Urban downtowns are sometimes called concrete jungles because the apartments and office buildings that make up skylines from New York to Vancouver are generally made of — what else? — concrete.
But that could change with a push underway to build more tall buildings with another material: mass timber.
Mass timber is an umbrella category of materials made by binding layers of wood together to create larger, stronger elements like panels and beams. Proponents say it's faster and easier to build with than concrete and steel, and less carbon-intensive to boot.
If concrete and steel are the Coke and Pepsi of highrise construction, mass timber has so far been more of a generic-brand cola. Mass timber made up just one per cent of all building construction materials in North America in 2022, according to an RBC report.
But analysts expect the market to rapidly expand in the years ahead, and all across the country, existing mass-timber plants are being expanded and new ones are in the works, from B.C. and Alberta to Ontario and Nova Scotia.
WATCH | Will mass timber mean more homes in Canada's biggest city?
Mass timber construction is on the rise. Could it help the housing crisis?
There’s been an increase in large-scale building projects using mass timber, otherwise known as engineered wood. Experts say the material offers several benefits compared to steel and concrete — including sustainability and speed. Talia Ricci explores whether it could be part of a solution to Toronto’s housing crisis.
"The demand is extremely high for mass timber now," said Frank Gannon, director of stakeholder engagement with mass timber manufacturer Western Archrib. He spoke with CBC News inside a new, 155,000 sq. ft. facility the company is building north of Edmonton to keep up with its growing orders.
"We are filling capacity slots about 10 months out from today — so yes, the phone's ringing off the hook."
The industry is getting a boost from new building codes that allow taller mass-timber buildings, and federal and provincial programs and policies that encourage builders to use more of it.
But so far, the uptake of mass timber has been uneven across the country, as some builders remain reluctant to switch from tried-and-true materials to something new.
And while much of the buzz around mass timber comes from its low carbon profile, some experts disagree about how climate-friendly it really is.
Beams and columns, floors and walls
The two most common types of mass timber are glue-laminated timber, or glulam, and cross-laminated timber, or CLT.
Glulam, which has been around since the early 20th century, is used to make beams and columns. CLT panels are a more recent innovation used for floors, roofs and walls.
Frank Gannon, director of stakeholder engagement with Western Archrib, stands in front of a large beam of glue-laminated timber at the company's plant north of Edmonton. (Paula Duhatschek/CBC)
Taken together, the two materials can serve as an alternative to concrete and steel in a building, said Brian Merwin, senior-vice president with Mercer Mass Timber in Vancouver.
"CLT is the transformational material for tall buildings," he said, adding that most of the material used in highrises is for the floors. "[It's] sort of filled that missing gap to get us to where we are today."
In 2020, the National Building Code of Canada was changed to allow encapsulated mass-timber construction up to 12 storeys. That means mass timber components in these taller buildings have to be covered by a fire-resistant material, like drywall.
Ontario and B.C. have gone further, and will allow up to 18-storey buildings.
Faster and lighter
Building with mass timber carries several advantages, according to structural engineer Robert Malczyk. It's faster to work with than concrete, he said, because panels can be largely prefabricated and assembled on-site.
His own five-storey Vancouver office building, made with mass timber, was erected in 12 days.
A worker at the Mercer Mass Timber factory in Okanagan, B.C., works on a piece of curved, glue-laminated timber. (Submitted by Jenn Kochanski)
"As an owner, I saved a lot in crane time, in closure of the streets time," said Malczyk, principal with the Timber Engineering consulting group.
Mass timber is also relatively light, making it more resilient to earthquakes, he said. Plus, many people simply like the way it looks.
"It has this beautiful calming effect, it's a natural material. We just love to be surrounded by wood."
Proponents of mass-timber construction also point to its environmental advantages.
Wood is a renewable resource, said Mohammad Mohammad, a senior research adviser with Natural Resources Canada, and producing it generates far less carbon compared to steel and concrete.
Robert Malczyk, principal at Vancouver's Timber Engineering Inc., stands inside his mass-timber office building. He says the building took only 12 days to construct. (Dillon Hodgin/CBC News)
At the end of a building's lifespan, he said, wood can also be recycled or reused, rather than being sent to a landfill.
"It has a lot of environmental benefits," said Mohammad, who works with a federal program funding innovative wood-construction projects that is so oversubscribed, its website contains a high-volume notice.
Green claims questioned
Not everyone is ready to throw out their cement mixers and switch to mass timber.
While construction in B.C. and Quebec, for example, has grown thanks to "wood-first" policies in their respective provinces, other provinces remain a bit more hesitant.
Many developers in Alberta, for example, are studying mass timber carefully but haven't yet felt comfortable green-lighting a mass-timber residential building, said Scott Fash, CEO of BILD Alberta.
"I think we're in the phase of exploration and not quite action," he said.
This close-up of a piece of glue-laminated timber shows the multiple layers of lumber that are glued together. (Paula Duhatschek/CBC)
Insurance premiums can also be high for builders working with mass timber, said analyst Sean Steuart, not because it's a more dangerous material but because it's so new.
