Tallwood 1, the Second Largest Mass Timber Building, Officially Opens in Langsford, BC

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held today (9-28-22) for the opening of Tallwood 1, a mixed-use high rise building that is taking the concept of mass timber construction to new heights in Langford, BC.

Tallwood 1 is a key element in District 56. The downtown Langford project District 56 consists of the existing mixed-use Terminus building, which is also a mass timber structure, and where a second tower will eventually be built.

The Tallwood 1 building features a ground-floor commercial component and 11 stories of rental accommodation, with a total of 124 apartments, including four penthouse units. While the grand opening took place today, tenants began moving in during July.

Rebecca McKay, the chief business development officer for the project developer, Victoria’s Design Building Service (DBS), said:

“Tallwood 1 is an extraordinary building. It’s actually the second largest encapsulated mass timber construction building in British Columbia, the other being Brock Commons (a student residence) located at UBC.

Instead of using concrete and steel we’re using mass timber, which is a construction method that was approved in the 2015 BC Building Code to go above six stories, we can go up to 12 stories under that building code, which is what we’ve done with Tallwood 1.

It’s not going to look like a log cabin, from the perspective of the users it will seem like any other building. As this is a 12-story building they do require us to encapsulate, which means all of the wood is actually covered up by drywall. The only place where the wood is exposed is on the top floor for aesthetic purposes.”