The Mass Timber Institute officially launched on October 30 with an industry leaders’ collaboration event held at their offices at 110 Yonge Street in Toronto. Key industry leaders from education and industry participated in this collaboration to help propel the mass timber industry forward.
In her welcome address, Anne Koven, director of the Mass Timber Institute spoke about the role MTI can play to push the industry ahead and how MTI can help the industry get access to so much more of the research that has been done.
An adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and a Forester, Koven said coming into the Mass Timber Institute has been a “surprise for me that I am enjoying very much as I learn about your industry. Mass timber starts with trees, but it is very much in the hands of the industry represented by the people in this room. This is a multi-discipline enterprise driven by designers building, architects, engineers, and contractors.”
“We plan to expand the Mass Timber Institute nationally and eventually internationally. Again, I want to convince you of the importance of the academic and industry connection and collaboration. Lots of good things have come out of this collaboration including the biotech industry, cures for diseases, nanotechnology and synthetic forms of cancer drugs. There have been many exciting results in academic and industry collaboration. It might be presumptuous of me to add mass timber products to this list, but I am going to,” said Koven.
The morning presentations provided focused discussions on opportunities and specific challenges that lie ahead for mas timber integration. One of the critical challenges is the fact that the average practitioner (architect/engineer) does not have access to the specialist consultants that are developing today’s’ leading-edge mass timber projects. To gain market share, mass timber must be widely accessible.
Read more on this from The Working Forest at https://www.workingforest.com/mass-timber-institute-officially-launched/?utm_source=November+06%2C+2018&utm_campaign=November+06%2C+2018&utm_medium=email.