"It's just not a well established industry, and as such, the insurance-underwriting framework is not as well developed," said Steuart, director of equity research with TD Cowen.
He said there's also a mismatch between supply and demand of mass timber: most demand is coming from Eastern Canada but manufacturing is concentrated in the West, which can drive up shipping costs.
Another risk: not everyone thinks mass timber is as sustainable as it's made out to be, and some experts caution against cutting down more trees to build with more mass timber.
"The most valuable thing we can do with forests is to leave them standing and growing," said Timothy Searchinger, whose work on mass timber has been published in the journal Nature and by the World Resources Institute.
He suggests the world would be better off exploring more low-carbon concrete options instead.
Glue-laminated timber was used for the balconies on New York City's Timber House. Some builders have been reluctant to switch to mass timber from more established materials like steel and concrete. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
Faster housing construction?
Mohammad, with Natural Resources Canada, said the vast majority of forests harvested in Canada are sustainable, and that usually more than one tree is planted for every one that's cut.
As Canada attempts to rapidly ramp up housing construction in the years ahead, he believes mass timber will play an important role in the overall mix of construction materials — especially in Northern communities, where concrete can be prohibitively expensive and hard to ship.
"[You can] basically establish a new housing development within weeks or months," he said.
"Now that we are able to go taller and larger with mass timber, it's just adding another construction system, another tool to our toolbox."
Rick Jeffery, CEO of the Canadian Wood Council, doesn't see a scenario where mass timber fully replaces concrete and steel. He also pointed out that it's not common for buildings to be made of mass timber alone: typically they're made of some mix of the three materials.
But he believes mass timber will be used much more often as Canada aims to build its way out of the housing crisis (a goal that will require another 3.5 million homes by decade's end).
"We see there's a big opportunity on that residential side."
Ontario’s forest solutions industry is welcoming the government’s transfer to let mass timber structures to achieve greater heights.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing stated it will be amending Ontario’s Constructing Code in the coming months to permit for development of these properties to be upsized from its existing 12 storeys to 18.
Steven Avenue, the govt director of WoodWorks Ontario, a wood construction advocacy group,, applauded the determination taken by Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
“Increasing the top of mass timber construction up to 18 storeys will allow minimal-carbon, state-of-the-art wooden building remedies to have a bigger purpose in accomplishing our housing targets,” Avenue said in an emailed statement.
“The transfer will also guidance increased adoption of industrialized techniques, using manufacturing facility-built rewards that can expedite the source of important infrastructure in a sustainable way.”
Ontario very first permitted the use of wooden-framed properties in 2015 in letting building, initially, of up to 6 storeys.
Successive provincial governments have been supportive of this form of sophisticated wooden design as an environmentally-helpful implies to establish households more rapidly and cut down prices, when supporting the forest solutions sector.
Close to 150 mass timber assignments have been concluded, are underneath made, or are being planned.
With accelerated building and household creating a critical tenant of the Ford authorities, boosting the peak of wood structures is a little something Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra reported he could get driving.
“As we perform to reduce red tape in buy to increase housing supply, we’re having an impressive approach to support our companions get shovels in the floor.”
In a information release, the ministry stated Encapsulated Mass Timber Building delivers an environmental answer for quieter and more rapidly development with the exact same fire and structural safety as other creating strategies.
The making approach in mass timber building permits for more prefabricated manufacturing facility-produced housing that can be transported in sections to a setting up web page and assembled in modular form. In many scenarios, smaller structures can be conveniently and swiftly created inside a matter of days.
Rick Jeffery, Canadian Wood Council president-CEO, congratulated the governing administration for taking a management purpose to supporting the business.
“These expanded provisions for mass timber will greatly enhance the innovation already going on in the province, featuring designers, developers, and municipalities the opportunity to go after significant effectiveness, reduced-carbon wood design in a better range of properties,” he reported by electronic mail.
“The use of Encapsulated Mass Timber Building in buildings up to 18 storeys tall has large possible to expedite the shipping of important housing although concurrently fortifying the Ontario economy. By harnessing Ontario forest items and labour, we not only meet essential housing needs, but also empower neighborhood industries and workers, fostering financial resilience and sustainability inside the province."
‘Mass timber’ refers to manufactured wooden merchandise that fulfill comparable structural, fireplace safety and seismic efficiency as supplies usually utilised to construct tall buildings, these kinds of as concrete and steel.
Encapsulated means that the created wooden components are protected with fire-rated treatment plans, like drywall.
Mass timber was described in the government’s forest sector technique.
In a assertion, Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Graydon Smith explained Ontario’s plentiful all-natural sources and the talent of the industry’s workforce will fulfill the present demand from customers for housing.
“Advanced wooden building will support convey long-phrase investments to northern communities that will generate new, good-shelling out employment even though rising housing supply and supporting Ontario’s premier renewable purely natural resource sector.”
Updates to the BC Building Code will profit men and women in the making and housing sectors with the expanded use of mass timber in taller structures, as well as colleges, libraries and retail.
The Province is adopting developing-code variations to allow the use of mass timber in buildings, such as educational facilities, searching centres and housing, so they can be crafted speedier and far more sustainably.
