UMaine, Bowdoin each get $100K for mass timber projects

Courtesy / Univeristy of Maine The University of Maine received a grant for its Mass Timber Commercialization Center, an addition to the school's Advanced Structures and Composites Center.

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By Staff

Bowdoin College and the University of Maine are among 10 institutions that have received $100,000 each from the U.S. Forest Service to research and construct mass timber buildings on college campuses.

The awards were announced in a news release Thursday by U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine.

In December, King led a bipartisan group of nine senators including Collins in a letter urging USFS to create an award program for educational institutions seeking innovative uses for mass timber. The program was established by USFS in March. Mass timber is a term referring to new ways of using timber for construction, including cross-laminated timber.

The money will support construction projects at Bowdoin and UMaine, as well as highlight the variety of potential uses for mass timber, the release said.

Bowdoin will use the money to help with the construction of Barry Mills Hall and the Center for Arctic Studies on its campus in Brunswick, and UMaine will put the grant toward a laboratory addition that will host the world’s largest 3D printer on the Orono campus.

Mass timber development and commercialization were key recommendations in a 2017 Economic Development Assessment Team report requested by Collins and King. The team worked across federal and state agencies, industry sectors and municipalities to create strategies for job growth and economic development in Maine’s rural communities.

Following the report, the Economic Development Administration awarded grant funding to the University of Maine to create the Maine Mass Timber Commercialization Center. The center aims to join forest industry partners, construction firms and other stakeholders to advance new forest product technologies in Maine.

Bowdoin's Mills Hall and the Center for Arctic Studies will be constructed adjacent to each other near the corner of College Street and Sills Drive, on a portion of the former Dayton Arena site. The plans were announced by the college in January and work is expected to begin next year.

“Maine’s forests are one of our state’s greatest natural resources, and it is important we maximize these assets by exploring every possible use for this important economic driver,” said King and Collins in the news release. "Mass timber is an important new frontier for the forest products industry, and we are thrilled to see Maine is leading the way in the development of this high-quality and environmentally friendly construction.

"These awards represent a major opportunity for both Maine’s educational institutions and our forest products industry, and we will continue to work to support future construction using this innovative approach.”

Key provisions of the Timber Innovation Act, which King and Collins co-sponsored, were included in the Farm Bill that passed Congress in December. The provisions encourage investment in manufacturing facilities needed to produce mass timber products domestically, incentivize the construction of buildings with wood and provide designers and code officials with the research and technical support they need to embrace the new construction technology.