|
Posted Dec 6, 2014, 10:12 PM
|
|
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Toronto
Posts: 52,200
|
|
Six-storey wood buildings ‘a game-changer’
Six-storey wood buildings ‘a game-changer’
Dec. 01 2014
By JENNIFER LEWINGTON
Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle21850652/
Quote:
.....
Under recent and pending building codes revisions in several Canadian jurisdictions, wood will be permitted in multiresidential and office buildings up to six storeys (compared with four storeys in most jurisdictions) with extra fire safety safeguards.
- “It is a real game-changer,” Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario, says of the scope for increased use of a material that usually is less expensive than concrete or steel. “It will increase the supply of apartment rentals and condos, which will be good for the market.” --- He also sees wood’s potential in mid-rise commercial buildings, especially infill, that combine multiresidential, retail and professional offices. --- “There is tremendous opportunity, especially in main street and avenue situations,” he predicts.
- “These buildings, once built, are every bit as safe as concrete,” says Michael Giroux, president of the Canadian Wood Council, which has campaigned for the code changes since 2009. His organization is seeking builder interest in projects above 10 storeys. Even with added safety costs, industry analysts estimate a 10- to 15-per-cent price advantage for wood over traditional materials, which benefits price-sensitive and infill projects.
- In a 2013 report for the Building Industry and Land Development Association, former Toronto chief planner Paul Bedford identified “immense potential” to unlock dormant suburban corridors and vacant downtown spaces. -0-- “The tremendous diversity of parcel sizes and shapes allows architects to experiment with different building types and forms to achieve housing choices for all age groups,” he wrote.
- Adding wood as a building option would expand the supply of mid-rise housing developments, especially for families and seniors, he says. “This is a tipping point that will allow us to do stuff we were never able to do before.” --- That’s also the hope in Calgary, a hot, high-cost housing market with low rental vacancies. --- “We hope that opening up this new form of construction and lowering costs at different parts of the process will translate into lower-cost housing,” says Rollin Stanley, general manager of Planning, Development and Assessment for Calgary.
- Richard McGrath, director of codes and standards/engineered structures for the Cement Association of Canada, participated in the National Building Code review. “From a technical point of view, I certainly feel we are increasing the fire risk in these structures irrespective of the fact we are heavily sprinklering these buildings,” he says. --- Some firefighter organizations have weighed in, too. “We are very concerned from a health and safety perspective for firefighters and tenants and residents of these buildings,” says Scott Marks, assistant to the general manager for Canadian operations of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
- But Surrey, B.C., fire chief Len Garis, past president of the B.C. Association of Fire Chiefs, describes fire safety concerns as a “red herring.” --- “Once they [wood buildings] are constructed and operating, they are no different than any other building constructed of other material,” he says. His association, initially skeptical, endorsed the B.C. code change after a study of provincial fires between 2008 and 2013 concluded an absence of sprinkler systems and smoke alarms, not the construction material, was a key determinant.
.....
|
The Fondaction Building in Quebec City, a six-storey wood-frame commercial building, was completed in 2010. In a market where brick, steel and concrete dominate, this building has won many architectural prizes and features innovative modern timber products. (Louise Leblanc/cecobois)
__________________
ASDFGHJK
|
|
|