“These alterations will aid reduce carbon air pollution, assist the forestry sector, develop positions, establish extra properties and direct to a lot more vivid communities,” reported Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “We know mass timber seems to be great, and now we can use it in much larger properties and much more styles of structures.”
The mass-timber updates to the BC Constructing Code, now in outcome, will:
help taller encapsulated mass-timber building (EMTC) buildings with as lots of as 18 storeys for household and office properties, an increase from the prior 12-storey restrict
increase EMTC to new making forms, these types of as colleges, libraries, retail, mild- and medium-industrial occupancies, and treatment amenities and
permit for much more exposed mass timber in buildings, based mostly on a building’s peak and use, these as residential structures with as lots of as 8 storeys.
“This is one more action forward for British Columbia’s globe-class mass-timber sector as we keep on to accelerate the adoption of this strong, clear setting up technological know-how,” mentioned Jagrup Brar, Minister of Point out for Trade, and chair of the Mass Timber Advisory Council. “Through our Mass Timber Action Prepare, we are diversifying each our forestry and construction industries to construct a powerful, clean and sustainable economic system that will work for persons.”
The BC Setting up Code improvements for mass timber had been developed by a nationwide joint activity team co-chaired by B.C. and Quebec. The code modifications had been reviewed by an professional specialized advisory group that provided reps from a number of provinces, the fireplace providers neighborhood, fire protection engineers, complex making code specialists, regulators and sector.
Other provinces are expected to comply with B.C.’s direct and undertake these alterations into their setting up codes. The code modifications will be submitted into the nationwide code procedure for potential consideration for the countrywide building codes.
Advancing mass-timber technology is section of the Province’s Homes for Individuals motion strategy, to tackle the housing disaster as a result of a assortment of progressive approaches, like in the design sector. This implies embracing new systems like digital structure, mass timber and prefabrication to slice down on design times and on-web page labour wants to construct a lot more housing faster.
The Province has also centered on elevated density in city regions by means of little-scale multi-device housing and transit-oriented growth, creating much more mass-timber prospects to create homes additional promptly with a lessen carbon footprint.
Mass-timber innovation is part of government’s do the job to streamline and expedite provincial housing permits and authorizations, even though stimulating financial development, portion of a $19-billion housing financial commitment by the B.C. govt. Given that 2017, the Province has practically 78,000 houses sent or underway.
Rates:
Andrew Mercier, Minister of State for Sustainable Forestry Innovation –
“Mass timber is 1 of the innovative ways our authorities is getting to deal with the housing crisis so more persons with have obtain to homes faster. I’m enthusiastic to see the impact these variations will have as we create more robust communities by expediating structures like educational institutions, browsing centres and housing to be designed quicker.”
Betsy Agar, director, buildings, Pembina Institute –
“It’s good to see tangible options to the twin challenges of housing affordability and local weather crises remaining delivered by means of key levers like the BC Constructing Code. There is an urgent will need to deal with embodied carbon as section of decarbonizing Canada’s properties. Embracing the expansion of mass timber in taller properties highlights the essential position of embodied carbon consciousness, while ensuring all Canadians stay in safe and sound, healthier, climate-resilient residences that are very affordable to warmth and interesting.”
Rick Jeffrey, president and CEO, Canadian Wood Council –
“The Canadian Wood Council applauds B.C.’s code leadership. These expanded provisions for mass timber will increase the innovation currently occurring in the province, giving designers, builders and municipalities the chance to go after superior-general performance, very low-carbon wooden building in a broader vary of structures. The 18-storey EMTC provisions have large likely to improve the B.C. overall economy by utilizing B.C. forest goods and personnel to make considerably-wanted cost-effective housing.”
Mike Moffatt, senior director, plan and innovation, Clever Prosperity Institute –
“Mass-timber development is an critical instrument to build attainable, low-carbon and local weather resilient residences and structures. These reforms will give communities a lot more building solutions although generating fantastic jobs for British Columbians across the mass-timber offer chain.”
Understand More:
For a lot more data about B.C.’s Mass Timber Motion Approach, go to: https://information.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022JERI0015-000519
For more data about the adoption of the new building code, stop by: https://information.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HOUS0167-001923
For additional data about the rewards of building with mass timber, stop by In a natural way Wood British Columbia's Sustainable Forestry Source: https://www.naturallywood.com/
The stunning Tutorial Wood Tower has started out to get form in the Bloor Avenue cultural corridor, the place it will provide as a beacon for inexperienced architecture – and offer substantial-top quality areas for a few of the university’s schools and universities.
A rendering of the new Academic Wooden Tower. Courtesy of Patkau Architects + MJMA.
The College of Toronto has started increasing a new 14-storey mass timber building that will established a precedent for sustainable style.
After full, the tower is expected to be the tallest academic timber framework in Canada and a person of the tallest mass timber and steel hybrid structures in North America. U of T, which was recently named the world’s most sustainable college by QS Earth Rankings, is fully commited to furthering its role as a international model with jobs like these.
