Mass Timber Market Updates - September 2025 - Week ThirtyEight

Big moves in mass timber are landing across sport, offices, research labs, and civic spaces—and the ripple effects are hard to ignore. We kick off with Fukushima United FC’s proposed 5,000‑seat timber stadium, a circular design that aims to reduce waste, maximise reuse, and stand as a sign of recovery for a community shaped by the 2011 disaster. From modular elements to reversible connections, the vision doubles as a blueprint for how mid‑scale venues can evolve over decades without locking in carbon or demolition costs.

Then we head to Sweden, where the Fire Torrent office tower climbs to 51.5 metres without a concrete core. Glulam frames, CLT slabs, and integrated solar show how a fabric‑first approach can deliver stability, performance, and character. We unpack what this means for lateral systems, fire safety, and whole‑life carbon, and why pure timber towers expand the design space beyond familiar hybrids. If you’re tracking tall timber, this one belongs on your watchlist.

The research front brings a potential game‑changer: Swiss teams demonstrate that timber walls with windows can resist over 100 kN of horizontal load, challenging a long‑held assumption that often forced overdesign. Better data on openings unlocks smarter layouts, more daylight, and lower embodied carbon, while paving the way for code updates. We connect those findings to real projects, including Northstowe’s Unity Centre—now topped out with an exposed CLT frame, a sawtooth roof, and a flexible program of hall, café, civic offices, and co‑working. Finally, we spotlight Scotland’s BEST innovation campus relaunch and its Mass Timber Centre for Excellence inside the national retrofit hub, where industry, academia, and policymakers will accelerate testing, training, and circular construction.

If low‑carbon building, circular design, and code‑level evidence matter to you, this update delivers the signals you need. Follow the links on our LinkedIn feed for visuals and research, subscribe for weekly updates, and share this episode with someone who still thinks wood can’t go tall or carry the load. Got a paper or case study to publish? Send it our way and help move the field forward.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, we are alive.
This is the moment you all havebeen a waiting on.

(00:49):
Good morning, good afternoon, orgood evening.
We're everywhere in the worldtoday.
This is Paul Kramer with theMass Timber Construction Podcast
Global Update.
Once again, thank you, BruceBuffer, veteran voice of the Off
the Gone, for doing the introfor our podcast for five years
now.
It's been great to have you onboard.
And don't forget theInternational Mass Timber
Conference celebrating 10 yearsfrom 31st of March to 2nd of

(01:11):
April 2026.
And the Mass TimberInternational Seminar Conference
Series at Rothoblast.
Get your tickets now, register.
They will be limited spotshappening in uh early December.
So head to Rothoblast, head tothe International Mass Timber
Conference website pages, andyou'll be able to register for
both events.
And you'll be lucky enough ifyou can get to both.

(01:33):
It would be a great six monthsof traveling and knowledge
acquisition.
Let's have a look at what'smaking news around the world
this week in Mass TimberConstruction Land.
And the Fukushima United FCFootball Club announces plans
for a new timber stadium inFukushima Prefecture in Japan,
designed in collaboration witharchitecture startup VUILD VILD.

(01:58):
The development is a 5,000-seatvenue, and the project
introduces the country's firstcircular timber stadium concept,
envisaged as a model forsustainable and community-driven
architecture.
The proposal positions thestadium as a symbol of recovery
as it will occupy a region thatcurrent continues to carry the
memory of the 2011 earthquakeand the nuclear disaster that

(02:21):
was associated with it at theFukushima reactor plan.
Within this context, the projectis forward-looking gesture for
resilience, with resilience andcircular design embedded in the
architecture, and the stadium isintended to be a lasting
expression of the spirit of thearea.
The images are impressive.
We've got two LinkedIn posts.

