Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Georgia-Pacific’s lumber business along with Jamestown and SmartLam North America successfully placed the final mass timber beam for 619 Ponce, the first Georgia-grown mass timber project. Georgia-Pacific played a vital role in this endeavor while making the best use of mass timber.
Fritz Mason, President of Georgia-Pacific Lumber pointed out the potential of such projects and said, “We see mass timber as important to GP because it’s a growing construction type and we believe it’s has the potential to expand lumber demand significantly,” The company also plans to expand their business responsibly while they intend to work with laminators and developers like Jamestown.
This project stands out to be one of the most promising projects as it has tried to maximize the sustainability benefits. Europe has always been the source for the timber needed for mass timber construction, but this project brought in some change. The timber used in this project has been from Georgia’s own backyard, which further reduced the project’s transportation emissions and overall environmental and local impact of construction.
The companies systematically worked for the execution of the Georgia-Grown Mass Timber Project. The saw timber was first transported to Georgia-Pacific’s facility in Albany, Georgia, where it was converted into lumber. The lumber that was transformed to the SmartLam’s mass timber plant in Dothan, Alabama was then modified into cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels. These CLT panels were then transported to the construction site for further usage.
619 Ponce is expected to open in 2024. The building that includes 87,000 square feet of office space and 27,000 square feet of retail space will house Sage, an accounting, financial, HR, and payroll software company, and Pottery Barn, an upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company. John Mulcahy, GP’s vice president of stewardship has expressed his excitement and said “To be able to do so in a high-profile and popular development in our hometown city is a real source of pride for us.”
Tags: Georgia-Pacific, wood, wood and panel, woodworking, woodworking and manufacturing, woodworking industry, woodworking USA