“This inspiring piece of architecture will offer our college students, school and staff members with point out-of-the-artwork areas for investigate, finding out and neighborhood engagement,” reported Meric Gertler, president of the college. “It will stand as a testament to U of T’s world-wide management in sustainability, as effectively as our motivation to city-creating. It will also showcase Canada’s leadership in wood building systems and the forest solutions market. We are pretty grateful to our donors and to all these encouraging us to realize this extremely remarkable eyesight.”
Condition-of-the-artwork spaces for 3 U of T faculties and colleges
Greatly thought of 1 of the world’s most impressive organization educational facilities, the Rotman University is house to a special ecosystem of labs and research centres that give chopping-edge thought management. The best five flooring of the Academic Wooden Tower will household Rotman’s specialized government training programs.
The Educational Wood Tower will give ample area to inspire our program’s individuals as they perform to check out and remodel themselves, their organizations and their communities.
“The Educational Wooden Tower will present sufficient house to encourage our program’s individuals as they work to discover and rework by themselves, their businesses and their communities,” stated Susan Christoffersen, dean of the Rotman School of Administration. “Carefully developed to set a precedent in sustainability, area configuration and educational technologies, the tower will equip scientists and learners with the tools and ahead-wondering design to teach the leaders of tomorrow on urgent organization subject areas.”
The Educational Wood Tower will present sufficient space to inspire our program’s members as they work to take a look at and remodel on their own, their businesses and their communities.
The Munk University of Global Affairs & General public Policy is a entire world-renowned hub for dialogue and debate, hugely sought following for its imagined leadership on the most urgent difficulties of our time. It hosts hundreds of substantial-effect events every 12 months that have interaction students from across U of T and around the globe.
“I’m delighted that the Munk School’s faculty and students will be element of the Tutorial Wooden Tower community,” stated Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “This new constructing will deliver a great deal-desired house as our specialists continue on to present well timed study advice on existing gatherings and teach tomorrow’s leaders in public plan.”
“We glimpse forward to bringing together learners, faculty and other community associates in this inspiring area,” included Peter Loewen, professor in the Section of Political Science and director of the Munk College of World wide Affairs & Community Plan.
The tower will be specifically connected to the Munk School Observatory developing and the Goldring Centre for Significant General performance Activity, a single of the Faculty of Kinesiology & Bodily Education’s major services. The new flooring will allow the college to carry on to grow its operate as a person of the world’s leading-ranked athletics science packages of its type, which includes facilitating the university’s huge slate of co-curricular actual physical activity and sports activities programs.
“The Educational Wooden Tower will deliver vital more house for our college,” claimed Gretchen Kerr, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology & Actual physical Training. “Its proximity to the Goldring Centre and Varsity Stadium will deliver us with a fantastic – and practical – established of amenities as we keep on to guidance healthy dwelling by way of our teaching, exploration and programming.”
A remarkably watched case study in sustainable structure
Even prior to design, the Educational Wooden Tower was attracting substantial interest for its impressive design.
Created by award-winning Canadian corporations Patkau Architects and MJMA Architecture & Structure with consulting from Blackwell Structural Engineers and Smith+Andersen, the Tutorial Wooden Tower’s distinctive and sustainable framework has previously gained a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence.
U of T’s Educational Wood Tower proves that we can minimize emissions, responsibly build new properties and contribute to the vivid architectural material of a dense town like Toronto.
The similar crew worked on U of T’s Goldring Centre for Substantial Effectiveness Activity, which involved the tower’s basis and basement as component of its development. Now, with the initially deliveries of mass-timber factors to the internet site, design of the Tutorial Wooden Tower is proceeding below the administration of business chief Pomerleau. The college anticipates finishing the setting up in 2026.
The building is envisioned to serve as a case study for designers and engineers who can examine this milestone achievement and possibly use the tower’s very best techniques to their personal initiatives.
U of T’s Tutorial Wood Tower proves that we can cut down emissions, responsibly build new properties and lead to the vibrant architectural material of a dense town like Toronto.
“U of T’s Academic Wooden Tower proves that we can decrease emissions, responsibly build new structures and lead to the vibrant architectural material of a dense city like Toronto,” stated Sandra Hanington, vice-chair of the university’s Governing Council.
Mass timber delivers a wealth of structural advantages, which includes a superior diploma of fireplace protection and a small carbon footprint. Wood obviously absorbs carbon, using it out of the environment and decreasing greenhouse gases. It is also a person of the only important developing products that is a renewable useful resource.
A lot of of the tower’s components can be manufactured prior to their arrival, which means that they can be assembled simply and proficiently once on website, minimizing the amount of construction disruption in this chaotic place of the town.
Performing jointly on a world wide situation
Funding the tower’s building has been a collective effort with the federal authorities and quite a few donors all earning vital contributions to carry this vision to existence.
The creating has been given considerable help from the Government of Canada’s Eco-friendly Building by way of Wood (GCWood) method, which encourages the use of innovative wood-primarily based building technologies in design tasks to aid Canada arrive at its Paris Agreement commitments and minimize greenhouse gasoline emissions.
The University of Toronto’s Tutorial Tower challenge is 1 of numerous examples of revolutionary technologies getting used to produce resilient and lower-carbon structures, when protecting against carbon emissions.
