Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) refers to innovative homebuilding approaches to improve the efficiency, sustainability and quality of construction. It includes of off-site construction, including 3D volumetric modules, 2D panels and pre-fabricated components, as well as innovative on-site approaches, such as robotics and digital tools. It can help build homes up to 50% faster and 40% cheaper than traditional methods. Yet current conditions actively prevent adoption at scale—leaving Canada’s housing crisis unresolved. MMC currently makes up 7.5% of the Canadian construction market. Forecasts show it’s set to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5% by 2029. Deploying these new methods could meaningfully contribute towards Canada’s housing needs. Raising MMC ‘s contribution to 15% of annual supply needs (about 72,000 units a year), would require developing dozens of new factories at current production capacities.
Canada’s insurance sector is calling for more time and data before it can fully evaluate mass timber as a building material, even as its use spreads rapidly across the country, according to a recent policy brief by the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). …Despite the material’s growing footprint, insurers remain cautious. The IBC brief identified three key gaps in available data: long-term structural performance over several decades, the effects of moisture and water-related incidents, and typical repair and replacement costs following fire or other damage. Reinsurance capacity for mass timber projects, particularly mid- to high-rise developments, has also been constrained, which the brief noted directly affects the availability and terms of primary coverage. Insurance broker Aon has noted that limited long-term loss history makes it more difficult for insurers to model risk with the same level of confidence they apply to more established building materials, according to the IBC.
Canada Wood’s April 2026 Market News highlights how targeted technical work, partnerships, and education are advancing Canadian wood products across Asia. In Korea, fire and acoustic testing is helping pave the way for broader adoption of wood in mid-rise construction. In Japan, efforts to integrate Canadian dimension lumber into traditional post-and-beam systems are opening new hybrid opportunities, while a villa project in Okinawa showcases wood’s performance in demanding climates. At the same time, rising domestic lumber production in Japan signals increasing competition. In China, a technical exchange led by Dr. Steven Craft is supporting dialogue around mass timber fire safety, while education initiatives are shaping the next generation of designers. The newsletter also reflects on Canada–Japan collaboration in post-disaster rebuilding and highlights innovation showcased at Tokyo’s Nikkei Show—together illustrating how Canada Wood continues to expand market access, strengthen relationships, and position wood as a practical, sustainable building solution.
Today, not only is Canada in a housing affordability crisis, but Build Canada Homes (BCH), the new federal agency-turned-Crown Corporation tasked with building affordable housing at record speed and scale, is already largely staffed, selecting projects, and hoping to break ground by this fall.
Since its launch in 2018, the 
Kalesnikoff Mass Timber is launching a new line of modular timber classrooms today at the world’s largest mass timber conference in Portland, Oregon, showcasing its innovation to thousands of attendees. The company said that the classrooms are designed to address growing pressures on school infrastructure across North America. “Many communities are growing, leaving local schools at capacity,” said Chris Kalesnikoff, President and C.E.O. of Kalesnikoff. “These new modulars can be built and deployed rapidly, are cost effective, and create a warm and exceptional learning environment for students and staff.” The modular classrooms, constructed of cross-laminated timber (CLT) from Kalesnikoff’s mass timber facility in the West Kootenays using high-quality B.C. wood, are highly adaptable. They can function as a single classroom or be combined into larger expansions or entirely new schools. They can also be built in single-storey, or stacked configurations, and arrive with pre-installed heating, plumbing and digital systems.
A 17-storey mass timber-Passive House tower under construction in downtown Vancouver will help push forward clean, tall timber construction techniques, the company building the mixed-use structure at 981 Davie St. says. The builders, 
NEW BRUNSWICK — Postmedia plans to stop printing most New Brunswick newspapers in Moncton. Postmedia publishes the Times & Transcript, Telegraph-Journal, Daily Gleaner and other local newspapers. They are printed and distributed from a building along Main Street in downtown Moncton. Dave Arsenault, president of the New Brunswick Media Guild, confirmed that print and distribution will cease in Moncton and be moved elsewhere. …”Following an assessment of printing and insert packaging operations, it was determined that outsourcing these operations from Postmedia’s Moncton facility would allow us to continue serving print subscribers and advertisers while supporting long-term financial sustainability,” the company said Wednesday. The printing will be outsourced out of province starting Aug. 2. Postmedia bought most of New Brunswick’s English-language newspapers from Irving-owned Brunswick News in 2022.
