Business, Contracting, Markets 38 The Mainline New CLT Plant; Good News for Oregon Forest Industry In March, Timberlab Inc. announced it will build a cross-laminated timber (CLT) manufacturing plant in Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley, subject to permitting approvals. The 250,000-square-foot facility at capacity will employ 100 and produce 100,000 cubic meters/year of CLT panels, becoming one of the nation’s largest CLT plants. The timeline and plant location were not disclosed. Mass timber construction of tall commercial buildings incorporates CLT, glulam beams and posts, and mass plywood panels, as a structural frame. This plant is good news for Oregon forest contract business, because it expands the future sawlog supply chain from managed forests. Oregon forests, timber contractors, and sawmills are ideally positioned to supply growing nationwide demand for mass timber. The emerging mass timber industry has begun utilizing more Oregon-grown conifer structural lumber, as mass timber building popularity rises with U.S. architects and commercial developers. Oregon is emerging as a national leader in mass timber production, from forest to frame. Mass timber building materials are known for sustainability and rapid construction. In 2015, there were just a handful of U.S. mass timber buildings. Today, there are over 2,000. Western Oregon is already a leading producer of glulam and mass plywood panels. The Willamette Valley is the heart of the ‘Northwest Mass Timber Tech Hub,’ designated by U.S. Commerce Department in 2023. Timberlab works with mass timber programs at Oregon St. University, University of Oregon, and Tall Wood Design Institute. Portland’s new airport terminal is a Timberlab mass timber project. Portland-based Timberlab Inc., subsidiary of Swinerton Inc. provides engineering, fabrication, and installation of mass timber buildings nationwide. In 2020, the firm opened its first mass timber fabrication facility in Portland, in 2021 launched Timberlab, and in 2023 opened a CLT plant in Greenville, SC. Timberlab President Chris Evans said, “The increase in mass timber demand, coupled with our successes over the last seven years, is driving us to continue expanding the supply chain by adding our new CLT manufacturing facility in Oregon.” March Housing Makes One-Month Correction U.S. housing starts were at a seasonally- adjusted annual rate of 1.321 million units in March, 15% below February’s rate, and 4% under the March 2023 figure, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD Dept. March’s U.S. building permits were 4% below the February report, at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.458 million units/year; however, this was a good increase of 2% over the prior year’s March 2023 permit rate. Despite the March decline in starts, ongoing new construction remains fueled by solid demand for U.S. housing, and the severe shortage of previously owned houses for sale. The April U.S. home builder optimism for single-family home demand was unchanged from the prior month, at an April score of 51, according to the National Assoc. of Home Builders (NAHB)/ Wells Fargo Housing Index (HMI). The HMI survey asks builders to rate market conditions for new home sales in the next six months. An HMI score over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as “good.” Oregon Market Spotlight Monthly Report About Wood Product Markets, Which Affect Demand for Oregon Timber Harvest ›By Rex Storm, Executive Vice President
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