B.C. Becomes Mass Timber Hub of North America — How it All Began

According to Nate Bergen, project development manager at Kinsol Timber Systems, “British Columbia is currently seen as the hub of North America when it comes to mass timber architecture, engineering, and installation.”

Bergen goes on to say in his interview with the Daily Hive, that “Aside from all the performance advantages of mass timber, some of the biggest benefits come from the ability to pre-plan and prefabricate mass timber buildings. We go from digitally pre-planning our work, prefabricating the different parts of the building to constructing on-site. People who are new to building with mass timber are often astonished to see the building elements arrive on-site and pretty quickly the building is going up.”

Timber expert Robert Malczyk, principal at Timber Engineering Inc., also participated in the Daily Hive interview and said, “Most people want to be surrounded by wood.” “We crave to be around natural materials like wood that bring so much warmth,” Malczyk added.

It’s no wonder that the global demand for mass timber is on the rise — wood is the only major building material that grows naturally. Mass timber has a lower impact on air and water pollution than other commonly used building materials (such as steel and concrete) and is earthquake safe and fire-resistant.

The lightweight nature of the wood also reduces foundation requirements for buildings, creating fewer costs and allowing for more prefabrication offsite (anything for a quieter worksite, right?). Not to mention, wood is beautiful and good for your personal health and well-being.

BC is leading in many inspiring mass timber developments, such as Prototype in Vancouver, the 1 Lonsdale building in North Vancouver, or the Burrard Exchange. As long as wood structures are taken care of overtime, they last — and they’re stunning.