In mid-February it was revealed Element 5 of St. Thomas was about to become a mass timber powerhouse in North America.
The Hasslacher Group, based in Austria, announced it is acquiring a stake in Element 5.
The company has become a significant success story less than four years after constructing its $50 million plant on 40 acres of land on Dennis Road in the city’s north end.
Element 5 was founded in 2015 with the purchased of a small cross-laminated timber (CLT) manufacturing company in Ripon, Quebec.
Its St. Thomas facility, completed in 2020, is the most highly automated, state-of-the-art mass timber plant in North America.
Element 5 began production of cross-laminated timber and glue-laminated timber at the facility that year.
It can annually produce 45,000 cubic metres of CLT and 5,000 cubic metres of glulam (glued-laminated timber).
With an eye on expanding its St. Thomas operation, Element 5 president and CEO Patrick Poulin explains that was the motivation behind seeking an investor.
Hasslacher is one of Europe’s largest and most prominent timber companies and is a global innovator.
The family-run enterprise has a workforce of 2,000 and its stake in Element 5 will result in what is being billed as a ‘mass timber powerhouse in North America.”
Poulin agrees the announcement was a game-changer.
“We’re incredibly excited about this next phase of Element 5’s journey. Hasslacher’s strength in the global marketplace, its technology and its experienced team – together with Element 5 – will drive a significant acceleration of our business.”
Element 5 already had an expansion plan in the works and developed.
“And, had already pressed the start button on that,” adds Poulin.
“But, in the midst of that, still talking about taking on new investors to raise more money and see ourselves into the future.”
In addition to the existing timeline, the expanded Element 5 plant will produce large, fully machined glulam beams, columns and assemblies.
Poulin explains, “Out of the gate, Hasslacher wants to learn about the North American market and they have some faith that even in a relatively short period of time, Element 5 has learned something about the North American market.
“So, we’re going to kind of take it slow, business as usual, let’s say, but ultimately Element 5 will be a conduit for inbound demand into the Hasslacher Group.”
What Element 5 is undertaking in affordable housing is an area to watch.
“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.
“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.”
As for the expansion, the new glulam plant is expected to begin production in the second half of 2025, with a capacity of 100,000 cubic metres of mass timber.
Right now the labour force is around 130 and with the expansion that could push employment “north of 200.”
Poulin observes, “Having world-class, fully automated glulam production at that scale in Ontario will have a significant impact on the North American market.”