Canada is a chief in wood construction systems and household to 1 of the largest forest industries in the globe. Fittingly, the tower’s timber is homegrown, originating in Western Canada.
“The Governing administration of Canada’s Eco-friendly Building by way of Wooden system is supporting additional sustainable Canadian products for the building market,” stated the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Electrical power and Organic Resources. “The College of Toronto’s Academic Wooden Tower venture is a single of several examples of progressive technologies getting utilised to develop resilient and low-carbon properties, whilst protecting against carbon emissions. I congratulate all those people associated in this significant project.”
The University of Toronto’s Academic Tower job is a person of lots of illustrations of progressive technologies staying used to generate resilient and low-carbon properties, when avoiding carbon emissions.
“The Educational Wood Tower at U of T is a historic growth that symbolizes in which we are headed: a cleaner future exactly where Canadian personnel sustainably use Canadian materials to develop far more affordable and sustainable communities,” included Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Atmosphere and Local weather Alter and to the Minister of Energy and Normal Methods. “The Federal government of Canada is happy to assistance get this tower constructed, right here in Toronto.”
The project’s commitments to sustainability and innovation are an instance of the university’s Defy Gravity marketing campaign priorities in action. Donor aid has been critical to having the tower off the floor.
“U of T’s donors make projects of this scale a reality,” reported David Palmer, vice-president, college development. “Their inspiring dedication has supplied the environment a putting and realistic blueprint for setting up sustainable design – tangibly demonstrating that we can create inviting, chopping-edge exploration and discovering spaces although maintaining our commitment to sustainability.”
A new type of construction process using layered wood as a substitute for materials like concrete and steel that’s considered eco-friendly is becoming more popular in the U.S., especially the Pacific Northwest.
It’s called mass timber and is used especially in the construction of tall, multi-story buildings.
There have been many efforts to lower the climate cost of buildings since they account for about 13% of carbon emission in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
While these projects reduce the operational energy of buildings, mass timber works to reduce embodied carbon and emissions caused in the construction process.
“Our building industry needs to be transformed,” Susan Jones, owner and founder of atelierjones LLC of Seattle told The Bellingham Herald in an interview. “We made a lot of amazing progress in the 20th century but I think we didn’t look at the carbon footprint on a lot of buildings and now it is time to do that. Better late than never.”
Jones’ architecture company is devoted entirely to mass timber construction, and has four buildings under construction, has built eight and designed over 20 across multiple states. She also has written the book, “Mass Timber: Design and Research.”
There are three main types of wood construction: stick frame, solid wood and mass timber:
▪ Stick frame, which is the standard method of wood timber construction, used traditionally in houses.
▪ Solid wood construction. This method is outdated, using full logs from old growth trees. Remember log cabins? This type of construction is not a common practice anymore because it was wasteful, and required cutting down some of the largest and oldest trees in the forest.
▪ Mass timber, which uses state-of-the-art technology to glue, nail, or dowel wood products together in layers. The results are large structural panels, posts, and beams. These exceptionally strong and versatile products are known as mass timber.
Some types of mass timber have been used for centuries in projects as a replacement to steel, this was called glue or nail laminated timber and was created by gluing and nailing parallel boards together to create posts or beams as a replacement to steel.
It wasn’t until the relatively recent invention of cross-laminated timber in 1990’s Austria that mass timber became popular in larger construction. Starting in Europe and then picking up popularity in Vancouver, Canada. Recently, mass timber has been showing up in Seattle and Portland projects.
Mass timber is amazingly fireproof
Mass timber is an umbrella term, which cross-laminated and glue/nail laminated fall under.
Cross-laminated timber is usually used as an alternative to concrete in construction, while glue/nail laminated is used in replacement of steel Rhys Faler, managing director at the Arcology Institute told The Herald in an interview.
“You can build much faster with mass timber than with any other material,” Faler said. “It is put together offsite and transported to the job site, you just gotta put it together like Lincoln Logs, you just put the pieces together and go up, up, up.”
On average, a mass timber building can save two to three months on construction when compared to steel and concrete, Jones said.
This is partly because using timber instead of concrete and steel saves weight and thus time in construction, which reduces cost and carbon emissions. Timber is also easier to produce than steel and concrete, which again reduces the financial and environmental cost.
The production benefits, combined with the carbon captured and stored in the wood itself, means mass timber construction can lower the carbon footprint of a building by 20-40%, Jones said.
“In the wood there is sequestered carbon, because wood comes from trees, and trees absorb CO2” Jones said. “When you cut down a tree, the carbon doesn’t just float away. ... About 30-40% of the carbon stays in the lumber itself. It stays in 2x4s, it stays in large glue laminated columns. The bigger the pieces, when you put these wood pieces together into a panel, you are going to keep a lot of carbon captured in those.”
The carbon will stay in the lumber until the building falls down and crumbles, which is estimated to last about 150-200 years with mass timber, Jones said.
Bellingham awaiting mass timber
While there are some buildings in Bellingham that use mass timber to an extent, it is not very popular for a simple reason that there are not enough tall buildings in the city to justify a new method of construction, Faler said.
