TORONTO — The Ontario government has launched a new working group to guide the implementation of the Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan, which is slated to become the province’s blueprint for prefabricated and modular wood-based building materials.
The group will “harness Ontario’s advanced wood construction expertise to promote, prioritize and accelerate wood-based building, provide strategic advice to unlock new business opportunities and position the province to compete in the global market,” states a release.
Group members will also champion the action plan in their sectors.
“Industrialized wood construction is one of the fastest ways to deliver the housing Ontario needs and to grow value-added manufacturing here at home,” said Steven Street, executive director of the Canadian Wood Council’s WoodWorks Ontario program, in a statement. “This plan creates new opportunities for skilled workers and positions Ontario to lead a rapidly evolving construction landscape with a more resilient, efficient and future-focused building ecosystem.”
The group is meant to complement investments the government has already made, such as $50 million to explore modular construction and other building methods.
Other initiatives include:
- Over $16 million in grants and loans to establish and scale up production at Element5, Ontario’s first fully-automated manufacturer of cross-laminated timber.
- $10 million for the future Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital, North America’s first “un-encapsulated” mass timber hospital.
- Close to $2 million to assist the Canadian Wood Council in promoting wood-based construction through education, training and advancing codes and standards that promote building with wood.
- Over $1 million to build Limberlost Place at George Brown College, Ontario’s first mass timber, net-zero carbon emissions institutional building.
- Over $1 million to advance wood construction research and collaboration led by FPInnovations and the Canadian Wood Construction Research Network.
- Over $500,000 to build the University of Toronto’s Academic Tower: one of the tallest mass timber and steel hybrid buildings in North America.
