Building developers in Ontario are having a hard time finding the right wood for building taller wood-frame structures. Even if Ontario’s government gave permission for taller wood buildings back in 2015, the development of such projects is not going so well because developers lack in cross-laminated timber (CLT), according to Toronto Metro.
This new product is the main component for taller wood structures, especially now that the new rules allow the construction of 6-storyes condos, such as Heartwood the Beach. The previous ruling only allowed 4-storeys building. Quadrangle Architects will develop the 37-unit and will use cross-laminated timber to achieve their design vision.
As Marco VanderMaas, a leading Canadian expert on wood-frame design from Quadrangle, said, the cross-laminated timber “it’s like lumber on steroids.” Still, this kind of wood is hard to be found on Ontario and has to be brought from BC or Quebec.
As Toronto Metro reported, Ontario’s ruling regarding the previous 4-storeys limit changed last year because of the housing market pressure on Toronto. Thus, the province wanted the infill to be built promptly and to be affordable. Still, as VanderMaas suggested, the 15-20% savings that were supposed to take effect once the wood-frame construction began, haven’t materialized so far.
Steven Street, manager at Ontario Wood Works, said that “the catalyst is there to set up operations in our own province. And once something is locally manufactured, costs in theory will come down,” referring to the Heartwood project as a catalyst for local manufacturers to respond to the demand.
Street now hopes to take a hold on Ontario-made cross-laminated timber by the summer, as Heartwood construction is set for the spring.
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