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J U N E 2 0 2 2 | 29 Engineered Wood Products R EN D ER I N G BY H EN R I Q U EZ PA RT N ER S A RC H I T EC T S/CO U RT E S Y G LOT M A N S I M P S O N The popularity of engineered wood products in Canada has gone through the roof by NATALIE BRUCKNER N orth America continues to rank as one of the fastest growing markets for engineered wood and is expected to witness mar- ket growth at a rate of six percent in the forecast period 2022 to 2027. While the pandemic impacted the sector in various ways, the challenges that came along with it are slowly becoming a distant memory as the market once again reaches pre- pandemic levels … and experts are responding accordingly. Rory Koska, program director at Alberta Wood WORKS! / Canadian Wood Council, says in Alberta the mass timber market is extremely healthy and is grow- ing in leaps and bounds with more buildings using engineered wood products. "We are seeing more and more light frame buildings going up and more utilization of EWP in the low-rise commercial marketplace, which historically wasn't there," he says. West Block in Edmonton is a perfect example of this. The three-storey, 30,000-square-foot office/commercial building utilizes mass timber and is the largest mass-timber office building on the Canadian Prairies. Demand for these types of mass timber buildings has exploded, and in response Koska and his team have created a new document for architects and engineers on low-rise commercial wood buildings. The document complements the Canadian Wood Council's Mass Timber Design Workshop: Essential design consid- erations for a new generation of low-rise commercial wood buildings. One interesting point highlighted in the guide is hybridity in construction, and the notion that one material versus another should now become a thing of the past. "You can still use a pre-engineered steel frame and infill any mezzanine or roof with different types of engineered wood products like manu- factured truss or i-joist, or mass timber, for example," explains Koska. "We have a great relationship with the masonry council and we know the sandbox is huge. We can all play in it!" Engineered wood products and in particular, mass timber systems, continue to expand their reach to many different building types in B.C., as well. Lynn Embury-Williams, executive director, Wood WORKS! BC/Canadian Wood Council says that with 12-storey mass timber buildings now allowed in the National Building Code, this building type is poised to grow significantly, as developers and designers recognize the benefits of building with wood. "A key benefit is the subsequent storage of carbon in the wood, making wood buildings the most sustainable buildings on the planet. In addition, shorter construction times, streamlined supply chains, quieter work sites, fewer trades required, and the high degree of precision delivered using wood are all important," says Embury-Williams. There are many mass timber projects underway in B.C., in addition to a large numbers of light wood-frame mid-rise buildings. Tallwood 1, located in Langford, B.C. is nearing completion and is the first 12-storey wood building constructed under the National 2020 Code using the EMTC (encapsulated mass timber construction) provisions. Embury-Williams adds that two mass timber schools in Vancouver are also nearing completion: Bayview Elementary and Wəḱʷańəs tə syaqʷəm Elementary School (formerly Sir Matthew Begbie). A six- storey mid-rise residential building (TimberHouse) being constructed of mass timber is also underway in New Westminster and a four-storey mixed-use mass timber building (oN5) is nearing completion on Ontario St. in Vancouver. As Koska previously mentioned, awareness around the idea that engineered wood products can in fact complement other building materials continues to grow. Among those leading this idea is Leif Johnson, structural engineering director at StructureCraft, who has recently been appointed to the steering committee of the "Future Potential of Steel-Timber Composite Structures" – a research project for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The project will study the benefits and potential industry roadblocks for advancing hybrid steel-timber structures in high-rise buildings, including embodied carbon and cost implications. The research project will also involve collecting examples of built projects and provide recommendations based on lessons learned. "I'm very excited and honoured to help contribute to what I believe is the future of high-rise buildings," says Johnson. "Typically, the best structural solution in high-rise structures uses a mix of materials, where each structural component is engineered with the most efficient material. This hybrid, material-agnostic approach is also likely the one with the least amount of carbon given the intelligent use of steel and timber, and finding creative ways for the two materials to work together. I hope my contributions will advance the indus- try so that these hybrid systems are cost-effective and constructible." One company that has been extremely busy working on projects that are sure to raise even more awareness about the versatility of engineered wood products is Vancouver Island-based Kinsol Timber Systems. The company is renowned for working on some iconic mass timber buildings including the 650-metre Malahat SkyWalk. One project creating a buzz right now both inside and outside the industry is Google's first ever mass timber building in Sunnyvale. The five-storey project relies primarily on composite wood and tests on the building's projected carbon emissions showed it would result in 96 percent fewer emissions than if it were constructed using a steel structure. Mike Marshall, CEO at Kinsol, says the com- pany will be working on three more mass timber Google projects this year as well as the 440,000-square-foot mass timber YouTube Headquarters in San Bruno. WHOLE LOTTA LOVE M5, Vancouver, B.C.

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