September 8, 2010

PATRICK COTTER ARCHITECT INC.

The Remy was the first six-storey wood frame project to get a building permit in B.C.

British Columbia’s first six-storey wood structure takes shape

JEAN SORENSEN

correspondent

The race is on to building B.C.’s first six-storey wood frame structure, but the building technique is already paying dividends for one developer.

Last year’s changes to B.C.’s Building Code allowed six storey structures, up from the four previously allowed. This has lead to cost savings for some.

“We saved 12 per cent (on construction costs),” said Dana Westermark, president of Oris Development Corporation.

His company is developing the $60 million two-phase Richmond, B.C.-based Remy project.

“That’s not pocket change,” he said, adding that he saved about $4.8 million.

The project received B.C.’s first building permit for a six-storey, multi-family residential building.

Other projects are also underway, but Westermark said he’s hoping his company will be the first to complete a project as well.

“We had originally designed a six-storey, concrete and steel structure,” he said, adding that the economic downturn shelved it.

Several consultants, who had input into the provincial building code changes, were also involved with Remy.

The numbers were crunched on converting the project to wood and a saving of 12 per cent was realized. That made the project more viable.

The project sits on 2.2 acres, with two levels of parking (one below grade and one above) built of concrete.

The wood building rises over the second level of the parkade at the back end.

The project includes six wooden storeys in the front and five at the back.

The project’s walls will use two half-inch thick layers of gyproc Type C drywall (a fire retardant board) with the second layer overlapping any seams on the first so that if shrinkage occurs there will not be a gap for fire penetration to the wood walls.

“We are working closely with the Richmond Fire Department, so that we can learn from them and they can learn from us,” said Penta Builders Group Inc. project manager Mike Cooper.

Shrinkage in wooden structures has long been a consideration in wood construction, especially in concrete elevator shaft design, he said.

The Remy will feature wooden elevator shafts, which is a return to a practice seen 30 years ago.

In older wooden buildings, where the shaft is made of concrete, Cooper said it is not uncommon for the building to shrink several inches, leaving a slight step down from the elevator.

Returning to wooden shafts is expected to mitigate that difference between materials.

Cooper, who has worked throughout Europe and built structures in Great Britain, said social agencies can’t believe how economic it is building the structure this way.

He said one of the challenges in building with wood in B.C. is finding wood products, as most manufacturers ship directly out of Canada to foreign markets. Even finding lumber with the required lower moisture content is a challenge, as is keeping it dry.

Other value-added or engineered wood products are often obtained from the U.S., he said, as no one in B.C. makes engineered wood products anymore.

“This is the beginning of a new sequence,” Cooper said. “So everyone is having to learn brand new from the start.”

That includes trades, suppliers and builders. He is convinced that wood frame buildings will gain in popularity and continue to rise even higher as is the European practice.

“That also means what we are shipping to other parts of the world will be more readily available in B.C.,” he said.

The changes to the building code also provide more options for the design community.

“(We can) increase density by up to 50 per cent without making the jump to high-rise,” said Patrick Cotter of Patrick Cotter Architect Inc.

The cost savings on the project have caused other developers to knock on Cooper’s door.

“They want to know what the implications are of this project. They may have land, where their current project doesn’t work, but now they can look at a six-storey building and that reduces the footprint,” he said.

The project also includes social and senior housing, as well as market condos.

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