Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Also, it's a pleasure for me to be here. My role is on the value-added or specifying side of the chain. I've been a practising engineer for 30 years and have been designing with wood since I moved to British Columbia 23 years ago. The amount of innovatio

Natural Resources committee  There's a reason I was asked to teach timber engineering in Haiti. This is a course that was added later on in the program, when it was offered for the second or third time. The reason is that a lot of the engineers had asked to learn about timber because they noticed that the ho

Natural Resources committee  Timber is a lot lighter than concrete. That's a big advantage, from a design point of view.

Natural Resources committee  As I explained, five years ago we published the research report showing that we could build tall wood-framed buildings. At that time, there was a lot of criticism on the Internet. As might be expected, a lot of people reacted, saying that wood-framed high-rises were vulnerable t

Natural Resources committee  Yes. The construction industry is relatively slow to move. To have codes in place is key to confirming the research and development required to ensure that the use of the material is safe. I think we're making a lot of progress in that way. The other side of the equation, as R

Natural Resources committee  It's quite natural for people to react to the idea of building timber high-rises in wood. It's quite natural to react this way, because wood is a combustible material. The distinction that we've been making as designers is that there's a difference between combustibility, or comb

Natural Resources committee  Again, it's about classifying different types of timber construction correctly. Light frame relies on finishes to maintain its structural integrity in a fire, whereas mass timber is inherently resistant to fire, especially if using mass timber panels. I would say that in light ti

Natural Resources committee  My opinion is that the safety of a building, whether it be from a fire point of view or a structural point of view, is a design issue, a performance issue. This is why codes are moving towards the performance-based approach. There's no doubt that the integrity of a mass timber

Natural Resources committee  Again, it's a design issue more than a material issue. The need for compartmentalization of fire in a higher building is more critical, and that can be achieved with mass timber panels.

Natural Resources committee  This is an economic question. There are efficiencies that are achieved with certain spans, with certain products, and that's true of all products or materials. If you're asking about whether there's a limitation, an upper limit, on what you can do with wood, I would point out tha

Natural Resources committee  I think timber was probably popular in the construction of bridges, say a century ago, because it's a material that can be sourced essentially near the site. There's no need to truck materials in. That might have been the primary reason why it was used then. The way to protect it