Prime Minister Carney has pledged billions of dollars in financing for makers of prefabricated homes to help end the country’s housing shortage. Experts say the plan is visionary – and laden with risks. Mr. Carney has promised to provide $25-billion in loans and $1-billion in equity financing for companies that largely build homes in factories rather than on construction sites. The federal government will also place bulk orders of prefabricated housing to help jump-start a nascent industry. …It’s a big, bold bet that could make it faster, cheaper and more environmentally friendly to build a chunk of the 3.5 million homes that Canada needs to add by 2030. But factories need sustained demand, a large enough market and streamlined production. That’s what must weave out of the web of housing bureaucracy and hyperlocal rules that currently tangles up residential construction, the experts caution. [to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]
Related content:
- Business in Vancouver – B.C. real estate experts urge Ottawa not to overreach under new government
- Construct Connect – The ballots are in, let housing begin
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CALGARY — The one constant of Trump’s tariff plan seems to be that it is in a constant state of flux. “The time is now to start planning for what those impacts could possibly be and develop the mitigation strategies and tracking mechanisms…so that as they (tariffs) evolve in real time you are prepared to deal with them,” said Rick Moffat. Moffat moderated a webinar panel recently on legal and practical strategies for managing the impacts of the tariffs on construction projects in Canada. …Stressing the importance of detailed contingency plans that account for potential cost hikes caused by tariffs, Bulut Cinar said contractors would benefit by including “multiple scenarios” illustrating how their contingencies help manage their costs. …If contractors consider delay-causing tariffs a force majeure event, but the contract deals with tariffs differently they might be “precluding themselves” from compensation, he added.
House Republicans have approved an amendment that authorizes the sale of thousands of acres of federal public land in Nevada and Utah; two states where the federal government owns most of the land that have long been at the forefront of a controversial movement to cede control of it to state or private entities. The House Natural Resources committee approved the amendment late Tuesday night after previously indicating federal land sales wouldn’t be included in a budget reconciliation bill. Most of the proposed land sales or exchanges appear to be aimed at building affordable housing on US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land outside Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada and in fast growing southwestern Utah around the tourist town of St. George, Utah. …Democrats and environmentalists say the amendment is part of a broader far right push for a wholesale transfer of federal public lands.
The April Monthly Update includes these stories and more:
Material intelligence refers to how materials perform, adapt, and interact with ecological and cultural systems. It considers howstone, steel, or timber respond to intertangled forces, how those materials are sourced and assembled, and how they persist after demolition. Designers are centering material intelligence in constructing our cities in a generation of environmental uncertainty and strained supply chains. Few materials embody this shift as vividly as cross-laminated timber (CLT). By layering and bonding planks into structural panels, CLT offers strength, fire resistance, and a significantly lower carbon footprint than concrete or steel. Across Europe and Canada, mass timber has emerged as a centerpiece of decarbonized construction. Yet in the United States, progress has moved more slowly. Developers hesitate. Codes trail behind innovation. Conventional materials still dominate the urban skyline.
MARYLAND — After five years of work and many interim steps, Maryland became the sixth US state to pass extended producer responsibility legislation for paper and packaging, continuing the policy’s evolution in the country. Sent to the governor on April 7, SB 901 would direct a producer responsibility organization to set goals for post-consumer recycled content, recyclability, recycling and reuse rates, source reduction, composting rates and contamination reduction. However, it also builds on newer elements, such as a phased-in approach to reimbursement, seen last year in Minnesota’s law. …The American Forest and Paper Association has called the bill “misguided.” “EPR programs are helpful for materials that don’t have strong end markets or aren’t highly recycled,” the association wrote. “Paper is a highly recycled material with strong end markets.” …Any EPR program must fully and fairly credit our early and voluntary actions to increase recycling in Maryland and across the country.”
UK — Nearly half of birch wood certified by leading sustainability schemes is misidentified and does not come from the labelled country of origin, according to new testing. The analysis raises fears that large quantities of sanctioned wood from Russia and Belarus are still illegally entering Britain. New research by World Forest ID… scrutinised the accuracy of dozens of harvesting-origin claims on birch products, which had almost entirely been approved by FSC and PEFC sustainability schemes. The samples of birch – a popular hardwood used in furniture, kitchens panels and musical instruments – were labelled as originating in Ukraine, Poland, Estonia and Latvia. But tests using the wood’s “chemical fingerprint” showed that 46% of certified samples did not come from the origin on the label. …While the tests did not specify the country where the wood was grown, experts said Russia and Belarus were the only plausible origins.