By using mass timber construction, the builder was able to achieve substantial savings in time and money according to a new case study.
The new Kaiser Borsari Hall at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, saved $2 million in construction costs as well as build time when the school chose mass timber for the $55 million project.
Mortenson, the builder, said much of the savings came from relocating the electrical room of the four-story structure from the basement to the first floor, as it completely eliminated the need for a basement foundation due to mass timber’s lighter weight compared to steel. There were also savings on concrete usage, according to a report on the project on the Construction Dive newsletter website.
The Mortenson case study also found that because the builders used prefabricated mass timber components, they were able to cut 25 percent of the project timeline.
“It was one of the easiest installs of structure I’ve seen,” Paige Nowoj, a project manager for Mortenson involved in the project, told Construction Dive. “So that was really exciting because we were counting on it from a scheduled delivery standpoint to go quicker than steel, and that’s exactly what was delivered.”
Gianna Bacher, associate sustainability specialist with Mortenson, told Construction Dive that there were financial savings due to lower labor costs. “The material can be prefabricated offsite and requires no welding connections, resulting in fewer people on the jobsite. Additionally, the project needed fewer truckloads and site deliveries due to less concrete usage,” the website reported.
Nowoj told the newsletter that scheduling was key to the cost savings. “Evaluating at what time you’re going to be erecting and having this material delivered and also where it’s coming from is really important to bring to the conversation with owners and design teams about if mass timber is the right material for your project.”
