As part of Sustainable Growth: Ontario’s Forest Sector Strategy, the Ontario government will increase the use of wood in construction to grow and diversify the market for Ontario’s wood products.
This commitment will drive economic prosperity in the province, help bolster the supply of available housing and support workforce development, all while helping to mitigate climate change stemming from buildings sector emissions.
The global buildings and construction sectors are evolving, enabled by new and innovative manufacturing technologies and driven by customers who have become more conscious of the sustainability and environmental impact of materials and products used in construction.
Construction processes are moving into factories where significant efficiencies, such as time and waste reductions, can be achieved. There is growing recognition of modern wood-based building systems as contributors to help meet the environmental challenges we face.
Through dialogue with the advanced wood construction community, Ontario has learned that advanced wood construction provides opportunities to bolster housing supply and affordability, provide economic stimulus, mitigate climate change and increase the health and wellness of building occupants. The roundtable and consultation sessions that informed the development of Ontario’s Forest Sector Strategy provided a platform for engagement with builders, designers, engineers, educators, fire services, insurers and municipal officials, with a focus on learning what would be needed to position the province as a global leader in advanced wood construction.
This Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan highlights Ontario’s advanced wood construction advantages, recognizes challenges and identifies means to increase the use of wood in construction. Building on Ontario’s strengths and progress to date, this plan includes actions based on four objectives to be coordinated over five years with the support of partner ministries and stakeholders throughout the advanced wood construction supply chain.
Advanced wood construction advantage
There is room in the construction sector for significant improvements in productivity and efficiency, particularly in relation to traditional, site-built construction models. Over the past 20 years, construction in Canada has lagged in terms of productivity and income gains versus most other industries.
This productivity gap underscores the pressing need to expedite change and embrace the new materials and technologies that have emerged in recent years to improve efficiency. Modern tools like digital design, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and automation present opportunities for builders and manufacturers to innovate.
Ontario’s experience with automation and sophisticated manufacturing techniques, culture of technological innovation, supply chain expertise and potential for economic diversification offer a solid foundation for the growth of the advanced wood construction sector.
By leveraging these strengths, Ontario can position itself as a leader in innovative and sustainable construction practices and create new opportunities for development in the built environment.
Buildings are currently responsible for 39 per cent of global energy related carbon emissions, 28 per cent from operational emissions (from energy needed to heat, cool and provide power) and 11 per cent from materials and construction.
Adopting low-carbon materials, optimized construction methods, and building systems that support energy-efficient operations will help Ontario to meet climate change related targets and align with growing sustainability expectations.
What is advanced wood construction?
Advanced wood construction goes beyond the standard 2″x4″ site-built construction used in most single-family homes. It uses innovative wood-derived materials as a substitute for more carbon-intensive products, and modern factory-based methods of manufacturing to build prefabricated and modular components offsite, for subsequent just-in-time delivery.
Advanced wood construction can build larger and taller than conventional wood construction and is broader in scope. It allows wood to be used for a much wider variety of building types such as taller multifamily residential and office buildings, institutional, commercial, educational, and industrial buildings, among others. Advanced wood construction can also be applied beyond buildings, for bridges and other types of infrastructure such as wind turbines, towers, sound barriers, outdoor structures, and access roads.
Advanced wood construction starts with sustainable wood fiber in forms ranging from sawn lumber to wood chips and strands which can be derived from lower value portions of a tree and less commonly used tree species. These fibers are then transformed into engineered materials like cross-laminated timber (CLT) and laminated strand lumber (LSL), and then precision machined and assembled in factories to create sustainable and extremely efficient building components.
These prefabricated components are subsequently delivered to site at the appropriate time to be erected, significantly reducing construction time, labour, site storage requirements and disruption. Products like electronics and vehicles benefit from assembly line efficiency, reduced waste and factory-precision. Advanced wood construction applies these principles to the construction sector.
Benefits of building with advanced wood construction
Building with advanced wood construction:
- lowers building costs by up to 20 per cent
- reduces on-site labour and construction time
- reduces emissions from construction by using less energy-intensive materials
- supports our sustainable forest management policies and provincial forestry sector is an efficient and effective solution for our increasing housing needs
