Swinerton forms new mass timber business group

One of the largest builders in the U.S. launched a new business unit dedicated to building projects using mass timber technology.

Swinerton Mass Timber will pursue new projects that are being developed with mass timber, and evaluate other project opportunities to determine mass timber solutions. “Utilizing this technology, we know mass timber will help us build more quickly, more safely, and deliver the most cost-efficient structures in markets nationwide,” said Swinerton CEO Jeff Hoopes in a news release.

"Our goal is not only to deliver mass timber projects across every market in the U.S., but to also support both the development and design communities in learning more about cost-effective applications of mass timber in the built environment,” said Chris Evans, one of the leaders of the new business unit. “In order to bring more projects to life, we are dedicated to helping our trusted partners understand how to best utilize this game-changing technology.”

The Swinerton Mass Timber team has multiple projects in development including: the Washington County Event Center in Hillsboro, Oregon; the Beaverton Public Safety Center in Beaverton, Oregon; the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact in Eugene, Oregon; Pier 70 in San Francisco, California; Rena Ware Headquarters in Kirkland, Washington; and three structures at Kresge College at University of California – Santa Cruz.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.