Vancouver, BC, Approves New 25-Story Mass Timber Tower

The Vancouver City Council has approved a new 25-story (260 feet) tower project that will push the limits of mass timber construction for residential towers, Daily Hive reported (2-5-23).

The tower, dubbed “Prototype” or M5, a reference to this project being a taller mass timber case study and the fifth building in the Main Alley, will replace a former parking lot.

The tower will carry 100% purpose-built rental housing for residential use on top of nearly 6,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level. Like other tall mass timber buildings currently being built in Vancouver, this design uses CLT components that are prefabricated off-site before being delivered for assembly and installation. This project is also made visually distinct with its mass timber checkerboard facade.

For seismic and fire safety considerations, taller buildings built out of mass timber have a concrete core, which also serves to conceal the elevator and staircase wells, and Prototype/M5 is no exception to this design. However, after hearing an appeal from Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects, the City of Vancouver agreed to waive its private balconies requirement for each apartment, due to concerns about water leakage into CLT floor slabs. In a compromise to meet the intent of providing outdoor living space, the builders are providing a north-facing communal balcony on every third floor for a total of eight such balconies, Daily Hive reported. Each unit will also be provided with a Juliet balcony, for total of 598 Juliet balconies in the building.