New OSU Coastal Housing Puts Safety First With Mass Ply Construction
LYONS, Ore., Nov. 14, 2025 – Oregon State University’s (OSU) rapidly expanding Hatfield Marine Science Center has experienced a critical need for workforce housing, as enrollment surged from 100 to 500 in just three years. To support the influx of students, faculty, and visiting professionals, OSU opened the Harborton Street Housing complex this fall 2025. The new facility features sustainable Mass Ply Panels (MPP) from Freres Engineered Wood, offering a safe and resilient alternative to the school’s existing bunkhouses within the tsunami zone.
Freres Wood Wins Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Award
LYONS, Ore., Sept. 15, 2025 – Today, Fast Company officially announced the winners of their 2025 Innovation by Design Award, including Freres Engineered Wood’s revolutionary Mass Plywood Warehouse. The prestigious global design competition named Freres Wood the winner of the Design/Make category as well as a finalist in the Experimental and Conceptual Design category. These renowned awards recognize the world’s most innovative businesses, highlighting impactful design solutions that address crucial issues like climate change.
Freres Awarded USDA Wood Innovation Grant to Expand Biochar Market
LYONS, Ore., July 22, 2025 – Freres Engineered Wood, a leading Oregon manufacturer of sustainable and innovative engineered wood products, has been awarded a $229,199 Wood Innovation Grant from the U.S. Forest Service. The funding will support the expansion of Freres’ biochar production, a carbon-rich byproduct of wood waste, and help grow emerging markets for carbon-sequestering materials.
Freres Wood Responds to National Push to Increase Timber Production
LYONS, Ore., July 15, 2025 – Freres Engineered Wood, one of the country’s leading voices on sustainable wood products and responsible forest management, supports President Trump’s executive order to expand U.S. timber production. The company maintains that increased timber harvesting is critical to restoring forest health and rural economies. Following the order, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a $200 million investment and a directive for the U.S. Forest Service to boost harvesting on national forests by 25 percent.
Freres Wood Biochar Used in USDA Project on Microplastics Mitigation
LYONS, Ore., June 17, 2025 – Farmers, corporations and even cities in search of real climate solutions now have a powerful ally in a carbon-rich material called biochar, produced by Freres Engineered Wood. Known for their state-of-the-art Mass Ply Panels, Freres Wood has produced biochar, a byproduct of forestry waste, since 2021. With market momentum accelerating and new research underway in 2025, the company’s latest efforts could play a powerful role in global carbon removal strategies.
Freres Wood’s Mass Ply Featured in New Modular Housing Systems
LYONS, Ore., May 14, 2025 – Freres Engineered Wood’s Mass Ply Panels (MPP) have entered the modular housing market, thanks to project partners LIT Homes and MODS PDX Inc. LIT Homes is manufacturing modular housing products with MPP for the unhoused population, disaster relief and refugee housing. MODS PDX Inc. is building a mass timber modular community in John Day, Oregon, called “The Ridge.” The roofs and floors for these units are made with MPP.
Freres Wood Unveils Mass Ply Finishes at Mass Timber Conference
LYONS, Ore., Apr. 14, 2025 – Freres Engineered Wood, a leading mass timber manufacturer,
introduced their updated collection of Mass Ply Panel (MPP) appearance grades at the 2025
International Mass Timber Conference (IMTC) in March. Attendees paid special attention to the
original Edge Grain and pre-burned Shou Sugi Ban appearance grades, both of which are
particularly unique in the mass timber industry.
Mass Ply: Solution for Rebuilding Homes Quickly and Safely After Wildfires
LYONS, Ore., Mar. 18, 2025 – As wildfires grow more severe and widespread, homeowners and developers are seeking fire-resistant building materials for residential construction, and especially post-wildfire rebuilds. Following rigorous, third-party testing, Freres Engineered Wood’s Mass Ply Panels (MPP) provide an exceptional solution for fire hardening homes, offering a slower char rate and more consistent fire performance than concrete, steel and even some alternative lumber-based mass timber products.
OSU Publishes Report on Mass Ply Panel Point-Supported Slab Testing
LYONS, Ore., Feb. 13, 2025 – A new study from Oregon State University (OSU) confirms that Freres Engineered Wood’s Mass Ply Panels (MPP) can now be used in a wider range of multi-family buildings, such as apartments, hotels and dormitories. OSU’s Research on Engineering, Architecture & Construction of Timber Structures (REACTS) Consortium conducted a series of tests with full-scale MPP to see how well they could sustain different structural layouts. Test findings, released on January 24, indicated that Freres’ point-supported slab allows the widest and longest column grid spacing with the thinnest panel compared to all other mass timber products.