Canada’s Province of British Columbia is taking steps to accelerate the adoption of mass timber buildings.
The Province is providing funding for 12 mass timber demonstration and research projects as part of its economic recovery program. It has also established a new advisory council to accelerate adoption of mass timber building systems.
The $4.2-million investment in mass timber projects and research will help urban planners and developers adopt mass timber by supporting the incremental or first-time costs of design development, research, permitting, and construction activities. The projects will help advance CleanBC goals by sourcing from sustainably managed forests that have a lower carbon footprint, according to a provincial government news release.
The demonstration projects will comprise a range of different building types and approaches to using mass timber to highlight the versatility and performance of this building material. These include a firehall with strict post-disaster requirements, an Indigenous health and culture center, and low-cost housing on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
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