Developers are promising more mid-sized condo projects after Ontario followed through on a promise to allow wood-framed buildings up to six storeys. Source: Toronto Star
The move, which takes effect January 1, follows the lead of British Columbia in 2009 by increasing the maximum height from four storeys after lobbying by the building and struggling forest industries.
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin announced the change saying safety concerns have been met with measures like requiring stairwells of non-combustible materials like concrete and steel.
Allowing taller wood-framed buildings “will give builders and the public even safer, more flexible building options,” McMeekin said in a statement.
The Building Industry and Land Development Association said the change means small urban lots too small for concrete-and-steel condos can be built using engineered wood beams instead of settling for townhomes, which fall short of the population density some municipalities are seeking.
“This is the sweet spot between urban townhouses and 20-storey buildings,” said BILD chief executive Joe Vaccaro.
Proponents argue that building small-scale condo or office buildings out of wood, instead of steel, glass concrete and plastic, can be as much as 20% cheaper because of material costs and faster construction.
Mr McMeekin said stringent safety regulations also require roofs on the taller woodframed buildings to be combustion resistant and are “the most rigorous in Canada.”
Richard Boyes of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs said its main concern with the six-storey wood was the safety of occupants and firefighters but those issues have been addressed.
In British Columbia, fire officials determined that proper sprinklers, including on balconies, and fire-retardant cladding on buildings has helped contain any fires to individual condo units and sometimes extinguished by the time firefighters arrived.
The change was also pushed in private members’ bills from two northern Ontario MPPs — Bill Mauro (Thunder Bay-Atikokan), who is now minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, and Progressive Conservative Vic Fedeli (Nipissing).
“The goal of increasing the use of wood in Ontario’s construction industry has been achieved,” Mauro said in a statement.
“I am pleased by the jobs that will be created through expanded use of a sustainable resource.”
Ontario’s forest industry has lost about 60 lumber mills and 45,000 jobs in the last decade.
“Not only will this help boost the forest industry in the north, but it’s a win for southern Ontario builders as well who have also worked toward this change,” Fedeli said in a statement.
