George Brown College Project Helps Drive Ontario’s Mass Timber Strategy

George Brown College’s Limberlost Place is helping drive Ontario’s mass timber construction strategy and shaping building code changes, Ontario Construction News reported (8-8-25).

The 10-storey, net-zero carbon academic building—now rising in Toronto’s East Bayfront—will be Canada’s first institutional structure made from mass timber. Scheduled to open this fall, the project has served as a catalyst for Ontario’s Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan, unveiled June 26.

“As our government delivers on its plan to protect and build Ontario, this action plan will help promote and prioritize wood-based building with made-in-Ontario wood construction products,” said Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris. “Advanced wood construction is a new opportunity that can help get more homes built faster and build a stronger, more competitive forest sector.”

The provincial plan targets four goals: promoting awareness and use of advanced wood construction, removing regulatory barriers in codes and standards, stimulating innovation and investment in advanced manufacturing, and showcasing successful projects to build industry confidence.

Limberlost Place, designed to exceed Toronto’s 2030 environmental standards, uses Canadian-sourced wood and has won more than two dozen design and sustainability awards.