Mass Timber Market Updates - July 2025 - Week TwentySix

Five years strong! The Mass Timber Construction Podcast celebrates this milestone by exploring the most exciting developments transforming the built environment through sustainable wood technologies.

The adaptive reuse revolution continues with London's New Wave House by Thomas McBriden Architects. This thoughtful vertical expansion features a glulam timber pavilion atop an existing industrial building, preserving architectural character while creating nearly 800 square meters of flexible workspace for local businesses. The project exemplifies the craftsmanship-centered approach possible with mass timber, with components manufactured in the contractor's own joinery workshop.

Mass timber's versatility shines in specialized applications, notably at Washington School for the Deaf. This groundbreaking facility incorporates DeafSpace principles with CLT elements designed specifically for visual communication needs. Eight-foot-wide corridors allow for sign language conversations while walking, and horseshoe-configured classrooms provide double the standard space per learner, demonstrating how engineered wood can support inclusive, community-focused design.

Corporate America continues its timber transformation with Walmart's new Bentonville headquarters emerging as the nation's largest mass timber corporate campus. At 83,380 square meters across four hybrid buildings, it joins Google and other major corporations embracing sustainable construction at scale. Meanwhile, manufacturing capacity grows with Klasnikov's new 100,000 square foot prefabrication facility in British Columbia—itself built from the company's own mass timber products.

The academic world advances timber innovation too, with MSU's Sandra Lupien securing a prestigious Fulbright Award to conduct mass timber policy research in Finland during 2025-2026. Her work represents the growing global collaboration driving the future of sustainable construction.

Want to contribute to this exciting field? Submit your research to our international journal—free to publish, free to access, and offering extensive exposure across our podcast and social media platforms. Subscribe, share, and join us in building a more sustainable future through mass timber innovation!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, we are live.
This is the moment you all havebeen waiting for.
It's time for the globalsensation, the one, the only,

(00:24):
the undisputed heavyweightpodcast in the world the Mass
Timber Construction Podcast.
And now here's Paul Cramer,your host.

(00:48):
Good morning, good afternoon orgood evening wherever you are
in the world today.
Welcome to the Mass TimberConstruction Podcast.
This is Paul Cramer, your host.
Welcome to the month of July.
It's great to have you on board.
Thank you for subscribing,liking, commenting, sharing, and
thank you to bruce buffer, theveteran voice of not only the
octagon but also the podcast,for doing the introduction for

(01:10):
five years now we have beengoing for five years.
It's a monumental effort.
Let's have a look at what'smaking news around the world
this week in mass timberconstruction land and new wave
house by thomas mcbridenarchitects is a glulam timber
pavilion that's been added to anexisting industrial building as

(01:31):
part of a sensitive adaptivereuse project.
We have images of thisimpressive additional or
vertical extension on top ofthis industrial building on our
linkedin feed.
The New Wave House is asensitive adaptive reuse
vertical expansion of aspecialist contractor named New
Wave in London.

(01:51):
They achieved a two-storystructure including a
lightweight glulam timberpavilion and its load-bearing
perimeter walls, maximizingpotential of the development
while preserving the characterand the fabric of the original
building.
In addition to theaccommodating the contractor's
growing spatial requirements,785 square meters of flexible

(02:15):
workspace across nine rentableunits has been created for local
businesses and startups,addressing a critical need
within the local community.
The project was deliveredthrough a close
architect-contractorrelationship.
Components were manufactured inNew Wave's London-owned joinery
workshop, placing craftsmanshipat the heart of the build.

(02:35):
And, as I said, you can go andhave a look at this impressive
photo on our LinkedIn feed.
And heading to the United Statesnow, in the washington school
for the deaf, the wsb divineacademic and hunter gymnasium
stands as a landmark achievementin accessible education design,
incorporating deaf spaceprinciples to prioritize the

(02:57):
unique needs of deaf and hard ofhearing students.
The project, delivered througha progressively designed build
approach by Skanska, leveragedearly collaboration with
DeafSpace consultants to createspaces specifically engineered
for deaf communication andlearning.
The warm, home-like environmentfosters a sense of belonging

(03:18):
and pride for students and staff.
The key building innovationsinclude eight foot wide hallways
allowing for sign languageconversions while walking and
classroom, providingapproximately 60 feet of space
per learner Twice the industrialstandard, arranged in a
horseshoe configuration thatmaximizes visual communication.

(03:39):
The building was produced usingCLT elements and if you want to
have a look at the photos, youcan head to our LinkedIn feed.
An amazing story.
Great to see mass timber beingused in acute areas such as the
deaf school that we've justspoken about, plus aged care
facilities.

(04:00):
Great to see that we're tryingto think about whole community
when we're developing theseprojects.
And probably a little bit ofolder news, but Sandra Lupien,
who'd been on the podcast a fewyears ago, who's an academic
specialist and serves as thedirector of timber mass timber
at MSU, michigan StateUniversity, has received a

(04:20):
Fulbright US Scholar ProgramAward to conduct a professional,
product-focused mass timberpolicy for the 2025-2026
academic year in Finland as partof the US Department of State
and the Fulbright ForeignScholarship Board.
Congratulations to Sandra.
She's seeking solutions forglobal challenges through this
particular scholarship and welook forward to hearing what

(04:44):
happens.
And, sandra, please do comeback from Finland with your new
policy and we'd love to have youon the podcast again and have a
chat about what's beenhappening all around your
journey with the FulbrightForeign Scholarship.
I'm not sure if we did reportthis at the time, but
Klasnikov's mass timber facilityrecently opened with a 100,000

(05:06):
square foot mass timberprefabrication and modular
facility in BC, 400 miles eastof Vancouver.
The new facility, which isbuilt entirely out of
Klasnikov's own mass timberproducts, complements the
company's two other nearbyfacilities.
Mass Timber Productscomplements the company's two
other nearby facilities.
If you want to see some imagesof this impressive timber

(05:26):
produced, magnificent warehouseconstruction manufacturing plant
, please head to our LinkedInfeed.
And I know we announced theGoogle Mass Timber Buildings
previously, and I know thatwe've announced Walmart mass
timber buildings previously andI know that we've announced

(05:47):
Walmart.
Well, walmart's new home inBentonville, arkansas, is the
largest mass timber corporatecampus in the United States.
From Mercer, mass Timbermanufactured the sustainable
material zone one, four hybridmass timber buildings, four
stories each totaling 83,380square meters, and office spaces
and parking decks.
And if you want to have a lookat some construction photos,

(06:09):
there's a couple on our LinkedInfeed.
These are impressive juggernautbuildings and you can see the
superstructure going up usingthe Lugulam and CLT plate system
and it's impressive.
So please do head to ourLinkedIn feed and check those
out.
That's it, folks.
That's all we've got time forthis week in Mass Timber

(06:30):
Construction Land.
We hope you have a great weekmoving forward.
Good morning, good afternoon.
Before we go, don't forget tohit subscribe.
If you've got a journalmanuscript and you want to get
it into an international journalfor publication, please put it
into a review.
We review very, very quickly.
We are free to access, free topublish, we will not charge fees

(06:51):
and you will have a greatexposure across our many
platforms, including the podcastand social media.
Good morning, good afternoon orgood evening, wherever you are
in the world.
Today, this is Paul Kramersigning off on the Mass Timber
Construction Podcast.
Thank you,