Planner backs 12-storey mass-timber buildings
When the development company PortLiving began working on a 19-storey project called Terrace House in Vancouver, it was going to be the world’s tallest mass timber–concrete hybrid building.
At 71 metres, the Shigeru Ban–designed structure at 1250 West Hastings Street was going to climb even higher than the 53-metre Brock Commons Tallwood House student residence at UBC.
Terrace House includes seven storeys of mass timber on top of 12 storeys of concrete. Brock Commons Tallwood House is a hybrid masstimber building designed by Acton Ostry Architects for UBC’s main Point Grey campus.
However, there are plans on the books for a 350-metre masstimber building in Tokyo and for a 304.8-metre mass-timber tower in London, England. And now, Vancouver city staff are advancing proposals to stimulate mass-timber construction.
Gil Kelley, the general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability, has recommended that city council approve in principle amendments to the city’s building bylaw “to align with provincial regulation and National Building Code proposals”. This would facilitate construction of mass-timber buildings up to 12 storeys for residential and commercial uses, taking effect on July 1.
Kelley consulted with the chief building official and Vancouver Fire Rescue Services in preparing a report going to council’s policy and strategic priorities committee on Wednesday (May 27, after this week’s edition of the Straight had gone to the printer).
Kelley has also recommended amendments to the fire bylaw. This would ensure that the city adopts B.C. Fire Code measures related to “encapsulated” mass-timber construction.
These amendments have already been approved in Richmond, Surrey, the City of North Vancouver, and 10 other municipalities, according to the report. It explained that mass timber is created with several smaller pieces of lumber, which are laminated to provide the structural components for walls, floors, columns, and beams.
“Engineered to meet the minimum standards for structural performance, mass timber is also significantly more fire resistant than light timber construction,” Kelley wrote. “Further, mass timber is currently covered, or ‘encapsulated’ by one or more layers of gypsum board to meet the minimum fire protection performance required by the building codes.”
In 2010, council amended the Vancouver building bylaw to allow six-storey wood structures. This came after the B.C. Building Code had been amended to allow this.