Achievement Unlocked! International Mass Timber Conference attended!

We finally got to tick off a bucket list item and made it to Portland, Oregon to attend the International Mass Timber Conference! I have been so keen to get over to the US and see first-hand what some of the industry trends are over there.

Everything is ‘always bigger in the States’ and the mass timber industry is no different. Despite really picking up the technology after Europe and Australia it has forged ahead and the pace and scale of development over there is mind-blowing. Oregon is an appropriate place to hold the conference with it being totally surrounded by the natural resources, and Portland itself is the first place I’ve ever walked around that I just happened to come across mass timber buildings!

The conference itself started with a day of tours where I got to see some examples of what was being built locally (including one that I wasn’t allowed to take photos of, but was absolutely huge)! The weather also turned out to be playing nice for the Australian tourist and it was glorious spring time weather once the morning mist burnt off! The evening was a chance to catch up with some international friends after being hosted by the City of Portland at a VIP cocktail function!

The next two days were a whirlwind of seminars and time spent wandering through the colossal exhibition hall - seriously that thing is huge! There were so many great presentations, chats with suppliers or other timber enthusiasts and with over 3000 attendees there was lots to learn! Some trends included more focus on secondary products and complimentary systems to assist with the development of mass timber buildings and some new products like thermally modified CLT and Mass Plywood which I’d not seen in the flesh before.

I was lucky to be able to chair the session on moisture management of mass timber as it has become a passion area of mine and we had three excellent speakers on the day who packed in lots of information. It’s somewhere we need to focus more attention on in Australia to make sure we’re building our timber buildings to last.

After an exhausting few days it was time to make the long trip home and reflect on what I’d learnt. One huge takeaway from the event is the sheer passion and energy over there - they’re pushing ahead on some truly remarkable projects.