" It ' s really exciting to imagine growing your own high-rise from a handful of seeds . It ' s the only material that is renewable ."
REGULARS - TALKING TIMBER
If you imagine an equivalent to concrete or a precast concrete system , they ’ re lighter than that and very strong . They can create a repetitive , modular system of construction .
That ’ s a huge advantage to our contractors who , once the construction industry gets used to this system , they won ’ t go back because it ’ s such an easy modular way of putting things together on site , especially in tight urban sites . It ’ s quicker , it reduces noise , reduces pollution with trucks and it appears that the schedule is impacted favourably to 20 to 30 %, which is no small amount when time is money . A lot of this , of course , depends on the individual project and consistency in the quality of design and shop drawing coordination that is executed by the architect . From a design point of view , it puts more control back into the architect ’ s hand .
All of that work is done prefabricated in the factory before the panels even arrive onsite . So there ’ s a great deal more work that ’ s been done beforehand , but the architect takes charge of coordinating the panels with the fabricator directly . Depending how well the architect does , it can go together very fast with extremely tight and very precise tolerances . It ’ s an exciting environment to work in when you ’ re looking at really accurate millimetres or an eighth of an inch tolerances , which makes your finish work and exterior wall systems much easier to apply . It ’ s a great material to work with .
Once contractors understand that and owners realise the benefits , that ’ s going to be an advantage in the contracting industry .
Those of us deeply involved in this the past five or six years have been building that expertise to lead the process in a different way than the typical architect would lead a construction process or be part of a team . We ’ re very conscious about being good , integrated design team players . It is a different role , but it ’ s exciting for us who have been involved for a while and understand how to use it to everybody ’ s advantage .
PGB : Is timber for every project ? Jones : Most likely , yes . But the real barrier for taller buildings at the moment is codes . To answer that question appropriately , the answer is no . You can ’ t build over six stories without special approvals . However , there ’ s nothing prohibiting it in terms of its constructability or structural integrity .
One of the things that ’ s been really exciting recently is to watch the ( cross-laminated timber ) framework building in Portland get closer to being approved by the municipal authorities . Portland is in a high seismic area , as is Seattle and Vancouver – the seismic codes are much more stringent on the West Coast than they are elsewhere in the country – so it ’ s exciting to seriously consider building a 12-storey timber building in the next couple of years here on the West Coast .
That tells me the sky is pretty much the limit . If you look at it carefully , there ’ s no technical reason why you can ’ t go to 20 stories and probably 40 . The real issue is codes , and the foundational issue , is fire codes . We can convince our
" It ' s really exciting to imagine growing your own high-rise from a handful of seeds . It ' s the only material that is renewable ."
structural engineers that our buildings are safe . We can convince our structural reviewers that they ’ re safe . The fire community has a longer way to go .
I ’ m one of 18 national code committee members , and the national American Institute of Architects ’ representative to the ICC . Most of the committee ’ s focus has been on how to understand better and deal with fire concerns . If you look at the codes , and this gets a little technical , there ’ s Type 1A and Type 1B and those buildings have a high height limit with what are considered non-combustible materials , which are steel and concrete . When you add a combustible material , such as wood into the mix , there are a series of concerns that need to be met .
We ’ re going about that in a very methodical way . The good news is that the committee is functioning at a high level , all parties are involved , there ’ s a considerable amount of give and take and scrutiny . The result is that we ’ re creating some important fire tests that will be some of the most rigorous in the world happening in the spring . Funding has been procured for these million-dollar fire tests . They take several weeks to construct a two-story apartment dwelling with a stair core and a corridor to mimic real-world conditions . Then we ’ re going to set the whole thing on fire five different times to see how it performs !
Assuming those fire tests go well – and we assume they will based on all of the other tests that have been done internationally and in Canada – I think you ’ ll start to see some fast movement on the codes and things will fall into place very quickly in the next year or two .
PGB : As far as the discussion of regulations related to timber , are they centred on fire codes ? Is there concern about strength and durability ? Jones : The structural properties of the panels are fairly extraordinary . They have a very high level of shear and lateral resistance . Because the panels are lighter than typical concrete , the gravity loads are less and the foundation requirements , which need to be concrete , are known to be less .
Some of these aspects should continue to be tested , but I think there ’ s a general acceptance in the industry about the structural issues . The fire question is an area we need to continue to be thoughtful and careful of and do strong research on .
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50 APRIL / MAY 2017 //