Wood council wants to go ever higher: Ontario building code changes could spell opportunity for wood product manufacturers.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: FORESTRY

The Canadian Wood Council wants Ontario wood used in the framing of mid-rise buildings.

The council and its Ontario WoodWORKS! arm are making a case for changes to the provincial building code to allow the construction of wood-framed buildings from five to eight storeys, otherwise known as mid-rises.

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After talking with various experts and stakeholders in Ontario, they've released a report, "Wood solutions in mid-rise construction," outlining some favourable findings on wood's advantages, potential markets, cost comparisons and what wood technologies are out there.

The council wants to sway the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to remove a restrictive four-storey cap on wood frame construction when the industry consultations to make revisions to the building code take place later this year.

The Ontario Building Code was last amended in 2006.

"There's no reason why it should have been capped at four storeys. Structurally, there's no problem," said Steven Street, a Guelph-based technical director with Ontario WoodWORKS!

"By allowing wood to compete in the five- to six-storey sector ... there's no lessening of the code provisions."

Street said the ministry has been looking at a proposal to allow six-storey wood construction for a while, but he has no idea which direction they're leaning.

The WoodWORKS! program promotes the use of wood in all types of construction by working with designers, engineers and contractors on projects.

But Street, who collaborated with consultant Jeff Walker on the report, said they entered this project with no preconceived bias of what the industry's attitudes would be to working with wood.

After conducting 40 interviews with developers, architects, engineers and contractors various stakeholders, mainly in the Golden Horseshoe of southern Ontario, Street said they are very receptive to the idea of using wood for mid-rises.

"They're chomping at the bit and ready to go," said Street.

Eventually, the council wants to partner with private developers to construct a prototype building as a demonstration model.

They're taking a page from a similar research project that began in Britain more than a decade ago.

The British Research Establishment headed a study that brought together researchers, industry and government regulators to test the safety benefits and performance of a six-storey prototype light wood-framed building.

The United Kingdom now permits timber-framed, mid-rise buildings, has...