Bay Area Council Lands $900,000 to Advance Mass Timber in California

The Bay Area Council has secured two grants totaling $900,000 to help bring mass timber into the mainstream of California construction. Mass timber is a building method that uses large, engineered wood panels and beams in place of concrete and steel. It can lower construction emissions, speed up building, and make costs more predictable, which makes it a promising tool for tackling the state’s housing shortage. A renewal from the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) Wood Innovations Program and a new award from the State of California’s Strategic Growth Council (SGC) will support the Council’s work to move real projects forward, make permitting simpler and more consistent, and connect the builders, manufacturers, workers, and investors needed to grow the industry.

The USFS renewal builds on the agency’s earlier support for the Council’s work and funds an 18-month effort to grow demand for U.S.- and California-made wood products. Through this grant, the Council will work with the California Mass Timber Coalition to set its policy priorities and will identify promising near-term projects, providing hands-on support to ensure they are ready to break ground, work with cities and counties to test more consistent approaches to permitting, and bring together the suppliers, workforce partners, and investors needed to take mass timber to scale.

The SGC award will launch the California Mass Timber Accelerator, a three-year effort led by the Bay Area Council Foundation to make it easier to build housing using mass timber components made in factories and assembled on site. Working with the cities of San José and Sacramento, Greenbelt Alliance, the Northern California Carpenters, Mad River Mass Timber, and regional developers, the Accelerator will create shared permitting tools, strategies to lower costs, and standard building designs that can be used again and again. Permitting rules currently vary widely from one city to the next, adding time and expense to every project. By creating common approaches and connecting each step of the supply chain, from forest to factory to finished building, the Accelerator will help cities and developers use mass timber more easily in apartment buildings across California.

To engage in the Council’s mass timber work, please contact Vice President Patrick Kallerman.