Helping designers build with wood

flluens ARE MANY good reasons to |. use wood for non-residential and multi-family building projects. Wood typically costs less -economically and environmentallywhile delivering more in terms of its beauty, versatility and performance. It meets code requirements for a wide range of lowand mid-rise building types, and can be used as a low-carbon altemative to steel, masonry and concrete in many applications.

And yet wood-use studies show time and time again that, based on what's allowed in the building code, wood is significantly underutilized in U.S. non-residential and multi-family construction. The U.S. WoodWorks program aims to change that.

By supporting architects. engineers and others who are in a position to specify wood in buildings, WoodWorks connects the broader wood industry with the design process. We aren't a sales organization and we don't promote individual products or brands. Rather, we offer a comprehensive package of project assistance and education with the goal of making it easier to use wood.

Free One-on-One Project Assistance

LBM dealers often hear about projects. You may run into contractors or designers who want to use wood, or want to consider wood alongside other options, but could use some technical assistance. When that happens, WoodWorks is available to help. WoodWorks provides free project assistance related to the code-compliant design, engineering and construc- tion of non-residential and multi-family wood buildings. Our staff has expertise in a wide range of subjects, including allowable heights and areas and construction types; structural design and detailing of wood-frame and hybrid material systems; fire resistance and acoustical-rated assemblies; efficient and code compliant lateral system design; alternate means of code compliance; energy-efficient detailing, and application of advanced building systems and technologies.

WOODWORKS helps building designers increase the value of their projects by maximizing height and area, such as this University of Washington student housing development in Seattle, Wa.

Tailored Education

Education is a vital part of the program, necessary, not only for communicating wood design knowledge, but to demonstrate WoodWorks' expertise and connect with building designers who could use some assistance with their projects. Analysis shows that WoodWorks educational events are the top generator of qualified leads that result in building conversions. A review of projects supported in 2014 shows that, on average, the lead contact had attended three WoodWorks events, with an emphasis on webinars and Wood Solutions Fairs.

A cornerstone of the program, Fairs are high-profile events that include a full day of seminars tailored to the region, wood industry booths and a lunchtime presentation of the Wood Design Awards.

Technical and Promotional Materials

Created and led by the Wood Products Council and funded in part by the Softwood Lumber Board, WoodWorks is closely linked with a number of partner organizations, such as the American Wood Council, reThink Wood and the USDA Forest Service. Where relevant, we utilize their design knowledge, research, code information and communication materials to address technical issues, and we develop our own materials with an eye to filling gaps in the broader library of available information.

The use of WoodWorks materials is encouraged, whether you have a customer interested in wood's carbon attributes or acoustic considerations for the design of mid-rise wood buildings. We also publish several case studies each year.

WoodWorks makes a point of ana- lyzing the results of its activities and making adjustments to its long-term plan based on the greatest potential for success. However, its core strategy has remained constant over the past eight years as the initiative grew from pilot to mature national program-educating specifiers and addressing technical concerns with cost-effective wood solutions, while ensuring that the experience of using wood is positive.