Year 2015 Archives - World Millwork Alliance

Single-Family Starts Reach Seven-Year High in November

Nationwide housing starts rose 10.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.173 million units in November, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Single-family production increased 7.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 768,000 units, its highest reading since January 2008. Multifamily production rose 16.4 percent to 405,000 units.

WMA News Brief – December 17, 2015

WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTION EDUCATION

HURRY – Time is Running Out!

Registration Fee to Increase January 6, 2016

2016 University of Innovative Distribution
Providing Wholesale Distribution Education

When: March 6-9, 2016
Where: JW Marriott Indianapolis Hotel – Indianapolis, Indiana
WMA members receive a $1,000 savings on registration

Find out why UID education courses continue to sell out each year – Secure your spot, REGISTER!

Download the 2016 brochure of courses.

See what other organization members attended in 2015

For more information, visit the WMA website.

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENT

WMA Headquarters will be closed during the holiday from December 24th through January 3rd.

CODES AND STANDARDS NEWS

The Concrete Jungle’s New Rival, Mass Timber

Melanie Sevcenko of The Guardian reports how wooden high rises are changing urban skylines as builders “ditch concrete.” Two urban building projects, one in New York City and the other in Portland, Oregon, will be constructed with the environmentally sustainable, cost-competitive building material of yesteryear, wood. It’s referred to as mass timber- large, solid pieces of panelized wood. Structures using mass timber are “flexible, strong, fire resistant and carbon-sequestering.” Mass timber could be “a viable alternative to concrete and steel for mid-to-high rise buildings.” The building project in Oregon will be constructed primarily from cross-laminated timber (CLT), the first of its kind in the U.S, and has been designed to exceed the state’s building codes for earthquakes. These two projects were nationally recognized last September when each was awarded $1.5 […]

2021-05-18T19:09:53-04:00December 20, 2015|WMA News Briefs, Year 2015|

It’s official: Fed raises interest rates for first time in nine years

HOUSINGWIRE is reporting the Federal Open Market Committee announced in its December meeting that it is officially raising the federal funds rate for the first time since June 2006.

In a statement released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve, the FOMC said that it will gradually raise the federal funds rate to a range of 0.25% to 0.50%.

The Concrete Jungle’s New Rival, Mass Timber

Melanie Sevcenko of The Guardian reports how wooden high rises are changing urban skylines as builders “ditch concrete.” Two urban building projects, one in New York City and the other in Portland, Oregon, will be constructed with the environmentally sustainable, cost-competitive building material of yesteryear, wood. It’s referred to as mass timber- large, solid pieces of panelized wood. Structures using mass timber are “flexible, strong, fire resistant and carbon-sequestering.” Mass timber could be “a viable alternative to concrete and steel for mid-to-high rise buildings.” The building project in Oregon will be constructed primarily from cross-laminated timber (CLT), the first of its kind in the U.S, and has been designed to exceed the state’s building codes for earthquakes. These two projects were nationally recognized last September when each was awarded $1.5 million from the USDA’s Tall Wood Building prize. The USDA is looking to these projects to lessen climate change and support rural jobs. Read More in The Guardian >

2021-05-18T18:29:02-04:00December 17, 2015|Codes & Standards News, Year 2015|

World’s Second Largest Building Achieves LEED Platinum

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that the Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in China and the second tallest in the world, recently achieved LEED Platinum for Core and Shell (CS). The Tower is 632 meters high (2073.49 feet) and is located at the center of the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai. LEED CS is the certification for the envelope of a building, and Platinum is the highest level of certification a building can achieve. China is the second largest market for LEED in the world outside the United States, with 118.3 million gross square meters of space participating in the LEED green building rating system. Read More at USGBC >

2021-05-18T19:09:32-04:00December 15, 2015|Green Building News, Industry News, Year 2015|

Age of the Construction Labor Force

A scarcity of workers has been a notable headwind for home building and other parts of the construction industry in recent years. And a look at Census data reveals that the average age of workers in the construction industry exceeds the average age of the overall labor force.

As home building has recovered, there has been a significant labor market developments. Unfilled jobs for the construction sector have been on a generally rising trend. And while the residential construction sector has been adding net jobs, more than a half million since the low point of employment after the Great Recession, builders cite access to workers as a top business challenge.

