Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Quesnel hands are pushing the provincial government forward on new wood policies. Like legislative Santa Claus, multiple branches of B.C.’s government announced a major advancement in the mass-timber movement, just in time for the Christmas season, and that advancement was straight up. New rules bumped the height of mass-timber buildings from a maximum of 12 stories now up to 18 stories. …Breaking down the manufacturing barriers and cutting the red tape around mass-timber permits is what Quesnel’s Bob Simpson has been lobbying for, and the new announcement will have helpful spinoff effects, he told The Observer. Simpson is the former mayor of Quesnel and MLA for Cariboo North, and is currently one of the leaders of the Future of Forestry Think Tank that convenes in Quesnel biennially. …If many of those necessary urban buildings can get built with mass-timber, it speeds up the entire B.C. construction industry.

VANCOUVER, BC — Vancouver-based wealth management firm Nicola Wealth has submitted a rezoning application to the City of Vancouver to develop a new 10-storey office building on Cambie Street and West 7th Ave. The site is currently occupied by Robinson Lighting & Bath. The site is across the street from Canadian Tire and steps away from the Canada Line… It would include 4,835 sq. ft of retail space on the ground floor and 89,322 sq. ft of office space on the floors above, plus an additional 1,977 sq. ft of indoor amenity space. Notably, it will, in part, utilize mass timber and cross-laminated timber floor panels. “Mitigating carbon emissions from the construction sector is critical to meeting emission reduction goals,” notes MCMP Architects, who are serving as the architect of the project. “Experts indicate that mass timber structures can reduce a building’s embodied carbon by up to 70% compared to a steel or concrete alternative.”

A team of University of B.C. academics is fusing the fields of microbiology and architecture to create living building materials made out of oyster mushrooms and other edible fungi. Their research into “engineered living materials” could help curb the construction industry’s high energy and environmental impact, replace traditional insulation, or even help regulate indoor temperatures as the climate warms. One day it could even potentially help filter air pollutants such as wildfire smoke. “These materials are assembled by combining raw materials with living cells and exhibit some certain properties of living systems,” explained Nicholas Lin, an engineer with expertise in microbiology, whose research straddles both UBC’s microbiology and architecture schools. …To make the engineered living materials — whether bricks, gels that can take any shape, insulation, or drywall-like boards — he said the researchers mix mushroom spores with something high in cellulose, often a recycled or byproduct material such as sawdust, wheat chaff or rice husks.

The cost to restore UNBC’s Wood Innovation Research Lab in Prince George will be roughly a million dollars. That’s according to Director of Facilities Management and Capital Planning Dr. David Claus as the facility has remained closed since the downtown explosion that occurred in late August. Claus explained how the building was able to withstand such a boom stating the damage could have been much worse. “The way that structure is put together it has a wood mass timber actual structure and then the walls are made up of panels and they are attached to that structure. The mass timber structure wasn’t impacted by the fire or the explosion, it flexed and came back just as it was designed to do but some of the panels had been affected by the fire. They were all burnt.” …While nobody wants to see a high-performance building involved in a fire, it was a chance for everyone involved to see how the research lab responded.

VICTORIA, BC — Any construction project is a tightly choreographed dance. In the case of the Japanese teahouse planned as part of the large-scale revitalization of the Japanese gardens on the campus of Royal Roads University, that choreography is notable for an acute level of precision and attention to detail. The design must fit the environment, a historic location and the BC building code. The construction process requires months of off-site work to prepare for on-site assembly. And then there’s the lumber. Hayato Ogawa, the renowned landscape designer, says every aspect of the wood used in its construction is considered: the kind of wood, yes, but also its provenance and quality. Ogawa and associates worked with Canadian Bavarian Millwork & Lumber in Chemainus, B.C. to sustainably source Douglas fir from old-or second-growth sources, and never from clearcuts.

BC announced proposed changes to the building code that will expand the use of mass timber to build taller buildings and to make stronger communities. …After the comment period, the BC government will decide on what changes are ready to move forward and what changes, if any, need further technical analysis. Key changes are expected to be adopted as soon as spring 2024. …Dr. Guido Wimmers, Dean, School of Construction and the Environment, said, “This announcement supports the sector to fill current knowledge gaps in industry and combat skilled-worker challenges, while also supporting clean growth and renewable resources for the economy.” BCIT offers two programs to equip skilled workers in upgrading their knowledge and skills in the mass timber industry: Introductory Studies in Mass Timber Construction and Construction of Mass Timber Structures.

For years, North American building codes have required apartment buildings to have two staircases that can be used as exits in case of a fire. Some housing observers wonder if this has been hindering our ability to build more and varied styles of housing. The B.C. government is now looking into relaxing requirements so that apartments taller than two storeys and, likely, shorter than six storeys can be built with just one staircase as in many European countries. It will spend the next year exploring possible changes to the B.C. Building Code… Seattle has allowed single staircases in multi-family buildings since the late 1970s when it mandated sprinklers. …Urbanarium, a non-profit society made up of architects, landscape architects, planners and other professionals, is launching a contest called “decoding density.” It’s asking people to submit proposals for updating building codes that could improve the design of six-storey-plus wood-frame structures.

Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, B.C., didn’t have a spectator venue for sports and events until Perkins&Will and Fast + Epp designed a stadium next to the Terry Fox Field, respecting the existing Lorne Davies Complex. The stadium’s standout feature is a 900-m2 cantilevered mass timber canopy that appears to be suspended in midair. In response to the lack of seating options due to the absence of precast concrete bleachers as originally planned in the LDC master plan, the new stadium was envisioned and built. …The engineering, fabrication, and installation of the roof structure posed significant challenges due to heavy snow loads at the Burnaby Mountain site, large cross-laminated timber (CLT) soffit panels with integrated systems to form the roof, and tight clearances to the adjacent sports complex. The biggest challenge was to provide stability to the sprawling roof structure with a 16.4 m cantilever.