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• Position: Northern Ontario wood - Brief Article

Communities across Northern Ontario adopting 'build with wood' resolutions

Wood WORKS! is gaining momentum across Canada, and in northeastern Ontario interest is growing at a rapid rate. Launched last March in North Bay, the Ontario Wood WORKS! site has had many successes.

Wood WORKS! has proclaimed the month of March to be "wood awareness month" to create public awareness of the "build with wood" campaign.

To date, 25 municipalities in Northern Ontario, including North Bay, Timmins, New Liskeard and Parry Sound, have adopted "build with wood" resolutions in support of the Wood WORKS! project.

By adopting a resolution to consider wood as a building material, supporting councils commit to requesting that a wood option is tabled for consideration on all public projects. This does not mean that a council supporting a "build with wood" resolution must build with wood, it only means that wood will be given fair consideration alongside other building materials such as steel and concrete. The wood option is only selected if it successfully meets all the project criteria.

"There is strong support for the project from the cities and, municipalities who have heard our presentation," says Marianne Berube, Northern Ontario coordinator for Wood WORKS! This is encouraging because what we are promoting is a real culture change, that doesn't happen overnight.

"It will take some time to get attitudes toward wood to change, but we are working with architects on a project by project basis to show that wood projects work."

"When it comes to designing commercial, industrial, or institutional buildings, most architects are more comfortable planning buildings that use steel and concrete; they shy away from using wood because they are not as familiar with it. Most architects receive more training and education in the use of steel than they do the use of wood."

Most people don't realize that in many cases it is actually cheaper to build with wood than other materials, or that wood is the most environmentally friendly and naturally energy efficient building material. Building with wood helps lower the energy costs associated with heating and cooling. The natural structure of wood traps air inside the cells, making wood more resistant to heat transfer than concrete and steel, helping keep a building cool in the summer and warm in the winter for less cost.

In Canada, a large portion of harvested wood is exported, contributing significantly to the nation's balance of...