Traceability & Transparency
Procurement Options
Resources
Project Phases

Design Development

As schematics formalize into designs, product decisions, material quantities and priority procurement options come into focus. This is the stage where planning and intention for sourcing CSW can be locked into construction and scheduling plans through:

  • Design refinement optimization, benchmarking.
  • Assessing sustainability goals considering current design and budget.
  • Gathering information and timelines from suppliers. Building relationships with suppliers is often critical to obtaining good information at critical decision points in procurement (must be done by early DD, however it’s best to start relationships during SD).
  • Constructability reviews which assess strategies for transportation, erection, and installation.

The end of DD typically coincides with “locking” of the geometry, size and location of the vast majority of structural and architectural elements, including mass timber, in the project. This also means that sourcing should also largely be locked down. To do this requires concerted decision-making from the Owner, Design Team, and Construction Team.

Recommendations

A firm commitment to a specific CSW path that has been developed throughout earlier project phases is ideally made at this time. Once the plan is in place, the next step is to implement that plan.

Some projects arrive at this stage without having considered CSW sourcing as a fundamental goal. If that is the case, the project team should review general options for CSW characteristics, Traceability & Transparency, and Procurement Options to gain a stronger footing in what may still be possible and meaningful at this stage of the project.