Sumitomo Forestry’s $4.5 billion Tri Pointe buyout was approved with more than 99% support, taking the combined Japanese-owned share of US single-family home construction from just 0.2 per cent in 2015 to close to 6 per cent in 2026. Sumitomo Forestry’s buyout of Tri Pointe Homes, one of California’s largest builders, was approved at a special meeting in Irvine, California, earlier this month, with the deal set to be completed by mid-year. The Tri Pointe transaction, first announced in February, is the largest US homebuilder acquisition by a Japanese forest-based conglomerate in history, and follows the same playbook Sumitomo has already run across Australia, where Japanese conglomerates wholly or partly own just under 30 per cent of the country’s top 20 housebuilders. …Tri Pointe gives the Tokyo-listed parent access to California and Nevada, the two major US growth states where Sumitomo… had no meaningful presence. 
As more U.S. states consider extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, the American Forest & Paper Association warns the policy could raise the cost of everyday goods, Midland reports. EPR raises costs for American families because it shifts recycling expenses onto manufacturers. Global studies show when there are new regulatory fees, prices for packaged items increase. EPR works like a consumption tax. It ultimately increases the overall cost of groceries, household goods and paper products. As a result, Americans will feel the impact when shopping at the grocery store and for everyday necessities, according to AF&PA. EPR will increase costs without improving paper recycling. …Extended Producer Responsibility requires companies to pay for collecting, recycling and disposing of their products. That’s true even for materials like paper that are already widely and successfully recycled today.
The city of Seattle opened its first warehouse for salvaged lumber Friday in SoDo. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson cut a red wood “ribbon” with a chainsaw to mark the occasion. The warehouse, operated by Earthwise Architectural Salvage, will serve as a place where lumber from the demolition or renovation of buildings is collected and sold for new construction, or to make furniture and other DIY projects. “Reuse is better than recycling,” said Katie Kennedy, the Seattle Public utilities manager who helped obtain the grant for the city. “You are displacing the need for new materials.” In addition to saving trees from being cut down for new lumber, the project is aimed at reducing waste and emissions.
American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Heidi Brock commented following the court’s decision to deny AF&PA’s motion to join the challenge to Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act: “We are disappointed by the court’s decision denying our motion to join the challenge to Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act. While we respectfully disagree with the ruling, AF&PA remains fully committed to pursuing all available legal and strategic options to protect our members’ interests. As Oregon’s program moves into implementation, it is becoming clear that the law imposes significant and unnecessary burdens on paper products that are already among the most successfully recycled materials in the United States. …We will continue working closely with partners and counsel to secure meaningful relief for our members and ensure that recycling policies are workable, fact-based and do not increase costs across the supply chain for businesses and consumers alike.”
As with any other natural resource, building with wood starts with ensuring each piece is up to snuff. And while there are machines to help vis-a-vis bots spotting knots, human eyes and judgement remain essential. To help expand that human portion of the grading project, the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau (PLIB) has rolled out the Fundamentals of Lumber Grading. 
A cross-sector group of packaging producers, farmers, restaurants and grocers has filed a class action lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of SB 343, California’s controversial recycling labeling law. The coalition argues the legislation imposes unconstitutional restrictions on free speech, ultimately working against recycling participation programs by making it harder for consumers to understand what can and cannot go in the bin. At the heart of the complaint is SB 343’s prohibition on the use of widely recognized recycling symbols and claims, even when those claims are factually accurate, according to the suit. Under the law, producers cannot label packaging as recyclable unless it meets state-defined, “rigid” criteria that allegedly fails to reflect how recycling actually works. …“SB 343 establishes labeling standards that could discourage innovation and limit the ability to provide accurate recycling information to consumers,” the American Forest and Paper Association stated.
