Projects in Springfield and Portland have landed a collected $200,000 as leaders test the viability of cross-laminated timber.
The funding, awarded by the Business Oregon-backed cleantech champions Oregon BEST and the National Center for Advanced Wood Products Manufacturing and Design, will back research that fast-tracks CLT as a green construction material usable throughout the U.S.
Of that money, $155,000 will go to the planned four-story Glenwood Parking Structure in Springfield. The project’s developers will use the money for research, performance testing and code documentation. The team will measure such factors as vibration, moisture, post-tension loss in rocking shear walls and seismic instrumentation. The SRG firm designed the 360-space structure.
The National Center for Advanced Wood Products Manufacturing and Design, a collaboration between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, will perform the research and testing functions. The Carbon 12 mixed-use condominium complex in Northeast Portland was awarded $45,000 for acoustic and moisture testing.
According to Oregon BEST, U.S. architects and builders wanting to use the new material in construction projects “must negotiate a maze of additional documentation, atypical performance modeling requirements, unfamiliar construction methods and building code hurdles that can delay CLT projects and has slowed adoption of the material.”
From the Portland Business Journal: https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2016/07/new-springfield-portland-buildings-get-200k-to.html