Kelowna B.C. International Airport Soon to be Home of First-Ever Mass Timber Aircraft Hangar

Kelowna B.C. officials have announced that the Kelowna International Airport wills soon be home to the first-ever mass timber aircraft hangar. The two-story structure will be using state-of-the-art floor and tall wall wood-based systems to accommodate the large spacing between columns — a typical design element for a hangar but never done using mass timber building systems. Once built, the hangar will house an aviation museum and a conference centre. The total carbon benefits realized from the use of mass timber for this construction are an estimated 1,753 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The project’s funding is being delivered through Natural Resources Canada’s Green Construction through Wood Program, which aims to advance the use of wood in non-traditional construction projects like low-rise non-residential buildings, tall wood buildings and bridges. The program positions Canada as a world leader in innovative wood construction technologies and the low-carbon economy. In a remarks prepared for the announcement, Seamus O’Regan Jr., federal minister of natural resources said, “Wood is being used more and more in building bigger and taller buildings, and we’re leading the world at it. Creating new markets for Canadian timber supports our forestry workers, creates jobs, and gets us to net zero.”