Inside
RESCON eager to see federal government roll out plans to boost housing supply
Staff Columns
Richard Lyall - We must remove obstacles that are hindering progress
Page 3
Andrew Pariser - Residential and ICI contracts set to expire April 30, 2022
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Paul De Berardis - Elements is first local CLT supplier to the Ontario marketplace
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Amina Dibe - RESCON will be fully engaged with new government and ministers
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Grant Cameron - RESCON tackled a number of critical issues in September
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Articles
RESCON says that MZOs are necessary
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MZOs are necessary to speed approvals
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Doctor dispells COVID myths at RESCON webinar
RESCON demanding housing
Condo Concerns: solutions Miami vs Toronto
Page 16
RESCON supports vaccine certificate program
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Keeping up with COVID-19
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RESCON webinar addresses racism
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RESCON encourages open conversation about mental health issues
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Action needed to solve the housing Too many agencies and too many crisis zoning bylaws
RCCAO report
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Element5 is lirst local ClT supplier to the Ontario marketplace
Paul De Berardis
RESCON is pleased to be engaged as a foundational partner in the Workforce 2030 initiative, which is a coalition effort to fast-track the workforce needed to build a low-carbon future Ontario.
Workforce 2030 is a broad cross-sectoral coalition of developers, manufacturers, regulators and educators as well as the architecture, engineering and construction industry. As Ganada is regulated to transition toward a low-carbon future, the building sector is expected to play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The basis of this initiative is to foster the upskilling of the current workforce as well as attract more people to work in the sector.
Under the broader Workforce 2030 umbrella, RESCON is involved in a specific project known as the Workforce Capacity for Tall Timber Working Group. Current building practices do not place much emphasis on embodied carbon from the manufacturing of building materials and construction practices, which is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
The use of mass timber as a primary structural material has the potential to significantly reduce these emissions, along with other inherent benefits, including the speed and ease of construction through harnessing off-site manufacturing.
However, the use of mass timber, particularly in mid-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURB), would represent a major shift in current construction practice. While the current regulatory framework in Ontario only enables wood buildings
up to six storeys, the next edition of the National Building Code expected later this year will introduce provisions for mass-timber buildings up to 12 storeys. This will open a new market previously dominated by concrete and steel structures.
The pace of adoption of mass-timber buildings will be heavily influenced by the capacity and willingness of the development and construction industry, as well as the availability of a local mass-timber manufacturer.
Until recently, mass timber, more specifically crosslaminated timber (CLT), was sourced from manufacturers in British Columbia, Quebec or even American and European suppliers. In December 2020, mass-timber manufacturer Element5 opened a local facility in St. Thomas.
As part of the Workforce Capacity for Tall Timber Working Group, RESCON representatives had the chance to tour the 137,000-square-foot, $50-million Element5 facility that houses a technologically advanced, fully automated CLT and glulam production line, capable of producing up to 45,000 cubic metres of CLT and glulam annually. CLT is an engineered wood product made by cross-laminating and bonding multiple layers of dimensional lumber, allowing Element 5 to create solid wood panels up to 12 feet wide, 53 feet long, and 14 inches thick for use in structural floors, walls and roof elements. Engineered mass timber such as CLT is what makes tall wood buildings possible because of the structural strength of each panel.
DIRECTOR OF BUILDING SCIENCE & INNOVATION
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See Element5 on Page 6
Element5
Elements formed a strategic relationship with WRC Timber Inc., which together with its First Nations and local community partners owns two sawmills in Northwestern Ontario. This allows Elements to control its FSC-certified lumber supply chain from forest floor through to finished manufactured product, shielding the company from much of the supply chain uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Featuring advanced wood processing and CLT manufacturing equipment from Slovenia-based Ledinek, the highly automated Elements facility is truly impressive and introduces the first local CLT supplier to the Ontario marketplace.
During the Elements tour, we were able to witness firsthand the level of precision, quality control and extent of advanced manufacturing that goes into creating CLT and glulam mass timber products.
Considering the forthcoming regulatory changes that will eventually permit 12-storey mass-timber buildings, Elements is well-situated to offer unique embodied carbonconscious building alternatives that can be well-suited for mid-rise MURB projects. On that note, Elements offers multi-unit residential, pre-engineered mass-timber structures that are designed and optimized to be affordable, rapidly constructed, durable and secure. Offering flexible structural layouts, with various CLT floor and wall assembly options, as well as finished exterior envelope cladding cross-laminated insulated panels, the product offerings from Elements have the potential to truly shake-up the way mid-rise MURB are currently constructed.
Some notable projects currently underway by Elements include a four-storey, 41 multi-unit residential supportive housing project in Kitchener, as well as The Toronto Region Conservation Authority's new 80,000-square-foot, fourstorey, mass-timber post-and-beam head office building. RESCON looks forward to our continued efforts and seeing the progress of the Workforce 2030 initiative and the Tall Timber Working Group.
CHck here for a video tour of the St. Thomas plant.
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