by Web Editor | Jan 13, 2016 | News
The American Wood Council says the International Code Council (ICC) Board of Directors approval of the formation of a Tall Wood Building Ad Hoc Committee.
The committee will be made up of stakeholders, code officials and other interested parties. The committee will study tall wood construction and may develop code changes to be submitted for the 2021 International Building Code. Tall wood is an industry term to identify the use of cross laminated timber (CLT) and other heavy timber manufactured wood products in building heights greater than six stories.
“Other nations have already seen the benefits of tall wood construction – from the low carbon footprint, ease of construction and reduced construction time.
“Wood products are made from renewable resources found abundantly in North America. AWC petitioned ICC for creation of the committee to research the building science of tall wood buildings, and are pleased that it is moving forward. This is an important step toward the advancement of tall wood in the United States, a carbon-sequestering alternative in construction.”
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/tall-wood-building-committee-will-work-2021-global-building-codes
by Web Editor | Jan 8, 2016 | News
KronotexUSA and its parent firm Swiss Krono Group will invest $230 million to build a high-density fiberboard mill and expand the company’s laminate flooring production in Barnwell, South Carolina, a move which will create 105 new jobs over the next few years.
Construction is scheduled to begin by mid-2016, with HDF operations to begin by summer 2018. Once completed, the company said the expansion will allow it to produce 300,000 cubic-meters of HDF per year, to be used for manufacturing laminate flooring and for sale to furniture, cabinet, fixture, door and other wood-based manufacturers. Kronotex’s annual laminate flooring capacity is expected to increase an additional 8 million square-meters.
Kronotex opened its laminate flooring facility in 2005 and was featured on WoodworkingNetwork.com in 2008. A $45 million expansion in 2011 about doubled the size of the plant, and in 2015 Kronotex underwent another expansion, adding equipment to do its own paper and overlay treating.
“We’ve been very happy with the quality of the workforce talent here in South Carolina. And we’re delighted to be able to employ more Americans here in Barnwell and grow our exceptional relationship with the local people, businesses and government,” said Norm Voss, former CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Kronotex USA Holdings Inc.
The addition of new jobs will increase the company’s workforce in South Carolina to 275 people. Additional funding for the project was provided by the Coordinating Council for Economic Development, which approved job development credits, plus a $1 million Rural Infrastructure Fund grant to Barnwell County to assist with the costs of real property improvements related to the project.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/kronotex-announces-230-million-laminate-flooring-panel-mill-expansion
by Web Editor | Jan 6, 2016 | News
When complete in 2017, the 18-storey (53m) tower, called Brock Commons, will house hundreds of students at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
Unless overtaken by other ambitious timber towers now at design or proposal stage, the CAN$51.5m residence is set to be the world’s tallest, beating the 13-storey ‘Origine’ apartment block now being built in Quebec City.
The world’s tallest completed timber structure is the 10-storey Forte apartment block in Melbourne, Australia, completed in November 2012 by Lend Lease.
Construction on Brock Commons, designed by Acton Ostry Architects, started on 9 November and the building is set to open in September 2017. It will house 404 students in 272 studios and 33 four-bedroom units.
Earlier this year the provincial government of British Columbia passed a new regulation that allowed UBC to go over timber-structure height limits if the building met rigorous health and safety standards. The architects, Acton Ostry, and UBC building officials helped draft the regulation.
From Construction Manager: https://www.construction-manager.co.uk/international/worlds-tallest-timber-tower-going-vancouver/
by Web Editor | Dec 29, 2015 | News
Georgia-Pacific LLC announced today that it has reached an agreement to sell its engineered lumber business to Boise Cascade for $215 million, including working capital. The transaction is subject to standard regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.
“Georgia-Pacific is firmly committed to the building products industry. Although the engineered lumber business has been profitable and employees have done a great job running safe, productive assets and meeting our customers’ needs, it is not a large part of our overall building products division,” said Mark Luetters, Georgia-Pacific executive vice president–building products. “We believe this potential sale to an established player in the industry is in the best interest of our engineered lumber employees, customers and stakeholders.”
Once completed, the sale will include the engineered lumber operations located at Thorsby, Alabama, (approximately 230 employees) and Roxboro, North Carolina, (approximately 40 employees), along with a commercial sales and technical team.
From LBM Journal: https://www.lbmjournal.com/georgia-pacific-to-sell-engineered-lumber-business-to-boise-cascade/
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by Web Editor | Dec 28, 2015 | Update
Good Earth Power AZ and its former restoration contractor, Campbell Global, have filed lawsuits against each other for alleged breach of contracts concerning work on the 4FRI (Four Forest Restoration Initiative).
4FRI is the Forest Service project to restore/thin 300,000 acres in 10 years on the Coconino, Kaibab, Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto national forests, following years of devastating wildfires. Good Earth Power AZ, based in Flagstaff, was created to take over the 4FRI contracts as part of its acquisition of the assets of Pioneer Forest Products, which had been awarded the contract in 2012 but failed to find financing for it.
Campbell Global, which initially contracted with GEPAZ in May 2014 for forest restoration services, and which left the project in June, has sued GEPAZ for breach of contract and failure to pay nearly $3 million for services. GEPAZ has since counter-sued Campbell Global for $1 million for failure to perform services.
Campbell Global claims GEPAZ did not pay monthly and annual management fees and other incentive and sourcing fees as stipulated in the agreement. In June 2015 Campbell Global withdrew from the deal and gave GEPAZ seven days in which to make full payment of more than $3 million.
Campbell Global says that GEPAZ offered to make monthly payments but tendered only $18,000 to Campbell Global, which in September filed suit in U.S. District Court, District of Oregon, Portland Div.
GEPAZ claims Campbell Global was entitled to compensation only if Campbell performed its obligations, which GEPAZ says Campbell failed to do.
GEPAZ says it and Campbell failed to complete and approve business plans and an operating budget as directed by their agreement and this automatically terminated the agreement. GEPAZ also says Campbell failed to monitor prevailing wage payments to subcontractors, resulting in the Dept. of Labor fining Good Earth for violating certain provisions of Good Earth’s contract with the U.S. Forest Service
GEPAZ also claims Campbell Global was negligent in its performance by failing to solicit a satisfactory pool of bids from local logging companies, for hiring an inexperienced logging company against Good Earth’s advice, for failing to register Good Earth for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program federal subsidy by the deadline and for failing to attract log and chip sales for Good Earth.
GEPAZ also claims Campbell Global induced Good Earth to share its operating information and to spend its last capital on projects Campbell Global so designated, with a promise to secure financing for Good Earth, but that instead of coming through with the financing, Campbell Global notified Good Earth it was canceling the agreement.
Because of these and other alleged breaches, GEPAZ filed a counter-suit in the same court in October, seeking damages of at least $1 million.
Good Earth Power reports that in the two years since GEPAZ took over the 4FRI contract in Arizona, it now employs 150, owns and operates two lumber mills, has two pole peeling facilities, operates an in-house trucking fleet, has developed forest infrastructure capable of operating simultaneously on six individual Forest Service task orders. GEPAZ also reports it has customer orders for more than 100 loads of biomass per day.
As of October, 5,000 acres had been restored, and GEPAZ was working with 19 Forest Service Task Orders in various stages of activity or inactivity. Addressing some questions that restoration is proceeding slowly, GEPAZ points to biomass removal as a key difference between a 4FRI restoration task order and a routine timber sale. Biomass is “what makes 4FRI a model and a test case for landscape scale restoration—not forest thinning or logging,” GEPAZ states.
