MASS Timber Assembly

The Challenge

Buildings are enormous generators of both operational and embodied carbon, accounting for approximately 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike operational carbon emissions, such as heating and cooling, that can be upgraded over time, embodied carbon emissions from material extraction, transportation, manufacturing, and construction are locked in the moment a building is finished. With building floor area projected to double globally by 2060, addressing the impacts of embodied impact is increasingly urgent.

Common structural materials like concrete and steel are especially carbon intensive and financially volatile. Mass timber is a material that offers a regional, renewable, carbon storing alternative. Large engineered wood panels, columns, and beams sequester carbon for the life of the building. Mass timber is consistently faster to build with, more cost-predictable, healthier for occupants, and provides much needed partnership to forests looking to adapt to quickly changing business and climate environments.

Despite its enumerable benefits, however, as a relatively new building system, project teams still face uncertainty around key issues of cost, procurement, and design coordination.

About MASS Timber Assembly

MASS Timber Assembly is a 12-month cohort program for Massachusetts building project teams pursuing mass timber construction. Up to eight teams will be selected to receive grant funding, hands-on technical assistance, facilitated peer-to-peer learning, and workshop sessions with industry experts; all committed to sharing their experience about how to best advance individual projects and mass timber adoption more broadly.

The Assembly is designed to:

• Advance real projects into mass timber construction
• Improve cost, schedule, and procurement clarity for project teams
• Build practical industry knowledge across developers, designers, and contractors, so what’s learned from these eight projects benefits the broader Massachusetts market
• Quantify the cost and performance of mass timber in Massachusetts conditions
• Reduce embodied carbon in Massachusetts’ built environment
• Establish Massachusetts as a leader in scalable, low-carbon construction

Participants will receive:

• A structured technical analysis of the project’s cost, construction schedule, and carbon impacts, developed collaboratively with the project team
• Dedicated technical assistance from mass timber and embodied carbon experts
• Access to key decision makers in the mass timber supply ecosystem, including workshops and industry roundtables
• Peer-to-peer learning with seven other project teams navigating similar challenges
• In-person program sessions, including: a kickoff event, technical trainings from WoodWorks, a dedicated construction-management session, a mid-program industry roundtable, and a final showcase. At least three sessions will be mandatory in-person; all others may be attended in-person or remotely. Physical locations will rotate across the Commonwealth consistent with participating project locations.
• Virtual office hours with industry experts
• Dedicated one-on-one support sessions, including technical problem solving
• Shared team workspace and cohort communications tools
• A large platform where your project will be featured