The state agency charged with licensing professionals and enforcing commercial building codes is expecting a new set of mass timber guidelines by the end of this year.
Wisconsin's Department of Safety and Professional Services wants to
expand the use of mass timber in construction projects through an update to the state's building code.
DSPS Secretary Dawn Crim announced on Friday she has assembled a mass timber task force, whose job will be to work with the Commercial Building Code Council in its ongoing efforts to update the current building code.
The task force will develop a set of mass timber guidelines that will expand the allowable use of mass timber in commercial buildings in Wisconsin. DSPS said it expects the group to generate those guidelines by the end of 2021.
The guidelines will draw on the expertise studies used to secure approval for the 25-story
Ascent mass timber project in downtown Milwaukee. That project secured variances from state code requirements in order to gain local approval for construction.
“We remain committed to modernizing our commercial building code to reflect current science and allow emerging materials and practices that promote sustainability while maintaining safety during construction and in our built environment,” Crim said in a statement. “We have an opportunity to leverage the work that has already been done in Milwaukee to demonstrate the safety of mass timber, and, in the spirit of efficiency and progress, we want to capture that as we update our commercial building code.”
CBCC chairman Richard Paur will head up the mass timber task force. Paur is a retired Milwaukee building inspection supervisor and a faculty member at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Several people involved with the Ascent project will also serve on the task force.
The task force will also include representatives of DSPS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services, New York-based engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti, UW-Milwaukee School of Architecture & Urban Planning and the Milwaukee Fire Department.
Ascent is under construction. Once finished, it will be the second mass timber building in Milwaukee following the 60-unit
Timber Lofts in Walker's Point.
Other proposed mass timber projects in southeastern Wisconsin include a
141-unit apartment building at the former Porters furniture store site in Racine, and
The Edison, an apartment tower planned with up to 16 stories on a downtown Milwaukee riverfront site.
Mass timber refers to a family of manufactured wood products that can be used structurally or aesthetically in commercial buildings. It differs from traditional methods in that it combines large timber to create structural members, such as columns, beams and floor structures.
The state’s current commercial building code limits the use of mass timber to four-story buildings unless the architect and building owner pursue a variance. This often adds time and cost to a project.
CBCC is in the process of updating Wisconsin's building code from the 2015 to the 2018 International Building Code. But the IBC-2021 is the version that allows for mass timber buildings up to 18 stories without variances. Crim said she supports that element of the 2021 version being included in the state’s updated building code, a spokesperson said.
