Timber Innovation

[Celedonio Miranda]

MMT is advancing wood technology to transform the construction industry in North America. We offer custom solutions and standard cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (GLT) products for your building needs.

The efficiency and accuracy of manufactured materials production, coupled with reduced on-site labor means faster build times, reduced labor-hours, greater risk control, and increased cost assurance. Additionally, the superior aesthetics and operational efficiencies of mass timber buildings present unique opportunities for design differentiation, high occupancy demand, and long-term asset value growth.

As a prefabricated material, mass timber moves labor upstream and offsite, speeding site build times, improving safety, and mitigating many of the risks associated with traditional construction sites.

Mass timber, with its biophilic properties like natural textures, warm colors, and a connection to nature, fosters environments that enhance the well-being, productivity, and deep sense of connection with the natural world, while also providing benefits such as enhanced thermal comfort, improved acoustics, and comforting warmth derived from its natural aesthetic.

Mass timber buildings are at the forefront of healthy and dynamic communities, providing physiological and psychological benefits to the people who live and work in them, and reducing the environmental impact of construction.

For projects with a total value of over $250,000, a minimum 1:1 cash co-contribution will be required by the applicant for every dollar over $250,000. Sources of cash co-contribution must be disclosed in the application. The purchase of land will not be considered a co-contribution.

The Department will then assess and recommend applications to the Minister for funding. The business will be notified of the outcome and if successful, they will receive a Letter of Offer. Applicants who are successful then respond by either accepting or rejecting the Letter of Offer.

The Department will then issue a grant agreement and the applicant returns the signed agreement to the Department. The Department countersigns and executes the agreement. The project commences and payments are made on evidence of the project milestones being met and completed.

The Grant Application Assistance Service is an optional component of the Timber Innovation Fund, for any eligible business who requires assistance to submit an Expression of Interest and/or an Application to the program.

Located in Kilsyth, CLN Financial Services offers tailored financial solutions including accounting, taxation, mortgage brokering, and grants administration. Their expert team, led by Director Craig Naisbitt, provides personalized advice and support to individuals and businesses. From managing financial records and tax obligations to securing mortgage financing and grants, CLN Financial Services ensures clients receive comprehensive assistance to achieve their financial goals. With a focus on accuracy, compliance, and client satisfaction, CLN Financial Services is dedicated to delivering exceptional service and helping clients navigate the complexities of the financial landscape with confidence and ease.

Located in Traralgon, McMillan's predominantly provides accounting and financial planning services to small to medium sizes businesses. Part of our accounting services is our advisory division that assists businesses with various projects as they arise.

Located in Warragul, IntraWork provides comprehensive grant writing services, including project management, data sourcing, proposal development, budget creation, and stakeholder liaison. We assist clients from initial consultation to post-submission support, ensuring thorough and compelling grant applications. Additionally, we offer strategic planning, policy advocacy, and tailored training workshops, leveraging our extensive experience and access to professional facilities at The Herd Coworking space in Warragul. Our all-inclusive approach helps organisations develop robust projects, meet deliverables, and secure necessary funding.

Located in Gippsland, Snowy Advisory is a regionally based company that provides consultancy and services predominantly into the innovation, enterprise development, program management and business advisory arena. We also offer stakeholder facilitation and coordination services. Finally, we are active in innovation networks providing mentoring, particularly for entrepreneurs, in the areas of business planning and practices, governance, establishing networks and risk management.

The Fair Jobs Code allows the Victorian Government to use its purchasing power to promote secure employment and fair labour standards and to ensure compliance with employment, workplace and industrial laws.

Following graduation from Auburn, Harris worked for Union Camp, a large paper company, as a dirt forester, which entailed being in and caring for forests. The paper companies, especially in the South, owned and managed most of the timberland, and the foresters managed the land for them.

In the late 90s, pulp and paper companies began realizing they needed to focus on making pulp and paper and did not need to own the timberland because there were institutional investors willing to purchase the timberland as an asset class that would continue to grow timber and supply the mills with their needs.

In this new role, Harris built funds for managers investing in timberland and managed those funds, still with his foot in the timber space as his skillset evolved more on the business side of forestry.

This especially rings true when you look at 619 Ponce, a mixed-use office and retail building Jamestown built using engineered mass timber, located next to their adaptive reuse Ponce City Market project in downtown Atlanta.

The need for engineered mass timber becomes evident when we think about global emissions, explained Harris, who stated globally about 40% of carbon emissions are caused by the built environment, with 11% of that rooted in the products with which we build.

The Auburn Mass Timber Collaborative is an interdisciplinary collaboration between colleges to advance research, education and outreach in mass timber design and construction with a focus on the forestry, architecture, engineering and construction industries in the Southeast.

The world has reached a crucial tipping point around carbon emissions and resource consumption. However, the hospitality industry has slowly adopted even small sustainability measures (e.g., reusing towels, opting out of daily sheet changes). Hotels must differentiate themselves from competitors as they rebound from the pandemic and adapt to COVID travel sensibility. Market research shows that the next generation of hotel guests are willing to pay a premium for environmentally and socially conscious projects. Simultaneously, the production of timber building materials and related building codes are evolving to make mass timber design more practical in various building types. Could timber construction be the answer to jumpstarting change?

Our mass timber-hotel prototype derived from a collaborative research initiative involving architects, interior designers, engineers, developers, hoteliers, federal bodies, and educators. It removes perceived barriers to hospitality timber construction by definitively and objectively dispelling common objections, quantifying environmental and health benefits, and calculating a compellingly competitive cost model. Most importantly, it takes a decidedly different tack than other flashy, sky-high timber concepts that can only get off the ground when a city bends the code. Under the 2021 version of the most adopted building code and typical site adaptions, developers can build this prototype in any North American city.

We want to make the sustainable option easy and affordable to ensure it is widely accessible and appealing. Our goal for this prototype is to remove the hurdles a developer could face if they took on a project like this alone. Our concept is mass timber for the masses.

Structural engineers tested timber structural modules against cost and typical hotel room modules, finding the sweet spot where the space between structural members neatly houses a hotel room with minor modification. Advancements in wood and fire science meant clearing the perceived life safety barrier: fire modeling shows the prototype assembly meets performance code with no disadvantages.

Changes in the IBC meant we could incorporate a stunning roof deck into our design, an amenity that many hotels use to attract guests and community members looking for a great spot to dine and relax. The sustainable ethos of the hotel is woven throughout the concept design by incorporating other natural or minimally processed materials, encouraging physical activity through an appealing interior stair and fitness space, and celebrating biophilia and nature through a rooftop garden and seasonal menu concept.

As a functional prototype, the module was feasibility tested across various North American climates, geographies, building zones, and standard codes. A comparative cost model between the timber prototype and a similar hotel built with concrete and steel saw the timber system priced out with a slight 4% premium. Although, developers can regain that quickly as timber construction efficiencies translate to opening weeks faster.

In bringing mass timber to the hospitality market, we are encouraging hotel owners and developers to embrace a better hotel situated well within the current market while also having side benefits regarding climate change and resource consumption. This prototype demonstrates a significant reduction in embodied carbon in a visible way that can attract a new market of travelers.

WIN is a program of WoodWorks. WIN showcases mass timber and innovative light-frame projects and their design and construction teams. WoodWorks provides free technical support on commercial and multi-family projects like the ones found on WIN.

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