Wood makes for a warm and speedily built home
Providing homebuyers with options, including the material used in the construction of their new homes, is something the homebuilding and land development industry always strives to do. Some homebuyers choose a wood construction home, for various reasons. Wood has a natural beauty that makes it warm and inviting. It is a renewable and recyclable resource, so some buyers choose it to reduce their environmental footprint. Wood also makes for fast, efficient home construction, particularly on smaller sites. Plus, advances in wood science and building technology have resulted in stronger products that have expanded the options for wood construction.
Wood’s many advantages were the reason BILD and partners such as the Ontario Home Builders’ Association advocated for amendments to the Ontario Building Code to increase the height standard for wood buildings from four to six storeys. That came into effect in 2015.
The benefits of wood are also why our industry has been working to find innovative ways to design, build and market wood construction homes.
It was no surprise, then, that BILD members were involved in a number of projects honoured with awards for excellence in wood design at Canadian Wood Council’s 17th annual Wood WORKS! Awards, in Toronto.
Branthaven Homes and Kirkor Architects & Planners were behind the Lake House Condominiums, in Grimsby, which received the MidRise Wood Design Award. Lake House is the kind of six-storey pro- ject that was made possible by the amendments to the Building Code. According to Branthaven Homes, using wood allowed them to accelerate the construction schedule by building components, such as parts of the roof, at the ground level and lifting them into place.
Another midrise builder, BILD member Pratt Development, received the Designer/Builder Award. The company is currently completing two six-storey light wood frame condos in Barrie, with more to come.
Great Gulf was the developer behind the Active House Centennial Park residence in Toronto, which received the Environmental Building Award. The use of wood in its construction means that 89.5 per cent of the building materials can potentially be recycled; 80 per cent of the wood products used are certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
In building the Centennial Park Residence, Great Gulf used its innovative H+ME Technology, which ensured that components of the house fit together with greater precision, resulting in less material waste diverted to landfill. The President of Great Gulf’s H+ME Technol- ogy division, Tad Putyra, received the Wood Champion Award in the Wood WORKS! Awards. BILD member Diamond Schmitt Architects was behind Lazaridis Hall at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, which received an Interior Wood Design Award. As well, the Lazaridis Hall received a Jury’s Choice Award at the National Arts Centre Rejuvenation, in Ottawa. Moses Structural Engineers’ Ontario Wood Pavilion at IDS 2017 received the Commercial Wood Design Award.
Our industry would like to see taller wood buildings, such as the 12-storey structure George Brown College in Toronto is planning as part of its waterfront campus expansion.
The homebuilding and land development industry is committed to providing consumers with choices, and building wood construction homes is one way we do just that.