On Wednesday, October 24, all 14 proposals from the Ad Hoc Committee on Tall Wood Buildings were approved by large margins at the International Code Council (ICC) public comment hearings in Richmond, VA. The Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) commends the American Wood Council (AWC) and its effort in this specially funded initiative by the SLB, the AWC, and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities.
Mass timber includes any product currently permitted for use in Type IV construction, such as cross laminated timber, structural composite lumber, glued-laminated timber, and large section sawn lumber. SLB-funded research estimates that 5.1 billion board feet (bbf) of potential annual demand, with the majority coming from 12 stories and below.
Approval of these proposals will allow three new mass timber building types to be constructed in the United States:
- Type IV-A – Wood buildings up to 20 stories tall
- Type IV-B – Wood buildings up to 12 stories tall
- Type IV-C – Wood buildings up to 9 stories tall
These proposals will now head to the online government consensus vote for final approval, which is scheduled to begin in November. The outcome of the tall mass timber code change proposals is expected in December.