Recreation and community centres are important hubs that serve many roles for an area’s residents. Given the range of uses these large public facilities exist to fulfill, a lot goes into their planning and design. …wood is the material of choice for most community centres, and Meredith Anderson, Principal with RJC Engineers, has a lot of love for this versatile renewable resource. “Wood brings huge benefits to the overall carbon footprint of a building when looking at it from the perspective of the embodied carbon through a Life Cycle Assessment,” she says. “Wood is a beautiful building material. There is an efficiency in using the building structure to express the architecture, rather than cover it with finishes.” Another benefit of wood is its proven ability to improve the wellbeing of those in the building.
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On Tuesday, Vancouver City Council took its first steps towards creating a new policy program to “remove barriers to mass timber” and encourage more developers to utilize the building form. The proposed Mass Timber Policy for Rezonings would allow additional height and density through the rezoning process, allowing up to two additional storeys on sites that currently allow for eight to 11 storeys, and up to three additional storeys on sites that currently allow for 12 or more storeys. The City says … additional density was “one of the most compelling incentives” that was identified during consultations. …The City will also provide support to those looking to utilize mass timber construction on a new project. Staff will convene for consultation during the development enquiry stage, before an application is officially submitted because “uncertainty of entering into the permit process with a new building form” was something that offset the advantages of using mass timber construction.
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The First Nations Forestry Council will be hosting five events in the province, with one in Quesnel. The sessions are to ensure more workers, communities and First Nations are prospering in the forestry sector, and to develop solutions to sustain, diversify and grow BC’s value-added sector. In an email response, the Ministry of Forest said as partners in the Value-Added Accelerators, the initiative will look to bring together wood manufacturers, First Nations, forest licensees and the Province to address challenges and find ways to keep more fibre. The session will also provide an opportunity for local First Nations to learn more about the high value wood manufacturing sector through better information-sharing, tools, resources and networking. The information sessions in Quesnel will be on May 1st from 4:30 to 6:30.
Open the January Think Wood News for these stories and more:
With 767 mass timber projects under construction across the U.S., there is more demand than ever for a more sustainable alternative to traditional building components. But this surge in demand is running into a supply chain marred by pandemic-era economics and trade policy that makes an already more expensive product even pricier. These challenges are holding up the entire industry just as sustainable builders need it to take off. …This year’s 767 projects marks an increase from 600 such projects in 2020, according to the 
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a relatively recently developed construction material that is growing in popularity in some sections of the construction industry. …This variation of one of the oldest building materials in the world – timber – has its origins in the work of German engineer Julius Natterer in the 1970s. …CLT possesses some noteworthy benefits for architects and project managers. Firstly, its aesthetic qualities make it an exceptionally beautiful building material. Secondly, if constructed properly, it has excellent strength and dimensional stability. Another benefit of CLT is that it is much lighter than other structural materials, such as steel and concrete. Whilst not as fireproof as concrete, CLT does have some fireproofing capabilities. During a fire, the outer layer chars, protecting the internal layers for a period of time.
