MILFORD, MA – Steven Burke, Director of Sustainability, recently spoke with the Washington Business Journal about how clients can best employ building materials like wood, concrete and steel to achieve their project and sustainability goals.
Weighing in alongside other industry experts, Burke in particular emphasized the utility of mass timber as a building material, and how its use as a low embodied carbon material offers significant sustainability benefits to construction projects.
“The use of wood, and specifically mass timber, can have a considerable advantage when it comes to achieving environmental goals when the wood is harvested and utilized sustainably. Inevitably, materials sourced from our built environment like steel and concrete generate greenhouse gas emissions while they are produced, whereas the use of wood stores carbon even after the trees have been cut down. Additionally, by utilizing wood, we are able to leverage existing, naturally occurring materials in a project’s design and construction.”
Consigli has championed the use of mass timber in the industry, and its teams have coordinated and managed its use in more than fifteen projects incorporating timber solutions in design and construction. While often used in higher education, the use of mass timber continues to expand to wider-ranging, and larger-scale projects in various markets sectors.
Additionally, Consigli collaborates with research institutions, universities and testing laboratories locally and globally to continue the advancement of mass timber as a building material.