Boomers and the Shifting Needs of 55-plus Neighborhoods and Homes

As more people 55 and older choose or need to keep working, how do we look at land strategy, design, and marketing for them?

ProSales’ Five Forecasts for 2016

Craig Webb, Editor In Chief for REMODELING and PROSALES, shares his predictions for 2016.

WMA News Brief 12/11/15

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENT

Registration for 2016 UID Now Open

Register today for
2016 University of Innovative Distribution
March 6-9, 2016. Indianapolis, Indiana
JW Marriott Indianapolis Hotel

Download the 2016 brochure for full course details.

Register Early Before Program Courses Sell Out!

WMA members receive a $1,000 savings on the registration fee
with WMA being a sponsoring association!
The registration fee will increase by $200 on January 6, 2016.

For More Information
Click Here to be Directed to the WMA Website

WMA Year End Reminders

Submit your WMA Membership Dues by January 1, 2016.
Update your WMA Membership Portal
Save the Date- WMA Annual Convention & Trade Show, October 9th-13th 2016 in Phoenix, AZ
Submit your Company News to Mail@worldmillworkalliance.com
Submit your New Products to Mail@worldmillworkalliance.com
Gain more exposure for your company in 2016. Contact WMA about new sponsorship opportunities for 2016.

CODES AND STANDARDS NEWS

House Approves Energy Bill
That Addresses DOE’s Role in Energy Code Development

NAHB reports in NAHBNow that the House has “approved NAHB-supported legislation that would reform the role of the Department of Energy (DOE) in the development of energy codes and encourage meaningful savings for residential construction that are achievable and cost-effective.” The North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015 (H.R. 8) would specifically require that a) any DOE-supported code or code-change proposal to have a minimum 10 year payback period, b) all DOE code-change proposals be made available to the public, c) DOE not advocate on behalf of certain products or technologies, and d) a state’s right to adopt any code, standard or version deemed appropriate be protected.

INDUSTRY […]

2021-05-18T18:29:02-04:00December 11, 2015|WMA News Briefs, Year 2015|

First Code Improvements Adopted Based on NIST Joplin Tornado Study

Protecting schools and their associated high-occupancy buildings from the most violent tornadoes is the goal of the first approved building code changes based on recommendations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) technical investigation into the impacts of the deadly tornado that struck Joplin, Mo., on May 22, 2011.

The new changes, approved at a recent meeting of the International Code Council (ICC), apply to the nation’s most tornado-prone regions. Enhanced protection will be required for new school buildings and additions to buildings on existing school campuses, as well as facilities associated with schools where people regularly assemble, such as a gymnasium, theater or community center. Under the updated codes, storm shelters must be provided that protect all occupants from storms with wind speeds of 400 kilometers per hour (250 miles per hour), representing the maximum intensity category EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The area covered by the upgraded codes stretches from northern Texas to central Minnesota and from western Oklahoma to western Pennsylvania. It includes the notorious “Tornado Alley” and “Dixie Alley” regions of the midwestern and southern United States, respectively. Read More at NIST >

2021-05-18T18:29:02-04:00December 10, 2015|Codes & Standards News, Year 2015|

Single-Family Starts Reach Seven-Year High in November

WMA News Brief – December 17, 2015

WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTION EDUCATION

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENT

WMA Headquarters will be closed during the holiday from December 24th through January 3rd.

CODES AND STANDARDS NEWS

The Concrete Jungle’s New Rival, Mass Timber

It’s official: Fed raises interest rates for first time in nine years

The Concrete Jungle’s New Rival, Mass Timber

World’s Second Largest Building Achieves LEED Platinum

Age of the Construction Labor Force

Boomers and the Shifting Needs of 55-plus Neighborhoods and Homes

ProSales’ Five Forecasts for 2016

WMA News Brief 12/11/15

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENT

CODES AND STANDARDS NEWS

INDUSTRY […]

First Code Improvements Adopted Based on NIST Joplin Tornado Study

This Is A Custom Widget

This Is A Custom Widget

WMA MILLWORK CAREER DAY

WMA 54 th ANNUAL CONVENTION & TRADESHOW
MEMPHIS, TN

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 • 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM
MEMPHIS COOK CONVENTION CENTER

VETERANS AND STUDENTS WELCOME!