Although made from wood, mass timber is exceptionally fireproof. Faler said this is due to the density of the materials. The mass timber acts more like a thick tree trunk, and when the outside might get charred, it is unlikely to burn all the way through. Testing performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture also showed that cross-laminated timber building can be fire resistant even under extreme circumstances.
One possible downside of mass timber construction is that it does require a lot of trees to be cut down, and one thing people don’t like is an increase in logging and clear-cutting.
There currently are 1,753 buildings under mass timber construction in the U.S., but according to Jones, this has not significantly impacted the amount of clear-cutting in the United States. . There is only going to be a struggle to meet demand if mass timber becomes much more popular, or if a country like China starts to adopt the practice.
“The impact of using mass timber is going to be very nominal, there are around 1,700 buildings under design or construction across the country,” Jones said.
“We anticipate that that’s growing, but it’s a blip, it’s a fractional use of the amount of wood that is already coming out of our forests.”
This tale was initially revealed July 25, 2023, 12:53 PM.
Jack Belcher joined The Bellingham Herald in September 2022 as the weather change reporter. He graduated Central Washington College with a diploma in digital journalism in 2020 and labored as a workers author for the Ellensburg Each day Report for a few yrs.
Staying energy-productive, owning inherent fire resistance, and with an potential to sequester carbon dioxide, mass timber has revolutionized Canada’s construction marketplace. Mass timber will aid condition the long term of reduced-carbon development although helping to build and reinforce Canada’s bioeconomy by using revolutionary products and solutions and types to make a far more sustainable developing sector.
On July 5, Taleeb Noormohamed, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville, on behalf of Minister of Pure Assets Jonathan Wilkinson, announced a $3.5-million contribution to the development of 2150 Keith Generate, an modern hybrid mass timber professional office environment developing in Vancouver’s Untrue Creek Flats neighbourhood. The contribution will be manufactured by way of the Environmentally friendly Development Through Wood (GCWood) Program that supports tasks and activities that enhance the use of wooden as a very low-carbon design material in infrastructure projects.
“To attain our local weather goals, Canada should lessen emissions in our making sector. By utilizing mass timber, we can improve efficiency and weather resilience in our communities though also decreasing emissions. Supporting projects like 2150 Keith Push demonstrates Canada’s determination to building and deploying impressive procedures and supplies in our building and structures sector. This will aid careers and financial option throughout the state and support to battle climate transform,” Wilkinson stated.
That includes a distinctive honeycomb-shaped exterior, 2150 Keith Generate will be 10 storeys tall and around 15,000 m2. It will be produced with sophisticated mass timber programs using prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels and glue-laminated timber columns, braces and beams. Because of to its wood braced-body process on the exterior, the design and style gets rid of the want for an inside concrete main, thereby minimizing its environmental affect. The replicable shape of its exoskeleton style also would make it perfect for much more sustainable, charge-economical and inexperienced development. The developing is the tallest braced-frame mass timber job or developing in North America and will employ an impressive seismic resistance method. Furthermore, the setting up is focusing on a bare minimum LEED Gold certification with construction predicted to be total in 2025.
The challenge is also supported by the province of British Columbia by the NetZero Power Ready System and a $500,000 contribution from the Mass Timber Demonstration Program (MDTP). The MTDP offers funding for incremental prices in the design and development of buildings that reveal emerging or new mass timber or mass timber hybrid setting up techniques and building processes.
The Federal government of Canada carries on to aid innovation and developments in mass timber design in Canada. With the greater availability of new developing elements on the market place, mass timber has the opportunity to aid a substantially additional sustainable building throughout the state. This implies lessen emissions and a lot more resilient communities, all although furnishing jobs and financial option throughout the forest solutions and building benefit chains.
“The DIALOG design crew is grateful for the economical aid from Organic Methods Canada that has pushed the development of progressive layout and development methods that are inexpensive, replicable and an important element of a sustainable upcoming,” said Justin Tompson, senior architectural technologist, associate, DIALOG.
(operate(d, s, id)
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]
if (d.getElementById(id)) return
js = d.createElement(s) js.id = id
js.src = "//join.fb.internet/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=761779333850340&model=v2."
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs)
(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'))
Opinion: New buildings will emit far fewer greenhouse gases if we maximize the use of engineered wood from new growth forests sustainably harvested in B.C.
Published May 15, 2023 • Last updated 1 week ago • 3 minute read
UBC's Brock Commons is an example of a 'mass timber' high rise.Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
Article content
To meet the demand for affordable housing, Canada will need an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030, a volume of construction activity that could easily compromise our ability to deal with the other priority of our age: the climate crisis.
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
Support local journalism.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
Support local journalism.
REGISTER TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Access articles from across Canada with one account.
Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
Enjoy additional articles per month.
Get email updates from your favourite authors.
Article content
To achieve both our housing and climate goals, the B.C. government is investing in the rapid growth of mass timber and construction manufacturing. B.C. is projecting the global engineered-wood sector could be worth $400 billion by 2027. Greater public and private investments in growing this sector can lead the way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building better housing more quickly.
