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Innovative Zero Emissions Wood Buildings Workshop – Vancouver
November 22 @ 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Overview
Join us for a one-day technical workshop focused on advancing affordable, attractive, zero emissions wood buildings.
- Deepen your understanding of the latest developments in Mass Timber methods, solutions and processes through discussion with local experts.
- Advance wood solutions by collaborating with subject matter experts across industry sectors.
- Resolve persistent barriers.
- Streamline the adoption and design process for wood buildings in BC.
This workshop has been approved for 6 AIBC Core Learning Units.
The Province of BC recently approved the construction of tall wood buildings up to 12 storeys. This legislation comes into effect with “zero emissions” or “net-zero energy ready” requirements in place and advancing over the next five to ten years. For building design and construction leaders to remain competitive and guarantee their long-term success in local industry, the adoption of innovative alternatives to traditional concrete building systems will be a critical business development.
Workshop Format
The day is broken into two components: a morning of learning with local industry experts, followed by an afternoon working session by participants and experts. We have assembled a selection of technical and regulatory challenges gathered from consultation with practitioners working on complex high-performance projects to bring a real world case study to test and identify effective solutions for designing high-performance wood buildings in BC that may include a range of design details, technical references, spec language or regulatory approaches.
Participants will:
- Share knowledge and exchange ideas;
- Establish best practice solutions (e.g. to standardize where many interpretations or alternative solutions currently exist);
- Validate approaches from elsewhere for application in BC;
- Develop affordable/constructible/simplified solutions to situations of complexity, redundancy or expense;
- Pinpoint regulatory or technical challenges that stand in the way of widespread application of a wood solution pathway to resolution;
- Highlight opportunities for academic or applied R&D to resolve intractable barriers to the widespread adoption of wood; and
- Solve pressing design problems currently standing in the way of high-performance buildings.
Ticket Types
- Full Day Workshop – attend the morning presentations (see point below for topics), catered lunch and afternoon hands-on designing.
- Half Day Presentations – attend the morning presentations focused on mass timber form and affordability; the future of mass timber in industry; costing and prefab-ability; trends in industrialization; a local case study; and embodied carbon.
Limited seats available! Click here to register!
Workshop Agenda
8:00am – Light breakfast and registration
8:30am – Welcome and introductions
8:45am – Presentations and discussions
- Presentation line-up:
- “The future of mass timber and architecture: where are we headed with form, affordability and zero emissions?” – Andrew Thomson, Associate Principal – ZGF Architects
- “Recent research in mass timber and pre-fabrication costing” – David Fell, Project Lead, Industrialized Construction – FPInnovations
- “Modular case study” – Craig Mitchell, Director, Innovative Solutions – Metric Modular
- “Mass timber and embodied carbon” – Patrick Enright, Green Building Engineer – City of Vancouver
11:30am – Lunch
12:30pm – Introduction and overview of workshop project: 8 storey affordable mass timber
12:45pm – Breakout groups: “what does the City of Wood look like?” (Planning, architecture/fabric, prefab, affordability)
3:30pm – Closing
Venue and Arrival Instructions
The workshop will be held in Room 470 at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
***Please enter the venue off of Seymour Street at Hastings
Workshop Speakers and Experts
Andrew Thomson, Associate Principal – ZGF Architects
Christian Cianfrone, Executive Director – ZEBx
Craig Mitchell, Director, Innovative Solutions – Metric Modular
David Fell, Project Lead, Industrialized Construction – FPInnovations
Helen Goodland, Head of Research and Innovation – SCIUS Advisory Inc.
James Emery, Principal – Iredale Architecture
Mark Porter, National Practice Lead, Buildings – Associated Engineers
Patrick Enright, Green Building Engineer – City of Vancouver
Click here to register!
Past Participants
- Associated Engineering
- BC Building Science
- Cascadia Architects
- City of Vancouver
- Dialog Design
- Engineers and Geoscientists of BC
- EQ Canada
- Greater Victoria Housing Society
- Innovation Building
- Integral Group
- Kinetic Construction
- Local Practice Architecture + Design
- Mark Taylor Construction Advisory Services Ltd.
- Mindful Architecture
- Morrison Hershfield
- PCI Group
- Perkins+Will
- Pye Construction Ltd.
- Redcedar PM Services Ltd.
- RDH Building Science
- SCIUS Innovations Inc.
- University of Victoria
- Waymark Architecture
- Wood WORKS! BC
- ZGF Architects
Click here to register!
This is event is brought to you in collaboration with Renewable Cities.