A few months ago I was sitting with a number of municipal officials on Vancouver Island who said they wanted to expand the value-added sector. I told them that they needed to be the first and best customers of what is growing in their backyard. We have to make a mental commitment to look at the materials that are available to us. We have to be willing to buy them—because they are actually of better value. They may cost more, and I think there are some things on CLT that are actually going to be almost a wash, but it has to be something for which we set objectives that are realistic and palatable. Maybe it's low carbon. Maybe it's a commitment to design flexibility. There are a bunch of features that wood can meet. As I say, it's not a perfect material, but we need to be the first and best customers.
The research Catherine mentioned is covering the difference. For Brock Commons, there is some additional engineering and some testing. That's not going to be there on the second building. That structure type is now understood and accepted. The contractor likes it. The engineer likes it. The thing went up in nine and a half weeks. We've gone over that 18-storey hurdle with cross-laminate and glulam. That was largely funded by Natural Resources Canada, and my thanks to you, because it's an iconic building globally. People say, “Wow, you can do that with wood.”
We need to be the first and best customers and then take our research and apply it in our buildings because it makes sense from an economic point of view and from a structural and functional point of view. It isn't rocket science, but it does take a mental switch to thinking that we can do it.