Friday, April 16, 2021

Michigan: spring webinars cover practical aspects of using mass timber

A series of free webinars in April, May and June will explore key aspects of building with mass timber, from meeting codes to the challenges of using hardwoods when making mass timber.

Mass timber construction allows for building large and tall structures using engineered wood. Mass timber construction often goes up faster than traditional construction and uses renewable materials.

The series is an outgrowth of Michigan’s recent Mass Timber Summit, a virtual meeting that took place last fall and was co-hosted by the Michigan Forest Biomaterials Institute and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. All of the webinars are hosted by MIFBI.

“We wanted to continue sharing information and extend the success of the summit,” said Brian Craig, chair of MIFBI’s board.

The webinars include:

  • New Tall Wood Code Provision: Understanding Advanced Design Topicsnoon-1 p.m. Tuesday, April 20. Presenter is Archie Landreman, regional director north central, WoodWorks; with opening remarks by Shannon Lott, DNR deputy director. Register for the webinar.
  • Mass Timber Project Updates in Michigan and Around the U.S.noon-1 p.m. Tuesday, May 11. Presenter is Pete Kobelt, U.S. sales and business development, Element5. This segment is sponsored by Element5, which is involved in design/engineering of mass timber building. Register for the webinar.
  • Hardwoods for Mass Timber: Opportunities and Challenges in the U.S. –noon-1 p.m. Thursday, June 3. Presenter is Xinfeng Xie, assistant professor of forest biomaterials at Michigan Technological University. Register for this webinar.

The webinars are free, but each is limited to 100 guests and registration is required. A list of upcoming webinars and recordings of past events are available on the MIFBI website.