Sign up to receive The Canucks Report newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox at the start of every series. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat.
By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thanks for signing up!
A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.
The next issue of Canucks Report will soon be in your inbox.
We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again
Article content
Mass timber uses state-of-the-art technology to glue, nail, dowel and press ordinary lumber together in tight layers. The results are large structural panels, posts and beams that are lighter than steel and as strong as concrete. And the climate benefit? Trees breathe in carbon and exhale oxygen in the atmosphere, both of which are pretty good for all of us who survive by doing the opposite. Like trees, mass timber locks in large volumes of carbon for generations.
Article content
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Mass timber demonstration projects have proven that wood structures can safely reach great heights. Since the 18-storey Brock Commons demonstration project at UBC was completed in 2017, the mass timber industry has surged forward with over 285 tall timber buildings planned or completed in 2020. And we are just getting started.
Rapidly joining the maturing mass timber industry, prefabrication is finding its legs. Far-sighted builders who design with the end of a building’s life cycle in mind, know prefabrication is the best way to facilitate deconstruction and reuse of materials.
New industry players propose to deliver large, prefabricated building components to a site, ready for stacking like building blocks. Many steps in the convoluted process of building apartment buildings can move to an assembly line, thus harnessing the speed, power and efficiency of manufacturing despite labour shortages. Hello industrial age, a century later than in most other sectors!
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
When a new land use is called for, decades later, the structure can be dismantled. Building components can then be refurbished and repurposed on another site where the same carbon is kept locked in the wood structure for a few more generations.
This overdue convergence of mass timber and prefabrication makes sense now, and here in B.C. more than anywhere else in North America. Building taller using wood, a local, natural, renewable and biophilic material means far fewer emissions.
Engineered wood is an ideal way to displace traditional materials and methods that require mining and carry a heavy carbon footprint. Climate-responsible forestry and good stewardship of our forests are the means to a nature-based way of building more housing more quickly and support jobs in the forestry sector. Integrating computer-aided design in the fabrication process also matches the aspirations of youth entering the labour market with the education and desire to become full-time knowledge workers in a modern industry.
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
New buildings will emit far fewer greenhouse gases if we maximize the use of engineered wood from new growth forests sustainably harvested in B.C.
It’s time to retool and rebuild the construction industry. It’s time to get recycling from under the kitchen sink and foster a circular economy on a grand scale, a circular economy the size of an 18-storey tower. Mass timber will help us accelerate the delivery of new housing and provide jobs and climate benefits.
Gaetan Royer is an innovative urban planner and CEO of Massive Canada.
Alex Hemingway: Why Canada still needs a wealth tax — and what it could fund
Michael Zwaagstra: Plight of unique Vancouver school underscores need for choice
Share this article in your social network
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Join the Conversation
Advertisement 1
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
In 2018, Enkel Group erected a complex of six a few-storey, 1,800-sq.-metre timber structures in José Ignacio, a beach city in the country’s east, for a lodge chain identified as Vik. It was a pioneering physical exercise in South The us, and the project was assembled in just a few months, making use of 504 cubic metres of glued laminated timber – a very similar content to CLT, but whose panels are oriented to the exact same course, contrary to CLT’s “cross” – all imported from Italy.
But why use imported supplies? The panels are manufactured with wood from younger pine trees (of 10 to 15 decades outdated), an present source in Uruguay, but one that is mostly exported in logs, bringing minor added price to the country’s economic climate.
Exports of roundwood pine in Uruguay grew 115% in 2021, almost double the maximize in full timber exports (64%). Pine logs accounted for US$240 million out of a whole of US$569 million in exported timber.
The put in ability of domestic pine sawmills will allow for the processing of concerning 3,000 and 4,000 hectares of mature forest per yr. The region of pine plantations required to meet this capability is concerning 60,000 and 80,000 hectares the nation’s complete planted area is now far more than double the latter quantity.
Arboreal estimates that the nation’s quantity of experienced trees is additional than adequate to supply an industrial processing of 600,000 cubic metres of reduce-to-sizing CLT boards per yr – a output they goal to reach in the shorter phrase, with 50-60% intended for the domestic sector and the remainder for export.
A paradigm shift
Any “paradigm shift” to timber design is viewed as intricate by the market. Julio Canarano, a member and advisor to the Association of Non-public Building Builders of Uruguay (APPCU), said he sees the recent “roadmap” and modifications that the Ministry of Housing is introducing on wooden building for social housing in a favourable gentle.
On the other hand, Canarano claimed that “it has constantly been tough for Uruguay to open up up to different materials in building due to the fact the sector is really traditionalist.” He gave as an example the nation’s slowness to include the use of gypsum when it experienced previously taken off in other places in the world.
Arboreal informed Diálogo Chino that the industry is beginning to transfer, with a lot of consumers creating enquiries, and several architects fascinated in discovering about the system contacting the firm. It also lately participated in a construction fair for the 1st time, in Montevideo. The group sees it as required to develop a critical mass, and advise equally the sector and the public, simply because a preconception persists that “wood burns, moths and rots”.
