Providing Mass Timber Advisory Services for Georgia’s first Georgia-grown Mass Timber Building.

Photos courtesy of Jamestown LP

THE CHALLENGE: Seeing the forest from the market.

When mass timber is considered for a development, it’s typically due (at least in part) to the building owner’s commitment to environmental stewardship. Yet, currently, most timber for mass timber construction in the U.S. is not sourced locally – a fact that, for many building owners and developers, has the potential to dampen the overall efficacy of a development’s big picture sustainability ambitions. Sourcing a quality timber supply locally can indeed be challenging, but not impossible.

Finding and using quality local timber was the goal of Jamestown LP – the owner of the 619 Ponce development in Atlanta, Georgia – from the earliest stages of the project back in 2020. They just needed an advisor to help make it reality…

THE NEED: Peachy-keen on timber.

619 Ponce is a four-story mass timber office building located at Ponce City Market in Atlanta, and includes approximately 87,000 square feet of office space over three floors, and 27,000 square feet of retail space at ground level. When it was initially envisioned, a true mixed-use development was needed in this neighbourhood, and mass timber appealed for both its embodied carbon benefits and its aesthetic beauty.

Georgia is the number one forestry state in America, but there was still a need to evaluate the potential of the lamstock coming from Georgia-based forests before it could be used in the cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam members in the proposed design. Due to our in-depth knowledge of the mass timber industry, Jamestown reached out to ASPECT in 2021 for some friendly project advice. Given Jamestown’s clear goals and vision for the project, we knew that we would be able to effectively support the project team in gaining a clear understanding of the mass timber supply chain.

This would not be a project where we provided our typical engineer of record or standard structural engineering services. Instead, our focus was the role of Mass Timber Advisor – providing support for the design team for mass timber framing and detailing concepts, as well as procurement and planning guidance during the design phase of the project.

THE ROLE: An outside perspective.

While not always required for a project, the role of Mass Timber Advisor is increasing necessary for mass timber projects and, when hired or provided directly by the contractor or supplier, is also known as “Design Assist”. For this proposed Ponce City Market development, we were instead engaged directly by the developer to offer the Mass Timber Advisory services needed. Jamestown knew that that this advice would be particularly important for the overall success of the development, given the highly-specific needs of a commercial office building to make it competitive (such as grid flexibility for future tenant fit-outs). There would be little room for error, and they wanted to make sure they were setting their project up for success from the very beginning.

Once ASPECT was engaged, we began meeting with the project team and reviewing the documentation provided to date. Before jumping to solutions, we wanted to understand the initial thinking around implementation of mass timber for this project. Through these discussions, we began to work with the team to re-define and align the project goals, budget, timelines, and risks through the lens of mass timber. Considerations such as floor vibration, timber detailing, coordination of steel and timber, site constraints, and installation options were all discussed at great length.

Whenever ASPECT is engaged in a Mass Timber Advisory capacity, there are certain steps we take after we’ve gathered all of the required information and review internally as a team. This information starts to form a “statement of requirements” for the project – a long list of what we’ve learned so far, and what we understand the goals to be for the project.

We then take this “statement of requirements” and categorize the information it contains under five main headings:

1. Prerequisites
2. Design Considerations (What type of lateral system might be required? Are there key considerations around wood movement and vibration criteria? What about energy / envelope performance?)
3. Fabrication (How we’re going to build the structure? Do we have the right trade and talent pool?)
4. Construction in the field (What are the tolerances of different materials and systems?)
5. Usage of the building (What do we need to understand around MEP flexibility, for example?)

Each requirement is aligned with what that requirement could have an impact on (Design, Fabrication, Installation, or Use), and the team openly discusses what the right solution could be to each requirement. This approach helps to organize the information collected during this preliminary “information gathering” stage, as well as trigger helpful questions from the client. The conclusions of this exercise form a a “Project Requirement Matrix” – a document that can be referenced throughout design and construction as a “gut check” and source of alignments.

That’s when the fun part REALLY begins…

Photos courtesy of Jamestown LP

THE SOLUTION: Making mass timber make sense.

With project-specific challenges and parameters identified, we needed to look at the full range of mass timber products available on the market. Each of these products had to be evaluated both in terms of their suitability for the project as a whole, and their fitness for this project from a supply, risk management, and constructability perspective. The manufacturing processes for the various products and geographic areas (across North America as well as Europe) were compared and evaluated where relevant. ASPECT’s focus was to provide all of the information to Jamestown as agnostically as possible so that they could choose the materials that made the most sense for them.

In tandem, we worked with the design team to develop suitable framing and connection concepts that would meet the specific needs of the project. While we provided 3D modelling as an option, at this stage it made more sense to provide high-level concepts that demonstrated code compliance. Due to our knowledge and experience providing this level of detailing on other projects that gave both Jamestown and the design team the confidence they needed early on, without having to move forward with commitments that could have financially compromised the project. By focusing on these relationships and building necessary connections, ASPECT was able to play a small yet pivotal role in bringing together stakeholders along the supply chain to enable conversations that eventually led to incorporating a Georgia-based timber supply.

THE ADVANTAGE: The pieces fall into place.

At this point in the process, even though 619 Ponce was still in the early stages of design, ASPECT was already thinking about installation. When you’re working with mass timber, timing around when materials need to be purchased, when they need to arrive on site, and the sequence in which everything needs to come together is a complex choreography.

Building a strategy that the design and construction team could evolve as the project progressed, ASPECT worked with the team to evaluate potential installation sequencing options and timelines, including one-on-one conversations with the general contractor and several sub-trades. We worked with the project team to develop a procurement strategy for mass timber, in consideration of supplier proximity, capacity, experience, and availability. Our team also flagged some potential required code alternatives by the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), and supported the team in developing a strategy around these requirements.

This early planning and advisement set the project on course to achieve significant budgetary and scheduling goals – while also providing the confidence that working with the local timber supply would not only work for the project, but also provide real benefits for the project.

THE RESULT: A “bit part” that makes a big difference.

ASPECT’s role on 619 Ponce ended in July 2021 – months before design was ultimately completed, and well in advance of construction start. As structural engineers, it’s odd to discuss a role that requires our knowledge as engineers, without providing the technical, final input as the engineer of record. At the same time, Mass Timber Advisory work is a service that few developers would know exists, much less could picture making a difference. But Jamestown had a clear vision for this development, and they knew that advice from the earliest stage of the project would simplify the role of nearly every design and construction team member down the line. We’re happy to provide this type of assist when that’s what a project or client requires; if you don’t have the right people in the right seats, you’re bound to paddle in circles. On this project, we were in the right seat at the right time.

The full 619 Ponce development was completed in late Spring 2024, and is a testament to the strength of not only the local commercial market but also the local forestry industry. The mixed-use office building will, no doubt, provide a model for future development in Atlanta, across Georgia, and throughout the United States.

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IN THE NEWS:

https://www.jamestownlp.com/news/atlantas-ponce-city-market-begins-vertical-construction-on-619-ponce

https://news.gp.com/2023/02/southern-yellow-pine-yesterday-today-and-tomorrow

https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/architectural-products/georgias-first-georgia-grown-mass-timber-building

PROJECT TEAM:

Owner: Jamestown LP
Architect: Handel Architects
Engineer of Record: DeSimone Consulting Engineers
Timber Contractor / Timber Engineer of Record: StructureCraft
General Contractor: JE Dunn
Timber supplier (CLT & Glulam): Smartlam