Sustainable, renewable, and versatile: It’s hard to find a better building material than wood and there is a new concept for this natural material to be innovatively engineered into a construction solution disrupting the cement and steel industries. The existential climate crisis demands innovative and bold action - Mass Timber promises a solution.

First developed in Europe in the 1990s, Mass Timber involves cross-layering softwood boards and bonding them with glue, nails, dowels or other adhesives to maximize strength. Mass timber is best suited for low-to mid-rise construction, such as multifamily residences and commercial or institutional buildings that would otherwise be built with concrete and steel.

The global market for the most popular Mass Timber technology is cross-laminated timber (CLT) which exceeded $660 million in 2018. CLT demand is projected to grow by over 13% annually into the mid-2020s. Europe accounts for 60% of the market although a dozen Mass Timber manufacturing facilities have opened in North America in the last decade. The US has constructed or started design on nearly 800 mass timber buildings.

By 2025, Mass Timber is expected to account for $1.4 billion of the $14 trillion global construction industry. With current growth rates, Mass Timber would account for a 0.5% of new urban buildings by 2050. With concerted investment in global manufacturing capacity and building projects for Mass Timber, its share of the construction market could rise exponentially by 2050, capturing trillions in value.

The first certified producer of Mass timber opened a plant in Oregon in 2015 and the states of Washington and Oregon were the first to adopt new building codes that allow for eight, 12 and 14 story buildings with Mass Timber. California is expected to adopt similar changes as the International Building Code adds its own provisions to increase seismic durability by up to 100% for buildings over 85 feet.

Mass Timber wood components are fabricated in an automated factory to precise specifications for fast assembly on site reducing months from the construction time. It’s more predictable than concrete and construction during cold weather eliminates the temperature tolerances of concrete construction. It’s stronger than steel, lighter, and has greater insulation and fireproof properties.

The driving force for the Mass Timber market will be the climate change crisis and new regulations and economic incentives for decarbonization. There is an estimated 0.023 tons of carbon offset for every building that uses Mass Timber instead of steel or concrete; and 0.0047 net tons of carbon is sequestered by Mass Timber for every square foot of a building.

Moreover, architects, manufacturers, and environmentalists, are promoting the transition of global commercial construction from a massive source of carbon emissions into a giant carbon sink by replacing concrete and steel construction with Mass Timber. This would avoid the CO2 generated in the production of those building materials and sequester massive amounts of carbon by tying up the wood in buildings for decades or perhaps in perpetuity.

Since Mass Timber weighs 20% of a concrete building, the gravitational load is vastly reduced requiring minimal foundations rather than putting massive amounts of concrete in the ground. With a timber core, timber walls and timber floor slabs there is a significant reduction in the amount of steel required for construction.

An article appearing in Fortune Magazine "From Concrete to Steel, how construction makes up the ‘last mile’ of decarbonization", according to the International Energy Agency, between the energy they consume and their construction, buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of the world's emissions.

Trees sequester and store an immense quantity of CO2 in their cellulosic structures. Mass Timber for constructing buildings has many benefits compared to concrete including its double impact on carbon dioxide reduction:

It replaces a large CO2 emitter (concrete) thus improving the carbon balance.
It also stores massive quantities of carbon above ground. One kilogram of hard wood, depending on type, stores 1.5-2 kg of carbon dioxide. One cubic meter of Mass Timber would store 1-1.5 tons of CO2.
It is lightweight, cost effective, installed rapidly and versatile.
Wood surface can be more easily modified than that of concrete.

The novel nature of Mass Timber has spurred testing and improvement for a variety of factors including resistance to fire, earthquake (seismic activity), wind and other typical building issues such as acoustics and vibrations. The results have been quite promising leading to the growing use of Mass Timber in Europe and a seven-story building has been subjected to multiple seismic events without suffering any damage.

Intuitively, fire may worry people about Mass Timber. In reality, however, thick sections of wood like Mass Timber are quite difficult to ignite due to flame resistant char that forms when wood to subjected to flame. Furthermore, flame retardant agents may be applied to Mass Timber to suppress flammability. Mass Timber is far more resistant to fire than the current US homes and non-residential buildings constructed from thin wood planks and flammable resins and plastics

There is also a movement to develop dedicated Timber & Carbon Farms on marginal lands in Southern California for creating a local lumber industry from fast growing regenerative trees to assure a future sustainable supply for the emerging Mass Timber market.