Mass timber is still a small segment of the construction industry in the United States. A recent congressional report counts 1,753 mass-timber buildings in the country as of March of last year. “For context,” the report says, “5.9 million commercial buildings were constructed in 2019 alone.” But the market is growing. According to one estimate, mass-timber construction in the U.S. has doubled every two years for the past five years. Timberlab, a provider of mass-timber engineering, fabrication, and installation services, is betting that this trajectory will continue.

At the Greenville plant, Timberlab uses CNC machines to mill non-fabricated glulam billets, transforming them into custom, project-specific components that are then assembled on the building site. Photo courtesy Timberlab

Earlier this month, the company announced that a glulam fabrication plant it opened just over a year ago in Greenville, South Carolina, was now operating at full capacity, with the ability to support one million square feet of mass-timber construction annually, making it the largest such facility east of the Mississippi, and only one of three similar plants in the Southeast. Timberlab says that the facility has doubled the fabrication capacity of large glulam components for mass-timber structures nationally.

First started as a timber-focused division of San Francisco-headquartered general contractor Swinerton in 2016, and then known as Swinerton Mass Timber, Timberlab opened its first fabrication plant in Portland, Oregon, in 2020, followed by its formal launch as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2021. In addition to the Portland and Greenville plants, Timberlab recently acquired two glulam manufacturing facilities from American Laminators in Oregon. It has also announced plans to open a cross-laminated timber (CLT) manufacturing operation in that state’s mid-Willamette region. LEVER Architecture, a Portland-based firm known for its work in mass timber, is designing the new CLT facility, which is expected to open by 2027.

Photo courtesy Timberlab

Timberlab chose Greenville due to the region’s abundance of southern yellow pine, its existing network of glulam manufacturers, and its proximity to high-growth East Coast construction markets. At the South Carolina plant, Timberlab uses CNC machines to mill non-fabricated glulam billets, transforming them into custom, project-specific components that are then assembled on the building site. Timberlab can source the glulam from nearby producers or from its recently acquired plants in Oregon. “It is easy to send non-fabricated glulam across country by rail,” explains Chris Evans, Timberlab president. “But Greenville is not exclusive to glulam manufactured at our facilities,” he adds. “We will do the best procurement for our clients.”

Among the first projects supported by the Greenville plant is an 67,000-square-foot office building for the LS3P-designed Live Oak Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina, and a 42,00-square-foot career and student center at the University of Southern Maine designed by Elkus Manfredi. Projects with mass-timber components milled at Timberlab’s Pacific Northwest fabrication plant include Atelier Jones’ Heartwood, an eight-story, 216-unit apartment building in Seattle that features unusual all-wood mortise-and-tenon joints.

An LS3P-designed office building for Live Oak Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina, is among the first projects supported by Timberlab’s new Greenville plant. Photo © FLOR Projects

Advertisement

If Timberlab’s expansion sounds rapid, Evans maintains that the company’s evolution has been measured and methodical, spanning eight years. Its investment in the supply chain, funded by shareholders (both Timberlab and Swinerton are employee-owned), will ultimately make mass-timber buildings more affordable, he says, while helping spur greater demand. “It is a chicken-and-egg situation,” he says. “You need to have the investment to support the market’s growth.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – South Carolina is one of just two states where lawmakers elect judges – and some critics have said that could give lawyers who are also lawmakers an unfair advantage in the courtroom.

Now a bill to revamp that process will soon be on the governor’s desk.

But it’s by no means the overhaul some wanted to see.

The bill was approved in the final minutes of what could likely be the General Assembly’s last day in session until after the November election.

It follows months of disagreements about how much reform is needed – if any at all.

“Some have argued that it isn’t broken, and some have argued that it needs to be thrown out,” said Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Horry, Senate Judiciary Committee chair.

The bill would expand the membership of the committee that screens judicial candidates. It now has 10 members, and two more would be added.

Four of them would be appointed by the governor, who currently has no role in the judicial selection process.

It would impose term limits on members for the first time, while still allowing lawyers who are also legislators to serve on the committee – a ban some critics wanted to see.

The proposal would prohibit most current members of the judicial screening panel from serving on the revamped version.

“We want to have fresh ideas and different people in there, vetting these judicial candidates,” said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield.

Under the current system, the screening panel can advance the name of up to three finalists for each seat to the full legislature for its consideration.

This bill would raise that cap to six finalists – while giving lawmakers more time to review them before they hold elections and before candidates can try to earn their votes.

To reach this compromise, some ideas were dropped – including a House of Representatives proposal to screen magistrate candidates – a selection that senators entirely control.

“Our Senate colleagues were not interested in magistrate reform. … We did not want to miss the opportunity to have meaningful reform in the way we elect and select judges in the state over that issue,” said Rep. Weston Newton, R-Beaufort, House Judiciary Committee chairman.

Massey said: “I think that is something that is likely going to be talked about into the future, especially if we continue to have problems in that area, there’s going to be more conversation.”

Gov. Henry McMaster has previously said he wants to sign a judicial reform bill into law, but that it would depend on the details.

His spokesman says the governor will review and make a decision on this bill when it reaches his desk.

Some advocacy groups that have also been calling for judicial reform in South Carolina laud the passage of this bill – and say it’s a good start, but shouldn’t be the end of this work.

Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

COLUMBIA — ESPN revealed Thursday that South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley will receive one of the highest honors at the 2024 ESPY Awards on July 11 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET).

Staley will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance and she is the first woman to receive the award alone since the inaugural award in 2007, when Kay Yow was honored.

Yow was a basketball coach at NC State who led the Wolfpack to the NCAA Tournament after breast cancer chemotherapy before she died in 2009.

Staley’s sister, Tracey Underwood, and her friend and former assistant coach, Nikki McCray-Penson, were both diagnosed with cancer in the last several years.

“The award not only recognizes her resilience on the court and ongoing support for women’s sports and equality in the sports world, but also for her leadership in the fight against cancer,” ESPN wrote in a press release.

Underwood was diagnosed with leukemia in 2020 and needed a bone-marrow transplant. July 7 marks the one-year anniversary of McCray-Penson’s death after battling breast cancer.

“Their battles motivated Staley to take action and become a prominent advocate for cancer research. She partnered with an organization to mobilize potential donors – especially those in the Black community – to sign up on a bone-marrow registry, Be The Match; she advocated for patient care, research and resources; and she visited and supported those undergoing treatment. In her 24-year coaching career, Staley has tirelessly stood up for women in sports, speaking out regularly to ensure gender equality and diversity in sports, particularly basketball.”

Winners include Dick Vitale, Jim Kelly, Craig Sager and Stuart Scott. The V Foundation for Cancer Research was founded in 1993 by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano, former NC State basketball coach and ESPN commentator. 

On Wednesday, ESPN revealed the 2024 nominees and South Carolina women’s basketball is nominated for the “Best Team” award, following the Gamecocks 38-0 season and national championship. Staley’s former player A’ja Wilson is a two-time nominee as well.

Staley became the first Black coach in Division I basketball to go undefeated and win a championship, the first coach to have a solo cover on SLAM Magazine and was selected for Nike’s Athlete Think Tank 3.0.

SC IN THE WNBA: Former South Carolina standouts A’ja Wilson, Kamilla Cardoso set to battle Thursday in WNBA

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin