Photo / Courtesy NotchSB
Completed panels are stacked at the NotchSB facility in Belfast.
December 13, 2024
A Belfast builder will rebrand to focus on its mass timber capability
Photo / Courtesy NotchSB
Workers assemble a cross-laminated timber panel.
OPAL Build — a mass timber design-build company specializing in panelized cross-laminated timber and high-performance wood building envelope construction — is now operating under the name NotchSB.
The Belfast company said the new name reflects “a new era of growth” that builds on its expertise in mass timber panelization with the expansion of services to include advanced mass timber engineering and a fully integrated design-to-construction system.
Goals include optimizing the supply chain and streamlining the design-to-build process, providing more affordable and accessible decarbonized housing solutions and addressing critical housing shortages, according to a news release.
“The U.S. is experiencing a 4.9-million-unit housing crisis, construction costs are at an all-time high, labor is exiting the market at a record pace and buildings account for 40% of global emissions,” said Nick Farmer, NotchSB’s president.
The company has seven full-time employees.
Systematic approach
“NotchSB’s building system bring predictability to the construction process, all while decarbonizing our builds at affordable price points,” he said.
The “SB” in NotchSB stands for Systems Built or Sustainable Buildings, highlighting the company’s mission to deliver the next generation of streamlined, sustainable housing solutions.
The name reflects the company’s commitment to a systems-built approach to mass timber construction that blends traditional woodworking techniques with cutting-edge technology. The company’s approach is to combine advanced computer modeling with computer numerical control cutting in order to create detailed, pre-cut panels that enable fast, efficient assembly, in turn reducing labor costs and construction timelines.
As part of the expansion, NotchSB is introducing new structural engineering and design for manufacturing and assembly” services. The services, led by Nate Black, are considered critical components of the building system approach by integrating advanced manufacturing capabilities with mass timber expertise.
The rebrand to NotchSB took effect Thursday.
Access to mass timber
The expansion of advanced mass timber engineering and design-to-construction systems aims to provide access to mass timber, which is a challenge in the Northeast, Farmer told Mainebiz.
The company’s process leverages 3D design modeling capabilities with an advanced manufacturing footprint to streamline mass timber procurement and bring costs down while compressing construction timelines.
Many projects using mass timber in the Northeast target high rise structures, but 75% of the buildings built in the U.S. are low-rise residential or detached single family, he said.
“Our system allows this material to be used cost-effectively in these channels, solving construction labor challenges and bringing a decarbonized material solution into a major market channel,” Farmer said.
Origins
NotchSB has its roots in GO Logic, a Belfast design-build firm co-founded in 2008 by Matthew O’Malia to provide Passive House construction. That year, GO completed a 1,500-square-foot Passive House that was the first such building in Maine and the 12th in the U.S., according to the company.
Photo / Courtesy NotchSB
Matthew O'Malia and Head of Construction Dave Miller.
Subsequent GO Logic projects included a 36-unit net-zero housing development and a prototype structure using prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels to form the floor, walls and roof.
In 2017, O’Malia and Joshua Henry founded Timber HP to manufacture wood fiber insulation for the first time in North America. The plant is in Madison, Somerset County.
In 2019, OPAL launched as standalone architecture practice by O’Malia with partners Timothy Lock and Riley Pratt. OPAL Build was founded two years later. In 2022, OPAL Build secured manufacturing space in Belfast to use for the panelization process, combining large CNC cut CLT panels with wood fiber insulation and windows and doors.
OPAL Architecture and OPAL Build subsequently designed, built and installed mass timber and CLT structures at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor and the Hurricane Island Field Research Station in Penobscot Bay.
Photo / Courtesy NotchSB
A bathroom pod comes complete with mechanical, electrical and plumbing.
O’Malia and Henry were named Mainebiz Business Leaders of the Year in 2024.
Projects now underway include new panelized prototype designs for housing and the development of manufacturing capability for a “drop-in” bathroom — or mechanical, electrical and plumbing pods — that are assembled in Belfast; include framing, tile and fixtures; and arrive to the site ready to be hooked up, Korina Buozys, NotchSB’s marketing director, told Mainebiz.
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