Wood... the affordable alternative?

By: Parv Sangha

Wood the affordable alternative?

I have been in the construction industry for over 10 years and seen many changes in building practices, but these days I am constantly being asked by colleges and associates about the varying costs of construction with the different construction methods of today. Previous experience has been with concrete and steel mid / high-rises but with the changing trends in the industry there are a variety of options available to builders/developers for their projects these days. The affordability of todays housing market is affected by many factors. Specifically in British Columbia a major factor is the difference in land acquisition and holding costs per square foot of buildable area. As mid-rise wood-frame construction is still a new technology in BC, it is not yet possible to accurately come to any sort of conclusion about overall cost savings relative to other forms of construction. However, based on recent experience and some projects under construction, it seems that the above-grade cost of mid-rise construction in wood is proving to be between 20-30 percent less expensive than steel or concrete construction. In areas with poor soil conditions, such as Richmond, BC, the lighter weight of wood construction will harvest greater savings because less-intensive sub-grade structure and ground preparation is required. Once this new method of construction becomes more efficient, particularly if the benefits of prefabrication are fully exploited, there will be even greater savings realized with the reduced construction times relative to other construction methods. The factors of both speed in construction and more effective use of materials, will without a doubt improve the affordability of housing as superior wood-frame, midrise building technologies become more dominant. Canadian wood has become a sound environmental choice for several traditional and new building applications. The environmental benefits of wood are substantial enough when compared to other major construction materials. As carbon neutrality is becoming a key design goal in high-performance buildings, with lower embodied energy than steel or concrete the advantages of a wood structure are becoming increasingly attractive, Since the extraction and processing of wood products is less energy intensive and often uses carbon neutral wood waste as an energy source, substituting wood for other materials used in the construction of any building contributes to a much lower overall carbon footprint for the building. A direct outcome of increased mid-rise construction is improved urban density, which has helped reduce the environmental impact of development in the building environment. The rezoning of existing neighborhoods and increasing the density is effectively reducing the carbon footprint per capita. With the reduction of the external envelope in multi-family housing projects there is a substantial amount of savings in energy for each dwelling. Neighborhoods with denser population typically have become more attractive for businesses to offer more personal services within walking distance; this indirectly reduces the energy used for motorized transportation. The modern six-storey light-frame wood buildings of today in British Columbia (BC) incorporate comprehensively researched and safe solutions. With an increase in Mid-rise building solutions and the engineering technology being adapted in the province, BC is set to lead more sustainable communities and affordable housing solutions that will positively change the wood-frame construction industry and the face of North American cities. Since we have become accustomed to concrete and steel structures in our urban centers for most of the 20th century, we seem to have forgotten that wood was once the material of choice for mid-rise construction. While strolling through some historic core areas of many Canadian and US cities, heavy timber post-and beam office and warehouse buildings, some more than 100 years old, still stand in testimony to the durability and strength of wood. Most of these structures have demonstrated relatively straight-forward upgrades to meet the numerous changes to the fire and seismic provisions of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC). In this modern era of environmental awareness and climate change, wood is making a comeback as the material of choice for mid-rise construction for both residential and commercial buildings. Diversity being the key in this new generation of wood buildings, with numerous technologies proving successful according to the design type and location of specific building projects. Several methods of construction have been successfully employed around the world; a modified post-and-beam technique based largely on engineered wood products for a six-storey commercial building in Qubec City; a

