Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

VANCOUVER, BC — An architecturally unique green building concept is envisioned for a site at the southeast corner of the intersection of Lonsdale Avenue and 14th Street East in North Vancouver City’s Central Lonsdale district. Named “Forest Hill,”… The new concept has approximately 20 storeys, with residential within the upper levels and retail space on the ground level. …This forest topographical-inspired design makes its ascent from the podium, which covers the southern half of the envisioned development site. It is designed as a modular mass timber structure, which provides not only environmental benefits but also a faster and lower cost construction process compared to conventional building methods. …The residents of this building will enjoy the naturalistic timber, the greenery, the maximized desired views, and optimized solar gain.”

…As the global COVID-19 pandemic forces nations to review their supply chains, there is an opportunity within this crisis in B.C. to make meaningful and lasting improvements to our own economy, and leverage our excellence in mass timber manufacturing, design and construction. The challenge we face as mass timber leaders is to turn this momentum into a lasting movement. …In our new normal, physical distancing could be a long-term reality. Off-site CLT prefabrication results in 30 to 40 per cent fewer workers at mass timber construction sites during the framing process, and framing a mass timber building usually takes 30 per cent less time than framing a similarly sized timber-framed building. Moreover, mass timber sites also experience fewer deliveries, resulting in less congestion at our build sites. Due to significant interest from international corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Adidas, Wal-Mart and others, mass timber has gained significant attention.

Nelson City Council is contemplating a major upgrade of the Hall Street pier on Kootenay Lake. …The project would see the replacement of the pilings and decking, which are reportedly at the end of their life, as well as replacement of the gazebo beside the Prestige Lakeside Resort. It also includes the creation of a public event space on the pier, some of it covered, designed by architect Matthew Stanley. …Council has received pledges of in-kind or at-cost work from a number of local companies including Kalesnikoff Lumber for mass timber components, Spearhead Timberworks for design and fabrication of timber structures, Drop Design for steel marine components, Porcupine Wood Products for cedar decking and cladding, Nelco Marine as the major supplier of floating docks, gangways and components to Kootenay Lake, and Kootenay Lake Barge and Pile.

British Columbia Institute of Technology and the provincial government have announced the joint funding of a 12-storey, 464 bed student housing building on the school’s Burnaby campus. The province has committed $108.8 million for the project, while the university is adding $6 million to the first investment in new student housing at the school in 38 years. …At 12 storeys the new tower will dwarf the next tallest building on campus, which only measures four storeys. The government is also trumpeting the plan for its use of mass timber in the construction process. …”Mass timber is key to diversifying and creating a more resilient forest sector,” said Ravi Kahlon, parliamentary secretary for B.C.’s Ministry of Forests. …Construction is expected to begin in early 2022, with a target to welcome students in August 2024. 

Read more in the BC Government press release

A Passive House social housing project for Indigenous people that will feature a one-of-a-kind wood design is being proposed in Vancouver by consulting firm M’akola Development Services. When complete, the envelope, architectural articulation and balconies of the building will give it the look of a big basket, testament to the basket-weaving tradition of the Coast Salish Peoples. Achim Charisius, senior associate and certified Passive House designer at GBL Architects said, “the building is intended to be built for the Indigenous population so there’s a sort of pride and the basket-weaving is a local tradition which is celebrated in B.C. so that’s where the basket-weave comes from.” M’akola, a firm with Indigenous roots, wanted to make sure the culture of local Indigenous people was incorporated into the design and that wood be used in the build to fit in with the area.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia–Local home-builder Adera Development is doubling its commitment to build mass timber homes in the Metro Vancouver market. With hundreds of homes already in the development and construction process, Adera has set the target of adding at least 1,000 new sustainably-built mass timber homes to the region by 2025. Adera is fully engaged in their role to help turn B.C. into a global hub for mass timber excellence, including manufacturing, design and construction. “Mass timber is B.C.’s opportunity to leverage our immense natural resources and build homes using this leading-edge material, creating regional jobs which will support our economic recovery, and provide affordable housing for residents of our province,” said Rocky Sethi, Adera Development COO. …Adera is working with local mass timber manufacturers who are accessing regionally harvested lumber to produce the building materials. This includes Penticton-based Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation and Castlegar-based Kalesnikoff Mass Timber and Lumber.

PRINCE GEORGE – City council voted unanimously … in being an early adopter of the Initiative for Tall Wood Mass Timber Construction, signing on with 12 other communities from across the province. Mayor Lyn Hall believes this could help shape the downtown landscape into the future. “It was important for us because forestry is a mainstay of our economic growth here and has been for 100+ years. …It gives us the opportunity now to be a part of a group of communities across the province to look at Mass Timber construction.” Mayor Hall added that he felt it was important that Prince George was among the municipalities signing onto the initiative. However, UNBC’s Dr Guido Wimmers believes there’s much to be done for the industry itself to be able to make use of the legal framework. …This early adoption initiative will allow local governments to enable innovative tall wood buildings … before adoption in the BC Building Code.

Vancouver developer PortLiving scored a win by enlisting architect Shigeru Ban to design its luxury Terrace House residential project adjacent to the renowned Arthur Erickson-designed Evergreen building in Downtown Vancouver. Now the Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese starchitect’s firm is listed among the project’s unsecured creditors as PortLiving’s principals struggle to recapitalize Terrace House under court protection from bankruptcy. On Aug. 31, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick granted its owners, Port Capital Development and Evergreen House Development LP, until Dec. 4 to find new investors, acceptable refinancing or an outright sale of the project, which was intended to be a signature, 19-storey luxury residence. …PortLiving launched Terrace House in 2017 with the intention of building one of the world’s tallest hybrid, mass-timber buildings at 71 metres. 

Kalesnikoff announced today new mass timber projects at three Canadian educational institutions: Bayview Elementary in Vancouver, B.C., Humber College in Toronto, Ont. and the University of Victoria in British Columbia. “These are among the first major cross laminated timber (CLT) projects that will be built with our local, high-quality mass timber products, and we are especially proud to support the development of our education infrastructure products and services,” said Chris Kalesnikoff, Chief Operating Officer of Kalesnikoff. “This is just the beginning of this next phase of our company as the use of mass timber in North American continues to expand.” Kalesnikoff was selected for these important projects through an open competitive procurement process. The schools are Bayview Elementary in Vancouver, Humber College in Toronto and a residence at the University of Victoria.

B.C.’s newest mass timber manufacturer has landed three contracts to provide mass timber engineered wood products for new schools and colleges in Canada. Kalesnikoff Lumber, which opened a new cross laminated timber manufacturing plant in Castlegar last year, has been awarded two contracts in B.C. and one in Ontario to provide its products in new school buildings: Bayview Elementary in Vancouver, Humber College in Toronto, and the University of Victoria. The Bayview school in Kitsilano will be replaced with a new one using CLT, and it will be used in the construction of a new student’s residence and dining hall at the University of Victoria. It will also be used in a new eight-storey building at Humber College. …Kalesnikoff is one of three mass timber manufacturers in B.C., the others being Structurlam in Penticton and StructureCraft.in Abbotsford.