Tall wood guide to help designers/owners meet regulatory and market conditions
Residential, commercial and industrial buildings account for 17 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and buildings generate nearly 40 per cent of annual global CO2 emissions. As a result, there is a growing interest in taller wood construction as a low-carbon building alternative and a growing need to advance technical know-how that can take timber buildings to new heights.
The 2022 edition of the Technical guide for the design and construction of tall wood buildings in Canada (external link), published by FPInnovations, includes learnings and insights gained from recently built tall wood projects, highlights from the most recent building codes and standards, and research findings to help achieve the best environmental, structural, fire, and durability performance of mass timber products and systems.
This updated guide replaces the first edition (2014), which was developed to support the Natural Resources Canada Tall Wood Building Demonstration Initiative. It takes into account substantial regulatory changes that were made in the 2020 edition of the National Building Code of Canada such as the addition of encapsulated mass timber construction of up to 12 storeys, the approved use of 12-storey mass timber gravity systems, and alternative solutions to construct wood buildings taller than 12 storeys. It also complies with the 2019 edition of the CSA standard 086 and the 2020 Canadian Wood Council design manual (external link).
This multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed guide is an essential resource for mass timber construction and hybrid, tall wood buildings design and construction.
This guide is for
- architects, engineers and other building professionals looking for helpful technical details on everything from building code compliance and tall wood building systems, to more detailed best practices related to gravity loads, seismic design, vibration and acoustics
- developers, municipalities and owners who will benefit from a full examination of the cost and value of tall wood construction, including what pricing to expect when selecting particular building systems
- anyone interested in sustainability and wanting a comprehensive look at carbon dynamics in forests and environmental considerations, along with tools that can quantify the benefits of using wood
Topics include
- approaches to maximizing the benefits of prefabrication and building information modelling (BIM), which collectively result in fast, clean, and quiet project delivery
- methods for addressing limitations controlled by fire requirements (through an alternative solution)
- seismic requirements (using a hybrid solution/acceptable solution in steel or concrete)
- best practices for mass timber construction to meet higher performance requirements of the Energy Step Codes
- environmental and health considerations of using wood in buildings