COLORADO — The Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) unanimously voted to table its decision on adopting eight new building-related codes. Those are the 2024 editions of international codes, including the residential code, building code, energy and conservation code, mechanical code, fuel and gas code, existing building code, property maintenance code, and the swimming pool and spa code. During the meeting, the BoCC also considered, and unanimously approved, Resolution 2026-27, adopting the 2025 Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code (CWRC), along with amendments to snow load requirements for manufactured structures. …Commissioner John Ranson described them as an “unfunded mandate,” adding, “there’s no two-ways about it.” He mentioned that in conversations with local builders, many are preparing for these codes to make construction costs go up.
Mass timber is frequently praised for its aesthetic appeal and sustainability benefits. However, what often goes unrecognized are the construction phase advantages it brings to a project—advantages that directly impact schedule certainty, jobsite safety and overall delivery predictability. Beyond appearance and environmental performance, mass timber fundamentally changes how buildings are built. For owners and developers focused on speed to market and reduced risk, these operational benefits deserve just as much attention as design and carbon metrics. Mass timber construction shifts critical decision-making earlier in the project lifecycle. Structural elements such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels and glulam beams are fabricated off-site and arrive ready to install. There is no waiting on cure times, no extended periods of formwork or shoring, and fewer weather-related delays during structural erection.
More efficient use of lumber byproducts leads to more sustainable forest management. That’s why Michigan Technological University researchers are developing a biomaterial lighter than steel and just as strong, made from leftover wood waste, that could revolutionize the lumber industry. …Xinfeng Xie, associate professor of forest biomaterials, and his team have partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Waste Upcycling for Defense (WUD) program to turn scrap wood into a strong, sustainable building material. …Led by Xie, students began by using a group of wood-decay fungi, also known as xylophagous fungi, to break down lignin, the tough, rigid structural polymer in plant cell walls. This biological approach leaves behind cellulose nanofibers that are stronger than steel, and its only byproducts are carbon dioxide and water. …The project also provides a physical product that has a positive impact on the future of their industry.
CONCORD, New Hampshire — A bill moving forward at the State House aims to address a decades-old discrepancy in how wood strength is rated. New Hampshire lawmakers approved Senate Bill 529, which gives preference to US-harvest lumber. The bill requires state-funded building projects to include design specifications for US-sourced spruce-pine-fir. …In the early 1990s, the U.S. and Canada developed separate systems to rate the strength of framing lumber. Canadian lumber is labeled SPF, while American lumber is labeled SPFs. SPFs ended up with a lower design strength value, even though the wood used on both sides of the border is nearly identical. …Over time, the difference in design specifications has given Canadian lumber a competitive advantage, putting Hampshire lumber at a disadvantage. While lawmakers can’t change international industry standards, they can influence how the state purchases lumber for its own construction projects.
BRIMLEY, MI – The Bay Mills Indian Community will receive $50,000 in state funding to support planning and design of a long-term care facility in Brimley, making it the only Upper Peninsula project selected in the first round of Michigan’s Mass Timber Catalyst Program. The planned facility is among 10 projects statewide sharing $400,000 in grants aimed at expanding the use of mass timber construction in Michigan. The state received six applications from the Upper Peninsula. “We received six applicants for a number of different projects in the Upper Peninsula,” said Patrick Mohney, senior lands program manager with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Public Lands. “This shows that interest in this building technique is growing.” Nine Lower Peninsula projects were also selected, with individual grants ranging from $25,000 to $60,000. Recipients include a woodworking school in Adrian, a municipal building in Grand Rapids, and mixed-use facilities in several locations.
As the world gets hotter and wildfires more intense, architects are turning back to trees for more than inspiration. Engineered materials like cross-laminated and glue-laminated timber, in which layers of wood are glued together, create beams that are tough and somewhat flexible, yet lightweight. They’re so strong, in fact, that designers are crafting wood structures that are 15, 20, even 25 stories high: In 2022, the 284-foot Ascent MKE Building opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, becoming the world’s tallest timber building. It’s exactly because the world is getting hotter that architects are pushing the limits of how tall they can build with “mass timber,” as it’s known in the field: As trees grow, they capture planet-warming carbon, which is then permanently incorporated into the edifice. To that end, last month crews completed a 10-story building in Vancouver, called the Hive, which is now North America’s tallest brace-framed, seismic-force-resisting (meaning it shrugs off earthquakes) timber structure. 
