A growing number of American hardwoods are being used in ‘niche’ mass timber applications – with architects leaning on Red oak, White oak and Tulipwood to build some of the world’s most famous projects. And whilst it’s unlikely it will “get the jump on softwoods,” Rod Wiles of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) said hardwoods do have advantages:
“For cross-laminated timber made out of Tulipwood, you need much less wood, much less material, to make panels just as strong. You may only need five layers of Tulipwood in a panel, instead of seven for a softwood panel – given Tulipwood is three times stronger in rolling shear…and the same goes for Red oak and glulam.”
Rod Wiles, Regional Director for the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) in Africa, the Middle East, India and Oceania who spoke to Wood Central about the advantages of hardwoods in mass timber.
“In Australia, we now have one of the biggest mass timber producers in the southern hemisphere using Red oak to make their glulam products, which is extraordinary and ahead of what’s happening in Europe,” Mr Wiles said.
Then you have examples of projects like Lord’s Cricket Ground – one of the first to introduce a sustainability policy prioritising using mass timber to reduce its carbon footprint: “Populous architects did these incredible White oak glulam beams that support a shade structure over the Warner Stand. The beams are 20 metres long and three metres deep in the middle. They’re enormous, great things.”
Located beside the Members Pavillion, the Warner Stand was the first developed as part of Lord’s Master Plan. It features a wing-shaped roof built from White oak glulam beams and profiled steel, with a translucent fabric canopy shading spectators and allowing natural light. Manufactured by Hess Timber, it features 11 cantilevered White oak beams – the longest measuring 23.4 metres, making them (for the time) the longest glue-laminated beams manufactured in Europe.
According to Mr Wiles, more and more hardwoods used in furniture, construction, and boat building are turning to timber “grown in the USA” – with Australia, India, Vietnam and the EU leading the way in importing American hardwoods due to their quality and consistency.
- To learn more about Rod Wiles and AHEC, the global face of the US hardwood industry for over thirty years, click here to watch Wood Central’s podcast in full.
