What is mass timber?

"Mass timber buildings are constructed with large pre-manufactured, multilayered, solid wood panels resulting in solid timber floors and walls typically ranging from 5 to 12 inches in thickness. Typical mass timber products include cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail-laminated timber, glued-laminated timber (glulam), and structural composite lumber". Read more here.

Reuse and Mass Timber Resources:

University College London (UCL) - Reusing wood from demolition in mass timber products

• Description: "As part of the UCL Festival of Engineering 2024, the Circular Economy lab is exhibiting a pilot building demonstrating new materials developed at UCL."

Urban Machine - Creating Sustainable Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT) with Reclaimed Wood

• Description: Urban Machine is collaborating with the University of California Berkeley and All Bay Lumber to integrate reclaimed wood into Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT). 

Circular economy: salvaged lumber

• Developed by: King County
• Description: "Every year, about 500 buildings in Seattle and over 400 homes in King County are demolished. This creates a large volume of lumber that is often as good as, or even better quality than new lumber. By collecting and reusing this lumber, and scrap lumber from new construction, we can create a more sustainable, circular system. But to do this, we need more regional infrastructure to process salvaged lumber. Learn about our work and resources concerning salvaged lumber."

InFutURe Wood - Publications

• Description: "Project InFutUReWood is supported under the umbrella of ERA-NET Cofund ForestValue by Vinnova – Sweden’s Innovation Agency, Formas, Swedish Energy Agency, the Forestry Commissioners for the UK, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for Ireland, the Ministry of the Environment for Finland, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture through the Agency for Renewable Resources for Germany, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for Spain, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport for Slovenia. We aim to answer the questions: How easy is it to reuse wood from current buildings especially as structural material? How can the past experience help the future?"

Salvaged Lumber Reuse in Federal Center South (paid course; free for AIA members)

• Description: "Reusing building materials reduces the amount of embodied carbon in our buildings and helps reduce waste from deconstruction. This case study of the Federal Center South in Seattle explores the use of reclaimed timber from a warehouse that previously occupied the site. Presenters discuss reuse strategies and sustainable design approaches used throughout this innovative project. This course, presented courtesy of AIA California, meets the requirements for continuing education coursework in Zero Net Carbon Design (ZNCD) for California architecture license renewals starting in 2023."

From Environmental Protection Branch/Environment and Climate Change Canada

• Scaling-up circularity in new home construction with CRD wood
• Cultivating connections for new secondary markets with CRD wood
• Constructing a mass timber visitor centre featuring CRD wood
  

More on mass timber (resources not directly related to reuse):

• "Breakthrough: Eastern Hemlock CLT to Ignite Northeast Boom?"
  • Article developed by: woodcentral
• "2024 Timber-Strong Design Build Competition: Small Buildings, Big Educational Opportunities"
  • Article developed by: Building Design + Construction

More on wood (resources not directly related to mass timber):

• Clean Wood Collection and Reuse
  • Developed by: King County