied to a single project in the region. The wood can withstand the corrosive properties needed for their type of corrosive environment along the seaside and they completed the design, the supply and the structure above the foundation with early design assistance or early contractor involvement in other parts of the world, ensuring a smooth transition to the construction. The facility features a 160 foot curved glulam beam spanning 233 feet, covers just over seven acres. It is an incredible, incredible building. If you have not seen this, head to their website or head to our linkedin feed and have a look at this amazing project. The fly-through drone footage is impressive. Well done to the entire team.
Speaker 1:And that's it, folks. That's all we've got time for this week in Mass Timber Construction Land. I hope you have an amazing week going forward. I will check in with you next week and make sure that we bring you some more news from around the world. Don't forget the Rothobar Spill the Impossible competition. Don't forget the International Mass Timber Conference in its 10th year in 2026. It started in 2016. It's been going for 10 years and it's an amazing event, so do get your tickets booked for that and we will catch up with you very, very soon. Don't forget to hit like, subscribe and contribute to anything in our social media realm, and if you've got an academic research publication, please submit it to us. We'd be very pleased to review your manuscript. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening, wherever you are in the world today. This is Paul Kramer signing off on the Mass Timber Construction Podcast. Thank you, bye.