BCBusiness

20 | BC B U S I N E SS NOVEM B ER/ D ECEM B ER 2025 Bruce Damonte My positive belief system is that at the end of the day, we still are just part of this greater planet and we will find a path for- ward." In this next phase of mass-timber con- struction, it appears likely that a lot of people will take a closer look at those assertions to figure out when building with mass timber is a benefit and when it's a big hassle that doesn't notably improve anything. Australian Philip Oldfield, an architecture professor and head of the School of Built Environment at the University of New South Wales, says people need to examine care- fully what produces real energy-efficiency benefits and what doesn't. He argues passionately that assessing real impacts on greenhouse-gas emissions is important as the world heads into a massive building boom. Estimates he cites suggest there will be 230 billion square metres of new construction by 2060, which would add 120 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions to the air if status-quo building techniques prevail. But he argues against just jumping on mass timber as the easy solution. "I think there's quite robust evidence that mass timber is lower embodied carbon than concrete," he tells BCBusiness. "But our research has found this benefit is actually quite modest at the building scale—maybe 10 percent. Just switching to mass timber alone will not solve the climate crisis in the built environment. I also think an efficient concrete building can be better than an inef- ficient timber building." He also notes that, while regions like B.C. and—in particular—France are encouraging mass-timber construction, many others aren't. And some big areas of the world are profoundly dubious about it. "While mass timber has made a splash in some locations, globally it's still a very minor player and the global construction market still has a huge path dependency on concrete, especially in Asian and Africa where construction is highest." Oldfield's recent article in The Conver- sation noted that, if builders really want to reduce carbon emissions, there are many often little-noticed changes that can make an outsized difference. Putting in long-lasting hardwood floors is a huge improvement over | L AND VALUES T H E B R I E F carpets, which have to be replaced every 10 years. In the model they developed, that alone reduced the carbon emissions in a hypothetical office building by 625 tonnes. A study his team did found a way to reduce embodied carbon in buildings by 45 percent, but that required a much bigger re-design: straw insulation in the walls, fewer windows, more recycled material. He acknowledged that "many of the moves we made are far more radical than common industry practice." Radical change is not something the building industry embraces. Developers, with sometimes hundreds of mil- lions of dollars on the line, tend to prefer sticking with known techniques and designs to minimize risk. They're cautious about jumping to wholesale conversions to mass timber, let alone the other strategies Oldfield has alluded to. But there is still some interest in experimentation. Wesgroup, a major Vancouver-based developer, has a senior executive dedicated to exploring the possibilities of building more with mass timber. But that executive, Graham Brewster, is cautious. And frustrated, saying municipal and provincial policies aren't helping a move to the new possibilities. "In the current development context, the risk is not worth the reward, as it requires innovation on several fronts. And if you try to fit mass timber into current policy, it doesn't work," says Brewster, who is senior director of development at Wesgroup. "What is needed is an alignment of construction technology with devel- opment." He says governments that want to promote mass timber need more pilot projects so those in the industry can see that "the benefits are real and attainable." "Until we see that, innovation is going to continue to be perceived as overly risky, not rewardy." Brewster also says it works best with certain types of buildings—mid-rise, seven to 18 storeys (with 12 as the optimum), minimal setbacks, a simple stacked form. Michael Green, who is doing a 54-storey tower in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, disputes that—and is critical of the NATURAL SEL ECTION Google's Java complex in Sunnyvale, California, designed by architect Michael Green, showcases the warmth and scale of mass timber. Nature always wins. Natural materials are the best way to build for human health, human stress and for the planet's well-being." MICHAEL GREEN, PRINCIPAL, MGA | MICHAEL GREEN ARCHITECTURE

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