Ready Mix Industry Reacts to Wood-First Construction in Northwest U.S., Canada

News that a prominent national architectural firm had released a report showing how it could use mainly mass timber to build a 42-story residential tower prompted a number of ready mixed concrete officials to question whether such construction should be allowed by government officials. According to the report, the "Concrete Jointed Timber Frame" system "relies primarily on mass timber for the main structural elements, with supplementary reinforced concrete at the highly stressed locations of the structure: the connecting joints."  (Source: An October 8 posting on AggregateResearch.com. Read more.)

The story prompted NRMCA member and longtime industry promoter Dave Frentress of the CalPortland Company to comment, "just because you can, does NOT mean you should...". He cited a story from the Web site oregonlive.com that described a recent fire as evidence of the dangers of such construction. His Canadian colleague, Carolyn Campbell, executive director of the British Columbia Ready Mixed Concrete Association, also supplied an article from a Canadian media outlet to a similar fire in British Columbia.