Industry News Markets Sawmilling
SLB generated 439 MMBF of incremental demand in Q1: report

The SLB recently published its 2023 Q1 Report, detailing the SLB and its funded programs’ outstanding results across all centres of excellence. For the first time, the SLB’s quarterly report is available as an interactive and engaging webpage that provides a high level of detail on each focus area.

Q1 2023 showed the outcome of capitalizing on strong 2022 results and making smart investments to further impacts. The SLB and its funded programs continue to advance the industry’s goal of stimulating demand and expanding markets for softwood lumber.

Key highlights include:

• 439 MM BF of incremental demand generated, which has a carbon benefit of 1.1 MM metric tons of CO2 stored and avoided.
• The Mass Timber Conference, held March 27-29 in Portland, Ore., welcomed an estimated 3,000 design and construction professionals, and the predominant sentiment was enthusiasm and confidence in mass timber.
• The American Wood Council launched its second year of EPD data collection – an ongoing project to compile data on the production processes and environmental impacts of lumber products from source to end use.
• Think Wood secured the highest ever conversion rate of qualified leads to new projects, at 29 per cent. With 10 new projects converted in Q1 alone, the program is on pace to set a record number of new projects in 2023, an early indication that lead nurturing is continuously becoming more effective at priming practitioners to want to build projects with wood.
• WoodWorks directly influenced 123 projects and indirectly influenced 309 projects in Q1. Combined, the projects represent 18 MM SF of impacted wood construction, 180 MM BF of incremental lumber, 36 MM BF of incremental engineered wood products, and 108 MM SF of incremental wood structural panels.
• The Wood Institute saw 661 new accounts created and 1,080 courses completed, greatly exceeding Q1 2022. The SLB’s Education program also had 881 engagements with students and emerging professionals and 113 engagements with university faculty, continuing the focus of increasing exposure to wood design in more schools so future professionals are prepared to confidently implement wood systems in the built environment.

Learn more here.