Element5’s New St. Thomas, Ontario Factory is Industry Certified and Running at Full Strength

Element5’s new St. Thomas, Ontario factory is now industry-certified and running at full strength. The new plant lays claim to being the most fully automated mass-timber plant in the world. Element5 began erection of its new 137,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on Dennis Road in St. Thomas in the second half of 2019. Despite the pandemic it was certified and commissioned according to the firm’s original timeline. The first test panel came off the line last December. Combined with an existing factory in Ripon, Quebec, Element5 now has the capacity to produce over 50,000 cubic meters of CLT and glulam per year.

The St. Thomas plant can develop CLT panels up to nine boards thick and 16 meters in length. The timber is supplied from northern Ontario, mainly from White River Forest Products, with Element5 earning FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) chain-of-custody certification.

In April, it was announced that the new plant had received certification for the production of CLT under the ANSI/APA PRG 320-2019 Standard for Performance-Rated Cross-Laminated Timber. That standard covers the manufacturing, qualification, and quality assurance requirements for CLT in Canada and the United States.