(02:41):
One of them has very, verydetailed design drawings in
renders for this project.
Do check it out, it is a highlyanticipated project, and yeah,
we look forward to seeing theFukushima stadium come to life.
The Fire Torrent uh lighthouseproject located in Sweden

(03:02):
consists of glue-laminatedtimber and beams and diagonals
with CLT floor slabs.
At its core, it providesstructural integrity and houses
the stair system made from CLTwith some concrete elements used
in the building, only throughthe foundation.
The facade combines wood thathas been painted red, the spruce

(03:22):
shingles and the glazing areintegrated with solar panels,
helping to reduce its draw onthe electrical grid.
It's one of the most moderntowers, like the 230 Royal Oak
and Ascent project, featuring aconcrete core for stability.
However, Fire Torrent OfficeTower is uh rising at an
impressive height of 51.5 meterswithout the need for concrete,

(03:47):
highlighting the potential ofsustainable possibilities of
using timber construction.
This is an amazing project.
If you want to go and check itout, you know where to head to
our LinkedIn feed.
And Swiss researchers hasoverturned the assumption that
windowed timber walls offer nostructural support after they
proved that they can withstandmore than 100 kN of horizontal

(04:10):
load.
The breakthrough led by a PhDstudent and a researcher at the
Swiss Federal Laboratories forMaterial Science and Technology
came up with a series oflarge-scale experiments
alongside ETH Zurich and BernUniversity.
Wow, that's a powerful trio.
And the research marks theculmination of four-year
national innovative project toaddress the critical blind spot

(04:34):
of timber engineering involvingthe lack of structural data for
walls with window openings.
Neither in Switzerland nor inEuropean countries are there
currently any regulationsgoverning how much horizontal
loaded timber frame wall canbear, and it contains a window
opening, says one of theresearchers.
If you want to have a look atthis impressive research, we've
got a link to it on our LinkedInfeed.

(04:56):
Please do go check it out.
And a topping out ceremony hastaken place to celebrate the
final construction piece ofNorth Stowe's Unity Centre being
placed onto this magnificentmilestone project in the
community centre, which they'veproduced in the South
Cambridge's District Council.
The installation of sustainableCLT frame took place between May

(05:20):
and July this year, revealingthe body of the building.
The window and door installationand roof are nearly completed,
and the lower level brickworkprocessing to the elevators is
uh almost done.
Exposing timber has been treatedto allow internal walls to
progress as they are the initialphase of the mechanical and

(05:41):
electrical work, and thenupcoming external works include
the PV sole panels on the roofand green roof installation.
The state-of-the-art facilitywill include a large
multi-purpose main hall, awelcoming foyer to host a cafe,
plus a base for staff and thetown hall council office people

(06:01):
to use, as well as have meetingrooms and co-show share work
places designed for arts andcraft workmanship.
The building under constructionphotos look incredible.
It's a sawtooth roof, it has agreat external facade, and it is
uh made of mass timber, so it'sa very sustainable building.

(06:22):
And staying in the region, theBEST built environment Smarter
Transformation has officiallyrelaunched its innovation campus
by welcoming stakeholders to seethe newly equipped Mass Timber
Centre for Excellence inScotland's new retrofitted
national retrofit centre.
The event held at the BestInnovation Campus in Hamilton

(06:43):
marked the first event in theBest Fest in 2025, a fringe
festival brought together byindustry leaders, academics,
policymakers, and innovatorscoming together to showcase the
campus's new facility, explorecollaboration opportunities, and
mark the start of the nextchapter of Best.
Congratulations to the entireteam.

(07:03):
I know you work tirelessly totry and transform the industry,
and we appreciate all that youdo.
And that's it, folks.
That's all we've got time forthis week in Mass Timber
Construction Land.
We hope that you have an amazingweek ahead.
Don't forget to like, subscribe,comment, share any of our
content.
Please submit your academicmanuscript for our journal.

(07:23):
We would really love to see morepapers come through, and we
thank you for tuning in eachweek.
And we've got special guestslined up in the near future.
Good morning, good afternoon, orgood evening, wherever you are
in the world today.
This is Paul Kramer signing offon the Mass Timber Construction
Podcast.