The Membertou First Nation near Sydney, Cape Breton, is building the area’s first mass timber commercial building, a 92,000-square-foot office complex as part of the community’s new retail and service district. It almost didn’t happen. The original RFP called for a traditional concrete and steel project, but one of the five submissions promoted mass timber instead. “We had no experience with mass timber but number two chief and council decided that would be the way we’d go,” says Gerry Lalonde, architect/project manager of the Membertou Corporate Division. The mass timber design submitted by Dora Construction offered a green solution, quick erection and cost savings over concrete, he says. “The steel option was comparable to mass timber in cost but at the time steel availability was in question.” …Erected in 16-weeks, the five-storey structure was supplied by Quebec-based Nordic Structures. “It was the fastest erection I have ever seen,” says Lalonde.