Better buildings
July 11, 2022

New demonstration projects showcase BC’s growing expertise in advanced mass timber construction

The second intake of the Province’s Mass Timber Demonstration Program continues to expand BC’s expertise to advance wood construction, all the while boosting local economies and the province’s competitive advantage. From a multi-purpose civic space to a taller timber residence pioneering prefabricated Passive House technologies, these five projects show what is possible with mass timber.

Monad Granville Building Exterior Rendering

Monad Granville Building | A mixed-use nine-storey development in an infill lot in Vancouver’s downtown. It is set to be the first prefabricated Passive House mass timber highrise mixed-use urban housing in the city. Rendering courtesy Intelligent City and LWPAC.

Five projects are recipients of Intake 2 funding of the Mass Timber Demonstration Program (MTDP). The MTDP provides funding for incremental costs in the design and construction of buildings that showcase emerging or new mass timber and mass timber hybrid building systems and construction processes. 

The learnings gleaned from these projects will benefit the sector broadly and will:

  • Prove the business case for mass timber use and support the costs related to the learning curve associated with increasing adoption of mass timber use in the development and construction sector.
  • Showcase best practices and share lessons learned to support future uptake of mass timber technologies.
  • Demonstrate performance and commercial success for BC-based mass timber technologies, design and construction expertise, and services.
  • Undertake virtual design or 3-D modeling to support prefabrication, leveraging the speed of construction and other benefits associated with mass timber and prefabrication of building components.
  • Undertake life cycle analysis, greenhouse gas mitigation, or related carbon accounting analysis.

PASSIVE HOUSE REACHES NEW HEIGHTS

Monad Granville Building

The Monad Granville Building is a rental, mixed-use nine-storey development in an infill lot in Vancouver’s downtown and is set to be the first prefabricated Passive House mass timber residential midrise in the city. 

Floor cassette panels and facade panels will be made using cross-laminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL), while columns will be constructed with glue-laminated timber (glulam).

The project serves as a model for prefabricated mass timber construction and Passive House design standards that could be replicated in future urban housing. The building will be designed to achieve net-zero energy readiness with a path towards carbon neutrality. 

Rendering courtesy Intelligent City and LWPAC 

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CONSTRUCTING CIVIC PRIDE

The Confluence Building

Mass timber and Passive House certification will combine for the first time in the West Kootenay region of BC through the construction of The Confluence, a multi-purpose civic space that will support local tourism, economic development and Indigenous programming. 

The design team will use an advanced building envelope engineered to Passive House standards to reduce the facility’s energy consumption by 80 percent, when compared to conventional construction.  

The project’s ample use of CLT—comprising the walls and roof along with interior features, such as cantilevered stairs and textured partition walls—takes advantage of wood’s natural thermal benefits while storing carbon for the life of the building. 

Rendering courtesy of Henriquez Partners Architects

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INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH + FLEXIBILITY

Man 6 Building

Situated in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, this three-storey mass timber structure, dubbed the Man 6 Building, showcases how light industrial, restaurant, commercial office and even outdoor recreational uses can fuse seamlessly into one complementary and flexible building design. 

Reminiscent of historic heavy industrial timber buildings, CLT slabs will serve as floors supported by glulam columns with a concrete core. 

The project demonstrates how thoughtful design, offsite prefabrication and mass timber can help maximize the use of small industrial sites. 

Rendering courtesy EKISTICS Architecture

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ECO-FRIENDLY EDUCATION

L’Alliance Française de Vancouver Building

L’Alliance Française de Vancouver (AFV)— located in the South Granville neighbourhood and serving as a community hub for French-language culture and events—will more than triple its programming space with an innovative, eco-aware and community-friendly building that showcases an exposed mass timber design. 

The project will feature a mass timber superstructure—the timber components will be left exposed to the interior and include CLT decking and glulam beams and columns. Exposing timber to this extent will be a BC-first for an educational building designed for larger occupant gatherings. 

The use of regionally-sourced sustainably harvested timber aligns with AFV’s commitment to promote sustainability within the community they serve. 

Rendering courtesy office of mcfarlane biggar architects + designers

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Timber Takes Flight

Kelowna International Airport Expansion – Phase I

Kelowna’s nearly 8,000-square-metre airport expansion project reinterprets its original 1960s modernist aesthetic with a two-storey prefabricated mass timber structure featuring a long-spanning signature “waffle-slab” roof design.

It’s estimated that prefabricated panels could cut construction time by 25 percent creating significant savings for the project; and resulting in 90 percent less construction traffic to the site.

Once completed, the large-scale roof structure will serve as an industry example of highly efficient timber construction, showcasing the availability and affordability of mass timber.

Rendering courtesy office of mcfarlane biggar architects + designers

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View all Mass Timber Demonstration Program projects

Expanding the use of mass timber in BC

From multi-storey and -family residential to mixed-use commercial, institutional and industrial buildings, there are currently 12 innovative projects currently funded by the Mass Timber Demonstration Program.

First Nations Health Authority Metro Vancouver Office, Rendering courtesy DIALOG

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