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October 13, 2017 CapitalPress.com 9 Oregon Nation’s largest ‘mass timber’ building underway By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press HILLSBORO, Ore. — As a crane lowered a “glu- lam” beam and construction workers on either end deftly guided it into connection with two upright wooden columns, a tour group mem- ber shook his head and said, “It’s like Lincoln Logs.” Kind of. Which may in part explain some of the attraction of builders and designers to the potential use of strong, precisely en- gineered, carbon-storing wood beams, columns, wall panels and floor decking. As Chris Evans, a Swiner- ton Builders project man- ager put it, wood is the first building material people use to make the forts, homes and hideouts of childhood. These days, builders and designers are joining mill owners, university re- searchers and policy mak- ers in taking a fresh look at advanced wood products, “mass timbers” and what’s come to be called “tall- wood” design. Advocates believe it can replace con- crete and steel in mid- to even high-rise buildings, and provide an economic jolt to rural Oregon in terms of forest management and mill jobs. In Hillsboro, Evans and Swinerton Builders are overseeing construction of the largest known U.S. building to date that uses cross-laminated timber, or CLT, for flooring, and glu- lam posts and beams. The Oregon headquarters of First Tech Credit Union will be five stories tall and have 156,000 square feet of office space. Swinerton Builders is the general con- tractor. Another tall wood build- ing planned for Portland, called Framework, will be 12 stories tall and have five floors of affordable housing, That project was awarded a $1.5 million federal design competition grant to help with seismic and fire testing and certification. Oregon is trying to jump start the technology and po- tentially revive its timber industry. CLT panels, made by layering lumber in alternat- ing directions and bonding them with adhesive, can be up to 65 feet long and 20 feet wide. DR Johnson Lumber Co., in Riddle, Ore., was the first U.S. manufacturer cer- tified to make CLT. Meanwhile, Freres Lum- ber Co., in Lyons, Ore., is opening a milling facility to make similar “mass ply- wood panels” out of veneer. Oregon State Universi- ty’s forestry and engineer- ing programs have part- nered with the University of Oregon’s architecture pro- gram to form the TallWood Design Institute on the OSU campus. About 50 people took part in an Oct. 3 tour of Portland-area projects or- ganized by the Oregon For- est Resources Institute, and heard talks by architects, builders and developers. For now, speakers said, mass timber construction is more expensive than con- crete and steel, but is much quicker because of the way pre-fabricated sections can be fitted together. Experts said the technol- ogy will be “open sourced,” meaning it will be available for replication elsewhere, which should speed market expansion. At the First Tech build- ing construction site, ar- chitect Scott Barton-Smith said wood is an authentic regional material in the Pa- cific Northwest and “part of the solution” when it comes to carbon sequestration. He also talked about the warmth of wood products. “The best reason to use wood on a building like this is because it’s beautiful,” he said. Eric Mortenson/Capital Press A worker guides a glulam beam into place Oct. 3 during construction of the First Tech Credit Union headquarters building in Hillsboro, Ore. The building, which will be five stories tall and include 156,000 square feet of office space, is believed to be largest U.S. structure so far built using advanced lumber products such as cross-laminated timbers (CLT) and glulam beams, posts and flooring. Advocates believe such wood products can replace concrete and steel in modest high-rises, and revive Oregon’s timber industry. Organic farm wins $26,500 for cow trespass By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press An Oregon dairy farm whose cows escaped to tres- pass onto a neighbor’s prop- erty owes about $26,500 for trampling and manure damage to organic crops. The incident occurred in 2014 but Simington Gardens, an organic produce farm, didn’t file a lawsuit against the dairy, Rock Ridge Farms, until last year. According to court doc- uments, the two farms tried to resolve the problem out of court but were unable to agree on the amount of compensa- tion. The plaintiff alleged that up to nine cows, as well as several dairy workers who later rounded them up, caused roughly $55,000 in destroyed property, lost profits and mit- igation costs. Organic farming regula- tions required Simington Gar- dens to leave the field where cows defecated fallow for 120 days. In its lawsuit, Simington Gardens argued it was owed double or triple that amount under Oregon laws intended to discourage damages caused during trespass. Rock Ridge Farms is owned Chuck by Chuck Eggert Eggert, an en- trepreneur who also founded Pacific Natural Foods, which the Campbell Soup Co. agreed to buy for $700 million earlier this year. The defendant argued the lawsuit could have been avoided, as Rock Ridge Farms offered to pay “out-of-pock- et” costs and provide its own organic-certified property for Simington Gardens to plant re- placement crops. The trespass by cows was unintentional, so the organic produce farm wasn’t entitled to double or triple the amount of damages, according to the dairy. After a four-day civil tri- al, a 12-person jury found last month that Rock Ridge Farms had committed trespass and awarded Simington Gardens about $20,800 in lost profits, $2,500 in property damage and $3,200 in mitigation expenses. ROP-40-2-1/102