The bill of goods that purveyors of cross laminated timber (CLT) panels and companion, engineered wood assemblies pitch to building design and construction interests continues to baffle. A campaign to legitimize CLT as viable for mid- to high-rise building is taking shape substantively and symbolically: Recent International Code Council hearings saw mass timber proponents look beyond an 85-ft. height threshold for local building code-sanctioned application of their products. Wood product cheerleaders, meanwhile, skirt matters like occupant safety but stress environmental or building practice milestones when presenting a mid- or high-rise structure for which mass timber is the primary load-bearing material.
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Sound-construction proponents salute Safe Building, FEMA Reform Acts
The National Concrete Masonry Association– and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association-backed BuildStrong Coalition has endorsed the Safe Building Code Incentive Act (H.R. 1748), providing additional disaster relief assistance to states that adopt and enforce strong code measures. Uniform, statewide adoption and enforcement of model building codes helps to eliminate long-term risks affecting people, property, the environment and ultimately the economy, the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition contends.
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