A summer “topping off” event celebrated a construction milestone for Surrey’s first mass timber housing development, with more such projects planned.
On July 23 a crane lifted a final panel of CLT (cross-laminated timber) into place atop one of two six-storey buildings constructed by Adera Development Corporation at the corner of 132 Street and 105 Avenue, across from Kwantlen Park Secondary.
Some homes at the PURA project will be ready for occupancy early next year.
The development is notable in Surrey City Centre (Whalley) due to Adera's use of mass timber, an umbrella term for a family of engineered wood products "known for their strength, durability, versatility and sustainability," according to a post on naturallywood.com.
Mass timber products are made by taking smaller wood elements and connecting them with adhesives, dowels, nails or screws to create larger structural building components, the website explains.
In April, the B.C. government announced updates to the provincial building code to allow the use of mass timber in taller buildings (up to 18 storeys for residential and office buildings), as well as schools, libraries and retail, "so they can be built faster and more sustainably."
Then in June, the release of a national Mass Timber Roadmap was hailed in Ottawa as "an ambitious and strategic vision for the future of mass timber in Canada and its potential to transform green construction and drive economic growth across the country."
Adera has been involved in mass timber construction for nearly a decade in Surrey and the rest of Metro Vancouver, according to Sarah Bingham, vice-president of development and sustainability.
"When we started PURA, we were well aware that this was the first residential mass timber project in Surrey, and that included discussions with the city around mass timber," Bingham told the Now-Leader.
"The type that we are utilizing, the majority of, in PURA is something called cross-laminated timber, or CLT," she added. "The drive to mass timber is really that it has similar acoustic and fire-rated properties as a concrete building but it's made out of wood, which is a renewable resource that we have plenty of in B.C., and with fewer GHG emissions than concrete, greenhouse gasses."
Adera is building "almost all of our projects right now using this hybrid mass timber, being CLT floors and then framing for the walls, typical wood construction, where it makes sense," Bingham said. "We do have another project in Surrey that is not mass timber, but our intent going into a site is to utilize mass timber."
More mass timber projects are being proposed locally, she said. Adera has found that mass timber is not more expensive than concrete as a building material, Bingham added.
The company touts PURA for its recent Fitwel certification, as one of eight multi-family residential buildings in British Columbia with such health-focused certification.
"The way that we look at it is, mass timber deals with the health of the building material, the sustainable building material, and Fitwell really deals with the health of the occupants," Bingham explained. "So for us, that was the missing piece when we looked at the holistic sustainability of a building. What Fitwel does is help purchasers understand that a third-party verification system is now saying that yes, this building has the attributes of a healthy building for its occupants."
The BC Building Code changes for mass timber were developed by a national joint task group co-chaired by B.C. and Quebec. Advancing mass-timber technology is part of B.C.'s Homes for People action plan.
“This is another step forward for British Columbia’s world-class mass-timber sector as we continue to accelerate the adoption of this strong, clean building technology,” Jagrup Brar, Surrey MLA and Minister of State for Trade, stated in April.
The changes "will help reduce carbon pollution, support the forestry sector, create jobs, build more homes and lead to more vibrant communities,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “We know mass timber looks great, and now we can use it in larger buildings and more types of buildings.”
