The province today (Thursday) rolled out its Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan. The aim is to increase the manufacturing and use of high-quality made-in-Ontario wood building products.
The use of prefabricated and modular wood-based building materials will help build more homes faster.
According to the plan, locally made mass timber and wood construction can be used to build modular and prefabricated buildings, including mid-rise and tall multi-family homes and a wide variety of commercial and industrial buildings.
Advanced wood construction can complete projects up to 50 per cent faster and cut costs by up to 20 per cent, making it essential to achieving the government’s goal of building more homes.
In a media release Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing noted, “In every corner of our province, we need more homes. Our government is addressing this challenge head-on by investing in infrastructure and making legislative changes, and wood construction is just one more tool in our toolbox to get shovels in the ground.
“Together, we are supporting local economies while bringing the dream of homeownership back within reach for more people.”
One of the beneficiaries of the plan is St. Thomas-base Element5 which has received over $8 million in funding to scale up production at its state-of-the-art plant.
The St. Thomas facility, completed in 2020, is the most highly automated, state-of-the-art mass timber plant in North America, producing cross-laminated and glue-laminated timber products.
Element5’s distinctive line of building products is visible in the new Central Elgin Fire and Emergency Services Port Stanley station, one of several undertaken by the firm.
Patrick Poulin, Element 5 president and CEO (pictured above) told myFM in March of last year, “We have an affordable housing cookie-cutter, Lego block kind of design profile, a repeatable design.
Structural components which are standardized but which can be somewhat customized in terms of shape. The components in that building are all made up of repeatable items.
“We see the affordable housing building profile as something we are actually carving out in our sales team and giving it a dedicated focus.”
Poulin added, “Affordable housing is getting a lot of traction. We’ve put up a few already and we’re having a lot of conversations in the pipeline around this design concept.
“The cost per square foot is quite good and you can see that really maturing. It was an idea two years ago and now it’s up and running.”
Written by Ian McCallum
