Mass timber construction
Challenges and opportunities of an increasingly popular construction method
Wood is gaining renewed popularity as a building material thanks to technological and industrial advances improvements. The reason? Mass timber construction. Research into wood has led to major regulatory changes across the globe that are boosting the use of mass timber in construction projects – expanding its use beyond residential projects to high-rise commercial buildings.
What is mass timber?
Mass timber is industrially produced to established standards
Mass timber is the collective term for a set of industrially produced composite wood products of various sizes and functions. In a nutshell, production involves gluing, nailing or doweling together pieces of softwood – conifers like pine, spruce, or fir, but also deciduous species such as birch, ash, and beech – to form larger pieces with greater compressive and tensioned strength. These mass timber products are produced according to established standards to help ensure customers get the performance they need. Structural engineers, architects and designers then work together to choose the right wood material for their projects.
Main types of mass timber
Types range from CLT for floor or wall panels to Glulam for beams and columns
The main types of mass timber include Cross-laminated timber (CLT), Glue-laminated timber (Glulam), Dowel-laminated timber (DLT), Nail-laminated timber (NLT) and Laminated veneer lumber (LVL).
Drivers of mass timber adoption
Factors from climate change to regulary shifts are pushing take-up
With more than 70 years of perspective, Hilti has seen many construction trends come and go. But the signs are that mass timber is more than just a fad. Timber construction is expected to make up a 32% share of the construction industry by 2030(1) – driven by a series of global changes that are converging to place wood a cut above other base materials.
More sustainable construction with wood?
Potential benefits include lower emissions and recyling possibilities
Advocates of mass timber projects cite mass timber’s ability to create a more environmentally friendly construction industry. Research suggests this could be the case: mass timber construction may reduce the global warming impact of buildings by up to 26.5%(1) while the use of emerging wood technologies in high buildings could have the same emissions control effect as taking more than two million cars off the road for a year, according to estimates cited by the US Department of Agriculture.(2)
Challenges of mass timber construction
Roadblocks include possible deforestation and technical issues
The key challenges for mass timber include environmental considerations as well as technological challenges related to fastening and fire resistance.
Planning challenges with mass timber construction
Solutions designed to meet the high precision threshold of mass timber
Researchers haven’t uncovered any basic structural or architectural functions wood can’t handle. But timber buildings require just as much support from advanced design software and BIM as other base materials. Given the precision needed to cut and shape the various components, mass timber can bring a number of planning challenges.
We provides cutting-edge digital solutions that allow you to plan and plot every single point of your modular construction before it reaches the construction site. And we have a complete tool park to cover all your woodworking applications. From modular construction to skyscrapers, we’re ready to support with digital and highly productive solutions and applications to help simplify the planning of your wood-building projects.
Share this content