Ontario has launched a working group to promote the use of more wood-based building materials in construction.

The group will lead the implementation of the province’s Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan that was launched earlier in the year.

Its aim is to promote, prioritize and accelerate wood-based building, provide strategic advice to unlock new business opportunities and position the province to compete in the global market.

Group members will also champion the action plan in their individual sectors, fostering new connections and opportunities to attract investment and support economic opportunities that create and sustain local jobs.

The group includes representation from WoodWorks Ontario, the Canadian Wood Council, and the Ontario Forest Industries Association, with members of such construction organization as the College of Carpenters and Allied Trades, the Ontario Home Builders' Association, RESCON and the Carpenters Regional Council.

“Industrialized wood construction is one of the fastest ways to deliver the housing Ontario needs and to grow value-added manufacturing here at home,” said Steven Street, Executive Director of the Canadian Wood Council’s WoodWorks Ontario program. “This plan creates new opportunities for skilled workers and positions Ontario to lead a rapidly evolving construction landscape with a more resilient, efficient, and future-focused building ecosystem.”

The province says locally made mass timber and wood construction can be used to build modular and prefabricated buildings, including mid-rise and tall multi-family homes and a wide variety of commercial and industrial buildings. Advanced wood construction can complete projects up to 50 percent faster and cut costs by up to 20 percent, making it essential to achieving the government’s goal of building more homes.

Already, the Ontario government has made a number of notable investments in wood-based building technologies. These include;

• more than $16 million in grants and loans to establish and scale up production at Element5, Ontario’s first fully automated manufacturer of cross-laminated timber, an advanced wood construction product,
• $10 million for the future Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital, North America’s first “un-encapsulated” mass timber hospital,
• close to $2 million to assist the Canadian Wood Council in promoting wood-based construction through education, training and advancing codes and standards that promote building with wood,
• over $1 million to build Limberlost Place at George Brown College, Ontario’s first mass timber, net-zero carbon emissions institutional building, and
• more than $500,000 to build the University of Toronto’s Academic Tower: one of the tallest mass timber and steel hybrid buildings in North America.

The Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan complements the government’s ongoing actions to increase wood-based building, including supporting building code amendments, developing technical resources and engaging with fire services, insurers and other key stakeholders to build acceptance of wooden construction.