The Deep South is “jamming” with America’s top timber manufacturers now targeting the region for rapid growth. That is according to Jared Revay, Timberlab’s Director of Manufacturing, who spoke to Wood Central about the huge growth opportunities in the American South.
In June, Timberlab opened its new 75,000-square-foot glulam facility in Greenville, South Caroline—its second on the site in less than 18 months—in a bid to help solve a blockage in the supply of tall timber projects across the American South and East Coast.
At the time, Chris Evans, Timberlab’s President, said the new facilities were about expanding the supply chain and, thereby, “reducing the cost of mass timber structures, ultimately promoting the deployment of timber for commercial buildings along the Eastern seaboard.”
Speaking to Wood Central, Mr Revay said that the Greenville team has grown from just three or four (in January 2023) to a 30-strong labour force, with more shifts and growth in manufacturing (hopefully) to come:
“We’re always looking for the next opportunity to expand mass timber, to make it the mainstream construction material used in the commercial market and the market in general throughout the United States.”
As it stands, more than 2,000 mid-rise and high-rise mass timber buildings have been designed, under construction, or built across the US—yet mass timber makes up just 0.4% of the American softwood market.
However, a study funded by the USDA Forest Resources Planning Act estimates that mass timber projects will surge – fuelled by commercial projects in the Deep South rather than in the Pacific Northwest – the current epicentre of mass timber projects.
“Interestingly, our model suggests relatively slower mass timber adoption rates in four-to-six-storey multifamily residential,” according to the researchers from the University of Georgia, “with projected mass timber adoption rates amongst nonresidential mid-rise buildings much higher.”
Seizing on this growth is why projects like the Tom Lee Park canopy in Memphis, Tennessee, are so important. “The canopy, which has massive glulam beams made from Southern Yellow Pine, was about celebrating Southern Yellow Pine, timber basket of the South,” Mr Revay said.
“It was a challenging project because these massive glulam pieces with knife plates which are difficult to fabricate and fit together,” he said, adding, “We’re not going on to about our third or fourth community outdoor community project like this; it keeps growing.”
Jared Revay will be a keynote speaker at Timber Construct
Mr Revay will present (from Portland, Oregon) at Timber Construct, Australia’s largest timber construction conference, next week, just hours before the grand opening of the Portland International Airport—Timberlab’s 390,000-foot or nine-acre mass timber roof.
“It’s a shame I can’t be in Melbourne, Australia, to present in person,” Mr Revay said. Still, “It’s cool that I can present live from the airport, and it’s pretty exciting to share the project with all the delegates and attendees.”
Mr Revay will join Nick Milestone, the Vice President of Building and Construction for Mercer Mass Timber, and Perry Forsythe, the Emeritus Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, to discuss the North American mass timber skyline and lessons for the Australian context.
“Tickets are still on sale for the August 12 and 13 event,” according to Andrew Dunn, the Timber Construct organiser, “so secure your early bird tickets before it is too late.”
