ROCKWOOD, TN - Sauter Timber, one of North America’s premier wood component and timber frame providers, recently accepted its 2015 WoodWorks™ Wood Design Award for Commercial Wood Design (Industrial) at the 2015 Southeast Wood Solutions Fair in Atlanta, Georgia. The award recognizes Sauter Timber’s quality work on the 9,000-square foot expansion of its production facility in Rockwood, Tenn.

Built with glulam frames and cross-laminated timber (CLT) walls and roof panels, the Sauter Timber production facility boasts a 23-foot-high ceiling and a six-ton bridge crane designed to carry heavy timber trusses during production. The structure, which featured a total installed cost of $55 per square foot, is stronger and more attractive than the standard metal buildings more commonly used for these types of production facilities, and represents the first industrial building in the U.S. made of CLT.

“We wanted to create something totally different while showing people in the commercial building industry the potential that CLT offers,” said Reinhard Sauter, President/Founder, Sauter Timber. “We have seen the advantages and versatility that CLT has provided in other markets, and believe it to be the next wave in commercial construction in North America. It just made sense for our production facility to be made from the same.”

CLT is relatively new to North America, having gained popularity as a building product in Europe over the past 20 years. The product consists of multiple layers of wood with each layer crosswise to the next, which are then pressed to form a panel. CLT presents a cost-effective and structurally sound alternative to concrete, masonry and steel in many building types and offers fast installation times, reduced waste and improved thermal performance in buildings.

Each year, the WoodWorks™ Wood Design Awards celebrate excellence in non-residential and multi-family wood design, engineering and construction, as well as innovative projects that showcase attributes such as strength, beauty, versatility, cost effectiveness and sustainability. The Commercial Wood Design category recognizes the creators of projects that push the limits of commercial wood design in offices, restaurants, stores, malls, industrial buildings and other public spaces. Photos of the winning projects are available on the WoodWorks website, www.woodworks.org/projectgallery.

For more information, visit www.sauter-timber.com or www.woodworks.org.

About Sauter Timber, LLC

With roots dating back to 1992 in Germany, Sauter Timber provides high quality, precision cut wood components for companies around the world for use in specialty built homes and timber frame structures. Today, the company has a crew of 15 employees and is located on three acres in the Roane County Industrial Park in Rockwood, Tennessee.

About WoodWorks

WoodWorks – Wood Products Council (www.woodworks.org) provides free one-on-one project assistance as well as education and resources related to the code-compliant design of non-residential and multi-family wood buildings. WoodWorks technical experts offer support from design through construction on a wide range of building types, including mid-rise/multi-residential, educational, commercial, corporate, institutional and public.