In accordance to APPCU, an additional challenge is schooling the country’s labour force. Arboreal options to originally coach 6,000 building employees throughout the country to “switch from applying a bucket with a combination and a mason’s trowel to a laser leveller and automated applications,” Matías Abergo mentioned in a recent job interview.
It has normally been tough for Uruguay to open up to alternate supplies in construction because the sector is really traditionalist
“This is like assembling a Lego with no making use of power, anything is built so that the partitions are straight without hard work, and the staff go household cleanse,” he extra. The instruction cycle entails national universities this kind of as the Universidad del Trabajo (UTU), the Nationwide Institute of Work and Vocational Teaching (INEFOP) and the PIT-CNT, a nationwide trade union centre.
Eduardo Burgos from the PIT-CNT told Diálogo Chino that they are intrigued in training workers and specialists, but also in mastering about the procedure in purchase to evaluate irrespective of whether it is viable to use it for housing construction by cooperatives. There is reportedly a deficit of between 60,000 and 70,000 households in Uruguay, according to governing administration officers.
“We have a pretty fluid dialogue with the company Arboreal, we are now budgeting for 1 of our cooperatives to see how significantly a square metre will expense,” mentioned Burgos. The organization estimates a standard rate of close to US$1,100 per square metre, in accordance to the quotation presented by Arboreal to the Ministry of Housing in a document this Could.
The PIT-CNT also thinks that “the output product simply cannot be to export logs, but to add benefit, expertise and technology to these procedures we are advocates of non-regular programs that make design less costly.”
Both of those the sawmill and the CLT plant, as properly as the procedures affiliated with the pine plantations and distribution of the supplies, can produce jobs, in accordance to both the organization and the workers’ union.
A 2021 report on the forestry sector from Uruguay XXI, a authorities trade marketing company, claimed that there an abundant availability of pine wood is assured for the next 20 many years, with very significant quantity peaks in the close to potential: “An annual ordinary of additional than 3 million cubic metres that significantly exceeds Uruguay’s set up industrial ability.”
Exterior, artist's rendering of 609 Ponce place of work loft
ATLANTA, Could 2, 2022 /CSRwire/ - GP’s lumber organization is collaborating with leaders in the mass timber marketplace on a new office creating in Atlanta’s popular Ponce Metropolis Market growth to help the building of a 4-tale mass timber loft business building.
The 619 Ponce office building currently being developed by Jamestown, a worldwide actual estate financial investment and management business, will be the very first software of southern yellow pine lumber, and Ga-Pacific has aided its shopper, SmartLam North America, acquire the appropriate specs for utilizing southern yellow pine. The constructing will consist of 90,000 sq. toes of office environment space and 23,000 square ft of floor-level retail room and will concentrate on LEED certification and web-zero carbon operations.
“Mass timber is an more and more eye-catching creating product due to the fact of its unique environmental sustainability qualities, and Ga-Pacific’s constructing products enterprise regarded the opportunity to support the advancement of this merchandise by joining with a landmark venture making use of southern yellow pine lumber, which is a little something we have a great deal of expertise with,” reported Fritz Mason, president of GP Lumber.
This is not the to start with time Georgia-Pacific has been a pioneer employing southern yellow pine. The firm was the 1st making merchandise business to productively commercialize the use of veneers from this tree species to manufacture plywood in the 1960s, providing increase to the large advancement of the making merchandise field in the Southeastern United States.
Interior artist’s rendering of 609 Ponce office environment loft
“This undertaking aligns with our commitment to excellent environmental stewardship by way of partnering with others to experiment and innovate to responsibly make additional price for society,” mentioned John Mulcahy, GP’s vice president of stewardship. “To be in a position to do so in a higher-profile and well-liked development in our hometown metropolis is heading to be a actual source of satisfaction for us.”
Ponce Metropolis Current market initial opened in 2015 and has been credited as the catalyst for revitalizing Atlanta’s Previous Fourth Ward community. Right now, Ponce City Marketplace has develop into a big work hub for artistic and technological innovation organizations and is property to 90 firms. The new progress is projected to provide a lot more than 550 extended-phrase work opportunities to the campus. In total, Ponce Metropolis Market will house some 100 enterprises collectively utilizing far more than 5,750 individuals and include things like over 800 residences when the task is total and entirely activated. You can read much more on the new progress listed here.
Dependent in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries are among the the world’s leading makers and marketers of tub tissue, paper towels and napkins, tableware, paper-based packaging, cellulose, specialty fibers, nonwoven materials, creating merchandise and relevant substances. Our acquainted purchaser models include Quilted Northern®, Angel Gentle®, Brawny®, Dixie®, enMotion®, Sparkle® and Vanity Truthful®. Ga-Pacific has prolonged been a major supplier of creating goods to lumber and constructing materials dealers and big do-it-oneself warehouse vendors. Its Georgia-Pacific Recycling subsidiary is among the the world’s largest traders of paper, steel and plastics. The corporation operates additional than 150 amenities and employs more than 30,000 folks specifically and creates about 89,000 work indirectly. For a lot more information, pay a visit to: gp.com/about-us . For news, stop by: gp.com/news
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
.jpg)
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Join the Conversation