Time for mass timber and prefab? B.C. eyes changes to 'bias' in building code

Materials and methods for building housing have hardly changed in a century in British Columbia and the provincial government is now looking at ways to bring housing online faster and more sustainably.

Materials and methods for building housing have hardly changed in a century in British Columbia and the provincial government is now looking at ways to bring housing online faster and more sustainably. 

Prefabrication and mass timber construction make up only a small portion of the housing built in the province and the housing minister sees regulations ripe for change to make them a more attractive option for builders.

“It means you can get projects done at double the speed and actually way more sustainable than using traditional methods,” said Ravi Kahlon of pre-fab construction.

“We (also) need to look at the building code to find ways to make the ability to use mass timber in housing much more smooth. We know there’s a bias against mass timber in the building code.”

In B.C., houses and townhomes are essentially built from scratch on-site, but in much of the world panels are pre-fabricated more efficiently in warehouses and assembled on-site.

“We save approximately two months off the construction schedule compared to a traditionally-built on site,” said Norman Morrison, founder of Ajia Custom Pre-Fab Homes, one of the few companies offering that model of homebuilding.

“We use panelized structural framing because that still allows us to be completely custom, we can literally build any size, shape or style.”