The UK construction sector is being encouraged to increase its use of homegrown timber, as industry experts highlight the benefits of locally sourced materials over imports. Despite the availability of sustainable domestic options, nearly 80% of timber used in the United Kingdom continues to be imported. This reliance is now being questioned across the supply chain. …A key issue raised within the sector relates to timber grading. Architects and engineers frequently specify higher grades such as GL28 or C24 without fully assessing project requirements. This trend has developed due to historical dependence on imported Scandinavian timber, where C24 is the standard grade. In contrast, the most common grade produced in the UK is closer to C16. This mismatch has led to inefficiencies. British timber is often overlooked. Specifications are sometimes made without full evaluation. The ‘Trust UK C16’ campaign is aiming to address this imbalance. 
DENMARK — The timber industry is intensifying efforts to expand the use of wood in construction, with a new action plan aiming to raise its market share to 20% by 2030. Launched under the “TiB 2.0” initiative by industry body Træ i Byggeriet, the strategy seeks to accelerate adoption by addressing key barriers, including restrictive building regulations, entrenched industry practices and limited knowledge of wood’s capabilities. Lauritz Rasmussen, head of the organisation’s secretariat, said the initiative builds on growing interest in timber as a sustainable building material but acknowledges progress has been too slow. He stated that “all reason dictates that we should use more wood for the climate, the environment and for the qualities for which wood is recognized”. The plan focuses on increasing visibility, improving documentation and promoting knowledge-sharing to influence decision-makers. Leadership changes also form part of the strategy, with Per Thomas Dahl of CLT Denmark appointed as the new chairman.
The construction industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, mostly due to conventional materials production. Because of this, there is an urgent need for sustainable alternatives. Bio-based materials offer a promising alternative but remain underutilized. This study examines wood to derive insights that could support the broader adoption of bio-based alternatives. This research explores the systemic drivers and barriers to the diffusion of wood through interviews with key actors. A system dynamics model is developed to capture the main factors affecting wood diffusion and their interdependencies. …It shows that successful diffusion requires systemic innovation, necessitating collaboration across the ecosystem. This systemic analysis offers important insights for other bio-based materials, which differ in resource availability, applications, and production cycles, but face similar barriers such as workforce shortages, scalability, and societal acceptance. Overcoming these barriers requires targeted trainings and supportive policies. 
Awareness of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label for responsible forest management continues to rise in Germany, reaching 77% in 2025, a recent survey has indicated. According to the 2025 Global Consumer Awareness Survey, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the FSC, recognition of the label has reached 77% among German consumers – up six percentage points since 2022. The study, based on more than 32,000 consumers globally, shows that 59% of German respondents trust brands more if they offer FSC-certified products. Across the DACH region, awareness remains high, particularly in Switzerland (81%) and Austria (68%). …The data reflects a broader behavioural shift: while environmental issues receive less public attention, consumers increasingly act on sustainability through everyday purchases. …For retailers and brands, the growing demand for credible sustainability claims is becoming increasingly significant.
The wood industry produces enormous quantities of lignocellulosic by-products, such as sawdust, and their incineration for energy recovery results in substantial carbon emissions and the loss of valuable raw materials. Here, we introduce struvite as a fully recyclable inorganic binder for the consolidation of sawdust into high-performance hybrid materials. The mineral binder is produced in situ by an enzymatically induced solution-mediated phase transformation driven by ureolytic protein bodies extracted from watermelon seeds. The resulting material exhibits excellent fire resistance with a long time to ignition (51 ± 1 s), low peak heat release (118 ± 2 kW m−2), and fast flame self-extinction due to efficient char-layer formation. Moreover, it displays high compressive strength (4.71 ± 0.37 MPa). Crucially for sustainability, the struvite binder can be recovered under mild aqueous conditions without loss of performance, offering a valid path toward a circular materials economy.