The City of Denver is the latest in a growing number of cities, states, and municipalities to recognize the possibilities of tall mass timber construction. Following states such as Oregon, Utah, and Washington, the City of Denver voted in late December to adopt the 2019 Denver Building Code,...

The American Wood Council (AWC) is prepared for an active 2020, but first, we look back at the challenges and resulting accomplishments over the course of 2019. Last year was marked by successes in the building codes development process, establishing lines of communications with the fire...

In our October article, we provided some advance highlights of our plans for National Forest Products Week. This month, I want to recap the events of the week’s Timber Innovation Day and also share that there is a second important week in October for the wood products industry and its...

As you’re likely aware, mass timber has received incredible attention in the last year. With interest in mass timber and its use spreading throughout the United States construction industry, the American Wood Council (AWC) and International Code Council (ICC) are working together to...

The work the American Wood Council (AWC) carries out makes it easier for code officials, engineers, designers, and builders to ensure that wood products are used in accordance with the most up-to-date consensus-based building codes. Two AWC publications that support the code and design community...

Last year’s passage of Tall Mass Timber code provisions for inclusion in the 2021 International Code Council’s International Building Code will usher in a new era in construction, allowing for tall mass timber buildings to be constructed up to 18 stories. With these new...

With environmental sustainability becoming the focal point of national discourse, and extreme weather intensifying and occurring more frequently, our buildings need to be sustainable and resilient to mitigate damage to both the built environment and surrounding ecosystem. Researchers are...

Happy new year! A new year brings new developments on the Building Code front. A summary of relevant code activities follows. ICC Update With the end of 2018 and the start of 2019, the ICC Code Development Cycle for the 2021 I-Codes moves into its second year. The Group A cycle online...

As 2018 draws to a close, the American Wood Council (AWC) looks back on what has been a very successful year for wood industry markets. Both federally and in the states, the opportunity for wood products has been greatly expanded, building codes have been very successfully updated to account for...

The American Wood Council (AWC) has released a new report on sound transmission, “Technical Report 15 (TR15), Calculation of Sound Transmission Parameters for Wood-Framed Assemblies.” This first version of TR15 is applicable to wood-frame floor-ceiling assemblies. A free pdf copy...