Explore the Agenda
8:00 am Check In & Morning Coffee
8:50 am Opening Remarks
09:00 am Workshop A
Beyond Early Adoption: Expanding Mass Timber & Bio-Based Materials Into High-Growth Construction Markets
Mass timber and other bio-based construction materials are moving beyond their origin and into new, rapidly growing sectors – including data centers, luxury residential development, institutional projects, and high-profile commercial buildings. This session will explore where mass timber and bio-based materials are gaining significant traction, demonstrating tangible returns, and what more needs to be done to accelerate market penetration.
This workshop will cover:
- Identifying high-growth market opportunities where mass timber and bio-based materials are delivering measurable return
- Understanding how project teams are assessing material performance, safety, and implementation challenges in complex building models
- Developing effective procurement and delivery strategies to integrate innovative materials into conventional construction workflows
11:00 am Networking Break
11:30 am Workshop B
Navigating the Journey from Uncertainty to Underwriting: Improving Insurability, Cost Certainty, and Project Viability
As mass timber and emerging bio-based materials gain more traction, a key barrier to scale remains securing insurer confidence. Uncertainty around risk can translate into higher premiums, stricter underwriting requirements, financing challenges, and project delays. This workshop will explore how project teams can proactively address these concerns by understanding how insurers evaluate risk, generating the evidence needed by underwriters, and embedding risk mitigation strategies early in the design process.
This workshop will explore:
- Clarifying how insurers assess emerging materials such as mass timber, hemp, bamboo, and other emerging bio-based composites, and the specific data required to validate long-term risk performance
- Aligning developers, contractors, manufacturers, and insurers early in the project lifecycle to reduce risk, avoid late-stage cost impacts, and improve project outcomes
- Using performance data, claims evidence, fire protection strategies, and codecompliant design to strengthen underwriting certainty and accelerate market acceptance of low-carbon construction materials
1:30 pm Networking Lunch
14:30 pm Workshop C
Advancing from Innovation to Deployment in Mass Timber & Bio-Based Construction
This workshop will bring together industry experts to explore how mass timber and bio-based materials are advancing from innovation to real-world utilization, with a focus on scaling from pilot projects to large, complex developments. It will examine the critical capabilities needed to enable this transition, alongside the role of the bio-based economy in unlocking value from underutilized resources.
This workshop will discuss:
- How are emerging materials transitioning from pilots to large-scale, complex projects, such as data centers and infrastructure, and what capabilities are needed to scale successfully?
- What role can the bio-based economy play in unlocking value from underutilized resources, such as small-diameter and low-value timber, to improve supply efficiency and reduce waste at scale?
- What does it take to balance design ambition with durability, weather performance, and lifecycle requirements to enable true mainstream adoption?