B.C. to allow taller wood buildings

Premier John Horgan paid a visit Wednesday to the Structurlam plant in Okanagan Falls to announce B.C. will amend its building code to allow masstimber buildings like those supplied by Structurlam to rise up to 12 storeys — double the height allowed now.

B.C. is the first province to allow such height, showing “we’re leading the way, as we always have here in B.C., when it comes to forestry, ensuring that the jobs here are not only sustainable, but the jobs here will continue to grow,” said Horgan.

The changes to B.C.’s building code come one year ahead of expected changes in the national building code, which are also expected to increase height limits for wood buildings to 12 storeys, Horgan said.

“We’re not waiting for the rest of the country to get here,’’ said Horgan. “We already know that the product we’re building, that we’re creating here, is fire resistant. We know that we can build faster and we know it’s better for the environment.’’

A mass-timber building is one in which the primary load-bearing structure is made of either solid or engineered wood. In encapsulated mass timber, the components are surrounded by fire-resistant materials like drywall.

“We need to get more value out of every log,” Horgan said. “It’s cost effective. It’s environmentally sensitive and it’s putting British Columbians to work with a B.C. product.”

Structurlam CEO Hardy Wentzel said the height change allows the company to continue being an innovator on mass-timber products and building designs.

He said the company uses B.C. wood.

Canada is a leader in wood technology, using different forms of timber and lumber to create products that can be formed into prefabricated wood used as beams, columns, walls, arches, floors and roofs, says the Canadian Wood Council.

Wentzel said mass-timber buildings are safe and faster to build, but the long-standing tradition of concrete buildings holds strong.

“The builders may be set in their ways, but when they actually do the economics of building 12storey wood buildings versus a 12storey concrete building, and they do a full cradle-to-grave analysis, they’re going to find this is the better way to build,’’ he said.

Local governments in B.C. now have to amend their own bylaws to adapt to the change. In Penticton, for example, the height limit for wood buildings is six storeys.