cross-laminated timber (CLT ) construction for eight-storeys of a nine storey apartment tower in London, England; and a modified light frame system used for multi-family residential construction in the Pacific Northwest, including several under construction and many more projects in the design/ development stage in BC. Out of these diverse buildings, perhaps the most remarkable are those that have been realized in light-frame wood construction. These buildings have transformed our understanding and opened up several new doors of possibility for what we can build using only standard dimension lumber and the engineered wood products readily available from local retail lumber yards. Light-frame wood construction has been a big part of the North American forestry, construction and design industries for small commercial and residential buildings. Maybe due to the familiarity, many architects and engineers have tended to take the technology for granted, which has limited its potential for larger-scale buildings. This trend has been fueled in part by the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC), which has traditionally applied strict limitations on the size and height of combustible (light-frame wood) construction. With continued research into the structural and life-safety performance of buildings of light-frame wood construction, along with significant improvements in fire detection and suppression systems, there have been incremental changes to the NBCC over time. Changes from time to time in the NBCC increased the maximum allowable height for residential (Group C) buildings of wood frame construction from three to four storeys, then this height change was applied to Group D and E occupancies which included most office, retail and commercial buildings. In more recent times in 2009 the Province of British Columbia amended the provincial building code to further increase the height of light-frame wood construction residential buildings to six storeys. This change is expected to be in consideration to be adopted in some form for the NBCC in the near future. The change in the provincial building code has brought it more close in line with some international jurisdictions including the neighboring states of Washington, Oregon and California, in which developers have had these advantages for over a decade. There has always been a perception that while light-frame wood construction is good because of its economy, versatility, and the minimal time required for the construction, it is necessarily not favored due to its strength, accuracy and precision. These concerns may have been legitimate several decades ago however the introduction of new materials, innovative engineering solutions and off site prefabrication have substantially increased the sophistication and quality of these new buildings. These changes for the most part are not noticeable as they have been unobtrusive, hidden neatly away in the wall, floor and roof assemblies, collectively the impact has been insightful. As a result of these changes, light-framed wood construction is now considered a viable, affordable and environmentally-preferable alternative to concrete and steel. With the latest adaptations of wood products the quality and precision design has completely altered the outward appearance of the modern light-framed wood mid-rise. Evolution in the adaptation of structural and architectural design details that address key building-related issues including the areas associated with acoustic, thermal and fire performance that have been commonly tackled by the industry for a number of years. Additionally, construction site methodology needs to evolve and other building issues require effective solutions for light-frame, mid-rise buildings to be broadly accepted as a viable alternative to concrete and steel. During the BC Building Code review process that considered the new six-storey provisions, earthquake engineering researchers examined the seismic performance of a full-size, six-storey wood building on the worlds largest shake table at a facility in Miki City, Japan. The structure was built from BC forest products, with construction techniques commonly used in Canada. The research projects simulated ground shaking was modeled on the Northridge earthquake, which caused major damage in the Los Angeles area in 1994. The strongest test simulated an earthquake expected to occur once every 2,500 years. The building was subjected to seismic forces for about 40 seconds, with the virtual energy exerted on the structure stronger than both the 1995 Kobe and 2001 Seattle earthquakes. Before more than 400 international observers, the building performed extremely well, with no structural damage observed.

Sound transmission has always been a concern in light-frame wood construction. Adding mass, increasing stiffness, and the use of sound-absorbing insulation or resilient metal channels, can all be implemented as strategies to improve the quality of acoustic separation. In these times of environmental awareness, energy conservation has become an important concern for all building types. Increased levels of insulation and reduced ventilation rates both require more stringent performance modeling to maximize benefits and eliminate any potential problems of condensation or impaired indoor environmental quality. The rather good thermal properties of wood have always minimized the problem of thermal bridging through the building envelope. High performance buildings, including six-storey structures, must be fitted with heat recovery ventilators or other air intake systems that run continually and ensure that the minimum required air changes per hour are achieved. In 2005, firewalls with a two-hour fire-resistance rating were permitted to be constructed with noncombustible materials other than masonry or concrete, as long as they were protected in such a way that the day-to-day wear did not impair their effectiveness. As a result, gypsum firewall systems have been developed. These systems often utilize a typical wood-frame wall on either side of the gypsum firewall as the means of protecting the firewall as required by the building code. Another code change associated with mid-rise construction is that the exterior cladding must now be either noncombustible or constructed of materials that are expected to limit vertical fire spread. This is intended to minimize the risk of fire spreading to upper dwelling units should the windows of a unit below break because of the heat from a fire. With new engineered wood products changing the outward presentation of wood buildings, inwardly light-frame wood construction for mid-rise buildings has advanced considerably and presents a new level of affordability. Light- frame wood construction can now legitimately take its place alongside other technically-sophisticated construction systems, and indeed offers many environmental and other benefits if substituted for them. While six-storey buildings may still seem like a new horizon for this technology, Canadian building researchers believe it may be possible to safely extend light-frame wood construction to eight storeys as well. Additionally, with the evolution of a fully integrated design approach to mid-rise buildings combined with the introduction of new building materials like cross-laminated timber (CLT ) and the further improvement of existing on-site practices, building experts believe the construction of even taller, better performing and lower unit cost wood structures is possible. By: Parv Sangha President Pinnacle Building Science 778-552-4433 Parv@pinnaclebuilding.ca www.pinnaclebuilding.ca