Research Team:
Chris Knowles (PI)
Lech Muszynski (Co-PI)
Raquel Albee (M.S)
Jose Guerrero Marinez (PhD)
Pipet Larastie (PhD)
Minimal research currently exists for the cross-laminated timber industry on a global scale, especially from the CLT manufacturers’ perspective. This research focused on the global manufacturers of CLT will be used as a preliminary overview of the industry and built upon in the future through annual surveys and more in-depth research on particular components of interest.
The global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) industry has changed dramatically within the past decade, with expansion outside of its start in Alpine, Europe. The societal focus on more sustainable options within the built environment has led to increased use of mass timber construction and its products including cross-laminated timber. Examining cross-laminated timber through the direct manufacturers gives the ability to gain the most information about the manufacturers, current markets, incentives, opportunities, and risks. With a small, niche industry like cross-laminated timber, it’s important to gain insights from those directly involved in the production. A questionnaire was designed with the goal of developing an annual survey, to be able to compare over multiple years, tracking trends and changes in the overall global industry, entrance and exit of specific companies, as well as down to specific regions and/or countries. Countries were divided into three regions: Europe, North America, and the Pacific. The questionnaire was translated into eight languages and sent to all global cross-laminated timber manufacturers, asking questions about the company, production profiles including technology, market information, company’s opinions on risk, opportunities, threats, and future plans.
Site tours of cross-laminated timber manufacturers
Above Graph: Results from questionnaire on how many employees on the CLT production sector of their company
Most of the CLT panels produced were for specific projects and were CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machined prior to being taken to the building site. The biggest barrier towards the future growth of the CLT industry is the inadequate current building codes, though those are changing rapidly with the International Building Code (IBC ) 2021. The main market for CLT is single-family residential in the European region, medium scale (1 to 7 stories) public buildings in the Pacific region, and medium scale industrial/commercial buildings in the North American region.
Albee R.R., L. Muszyński
E.N. Hansen
C.D. Knowles
P. Larasatie
J.E. Guerrero (2018): Recent developments in global cross-laminated timber (CLT) market
World Conference on Timber Engineering
Proceedings of the WCTE 2018, Seoul, Korea, August 20-24: 6 pp.