Dive Brief:
- Mortenson saved $2 million and cut down on build time via early BIM involvement and the use of prefabricated components, according to a case study from the contractor spotlighting its work on the $55 million Kaiser Borsari Hall project at Western Washington University.
- Savings came from relocating the four-story mass timber hall’s electrical room from the basement to the first floor, per the case study, due to the building material’s lighter footprint compared to steel. The lighter load removed the need for the basement foundation entirely, which also significantly cut down on concrete usage.
- In addition, the construction team used mass timber’s prefabricated components and early BIM coordination to reduce the project timeline by 25%, according to the case study.
Dive Insight:
The building illustrates how the combination of technology, prefabricated materials and a value-based approach can save time and money on construction projects.
Beyond the $2 million in savings that came from eliminating the basement, other value engineering strategies that saved money included switching to a variable refrigerant flow HVAC system and optimizing sewer routing, Gianna Bacher, associate sustainability specialist with Mortenson, told Construction Dive via email.
In addition, Bacher said mass timber usage allowed the team to save money on labor: The material can be prefabricated offsite and requires no welding connections, requiring fewer people on the jobsite. Additionally, the project needed fewer truckloads and site deliveries due to less concrete usage.
Indeed, the construction and design team was also able to expedite the mass timber installation by about two months, Jennifer Kim, project executive for Mortenson, told Construction Dive.
For contractors who want to use mass timber on their projects, schedule and environment are paramount, said Paige Nowoj, a project manager for Mortenson based in Seattle who worked on the project.
“Building with wood in Arizona is very different from building with wood in the Pacific Northwest,” Nowoj said. “Evaluating at what time you're going to be erecting and having this material delivered and also where it's coming from is really important to bring to the conversation with owners and design teams about if mass timber is the right material for your project.”
For example, the timber components for the Western Washington University build came from within 600 miles of the site from British Columbia, Canada-based Kalesnikoff, a sustainable forestry supplier, according to the Mortenson case study.
To meet stringent sustainability requirements, Mortenson worked hand-in-hand with architect Perkins+Will along with the university and the design team to evaluate each step in the process, per the case study. Washington-based Tiger Construction installed the Kalesnikoff-fabricated mass timber.
The hall broke ground in 2023, according to McKinstry, a mechanical contractor on the project. It opened in early 2025, according to the case study. After more than a year of operations, it has now also received Zero Carbon and Zero Energy certifications from green building nonprofit Living Future after a performance audit that lasted 12 months.
Nowoj compared the mass timber components to Lincoln Logs due to how easily they came together.
“It was one of the easiest installs of structure I've seen, so that was really exciting because we were counting on it from a scheduled delivery standpoint to go quicker than steel, and that's exactly what was delivered,” Nowoj said.
