Being energy-efficient, having inherent fire resistance, and with an ability to sequester carbon dioxide, mass-timber has revolutionized Canada’s construction industry.
Mass-timber will help shape the future of low-carbon construction while helping to develop and strengthen Canada’s bioeconomy by using innovative products and designs to build a more sustainable building sector.
People looking to excel in B.C.’s growing mass-timber sector can now access more knowledge and training opportunities at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
As part of the StrongerBC: Future Ready Action Plan, the Province is providing BCIT with $3.3 million to create a mass-timber training hub, providing expanded opportunities for people to gain new skills in the sector.
RELATED: Canada’s Construction Industry Embraces Mass Timber
Two new mass-timber courses are expected to be piloted in the fall to complement BCIT’s existing training. Once construction is complete on the new state-of-the-art trades and technology complex for the Burnaby campus, all mass-timber training courses will be housed there.
“Mass timber is a strong, clean building technology that is at the centre of our province’s future construction blueprint,” said Jagrup Brar, Minister of State for Trade, and chair of the Mass Timber Advisory Council.
“Partnering with BCIT to increase our province’s catalogue of available skills training builds on the work we’ve done to create a world-class mass timber sector in B.C., and helps ensure our province has enough workers with the right skills to construct our climate-smart buildings of the future, and build more homes with mass timber.”
Mass timber is a sustainable building material that is engineered through fastening multiple layers of smaller dimension wood together with glue, dowels or nails to create solid, structural load-bearing components, such as columns, beams and panels.
Thanks to the repeatable, standardized design and factory approach of mass timber, it is especially well-suited for rental buildings, urban in-fill and transit-oriented “missing middle” housing.
Earlier this month the Government of Canada announced a $3.5-million contribution to the construction of 2150 Keith Drive (pictured), an innovative hybrid mass timber commercial office building in Vancouver’s False Creek Flats neighbourhood.
Leave a Reply