It’s rare that a governor shows up to celebrate a new condo tower. But this one’s made of wood, and that’s a bigger deal than it seems.
Gov. Kate Brown was on hand the day Carbon12 in North Portland reached its full eight stories and became the nation’s tallest wood building. The feat was made possible by cross-laminated timber, wood engineered to have the strength of steel.
The distinction won’t last long. Another Portland development, an 11–story high-rise made of the same wood product, is expected to secure a building permit within weeks and start construction this summer.
For Oregon, cross-laminated timber represents a chance to revive the moribund wood products industry, restoring logging and manufacturing jobs in rural communities — where the state’s natural resources give it a clear advantage over foreign competitors.
The state is investing hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to promote CLT. Right now, only a handful of buildings in the U.S. have been built with it, and most are in Oregon. But even as CLT presents an opportunity for the state, the nation’s building codes are slow to endorse new materials, and industries that could lose sales to CLT aren’t giving up market share without a fight.
From OregonLive: https://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2017/04/oregon_makes_push_for_wood_sky.html