Measuring Mass Timber

dRMM and our industry partners identified a lack of data that demonstrates the full potential of timber’s whole life carbon and quality of life benefits. Without widespread adoption of mass timber in construction it will be very difficult for the built environment to decarbonise quickly enough to avoid irretrievable climate breakdown. Given that we urgently need a comprehensive and credible evidence base to support the use of mass timber in buildings to help accelerate this adoption, our primary motivation was to understand and demonstrate timber’s whole life carbon value, whilst bringing a focus to wellbeing as a quantifiable value in timber construction, a benefit that is generally neglected in existing analysis.

The case studies are UK exemplars of building for education, infrastructure, worship, residential and commercial uses designed by architecture practices Architype, Fereday Pollard, Marks Barfield Architects, Tikari Works and Waugh Thistleton Architects. Each building was subject to detailed life cycle analysis, internal environment monitoring and user consultation over the two-year study to measure the benefits of mass timber through evidence-led research. The broad range of buildings showcase how these benefits might be maximised across sectors to enhance both national and international timber development.

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The quality of life assessment of the case study buildings has revealed them to be healthy places that help people connect with nature. Internal conditions for temperature, humidity and air quality were monitored with devices and are routinely within recommended ranges, despite the diverse sets of requirements. Occupant satisfaction was recorded by interviews and questionnaires showing that the majority of all users felt more relaxed and comfortable in the mass timber buildings and that more than three quarters were reminded of the natural world by the materials.

All five case studies use existing technology to perform well against industry benchmarks for whole life carbon (where those exist). On top of this, the carbon storage potential is significant in mass timber buildings if the buildings are designed and delivered robustly ensuring longevity. In total, these five buildings store more than five thousand tonnes of CO2 captured by the sustainably managed forests from where their products are derived. The buildings employ a wide range of engineered wood products, including glue-laminated and cross laminated timber, and evidence the ability of long-life harvested wood products to both store carbon and offer real solutions to reducing the embodied carbon of buildings.

The report shares lessons learned in conducting building assessments, which were undertaken in line with the relevant standards despite significant barriers found in an industry that is only beginning to address the need for reliable tools for data collection and analysis of buildings. The data gathered across the case studies is shared in detail, revealing the nuances of mass timber construction, and offering the basis for a larger dataset, should more research be supported and adopted.

Measuring Mass Timber could be seen as a first step in building an evidence-driven case for timber construction using whole life carbon and wellbeing metrics in combination, supporting DEFRA’s goal of ‘improving data on timber and whole life carbon’.