Natural Resources Canada announced the official occupancy of oN5 in Vancouver, the first office building in Canada constructed using high-performance cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels.
More than $1.2 million in funding for the oN5 project was provided through the Green Construction Through Wood (GCWood) Program, which encourages low-carbon construction through innovative uses of wood in non-traditional construction projects, such as low-rise non-residential buildings, tall wood buildings and bridges.
“By making effective use of Canada’s forest resources through low-carbon building systems, Canada is becoming a world leader in sustainable wood construction practices, increasing energy efficiency and climate resilience in our communities while simultaneously enhancing the global competitiveness of our forestry, wood manufacturing and construction sectors. That’s why our government is pleased to support projects like oN5 — to help lower emissions, create good jobs for workers and build better neighborhoods for everyone,” said The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson Minister of Natural Resources.
Located in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, the top three storeys of the four-storey mass timber office building are constructed entirely out of cross-laminated timber. Its construction required sophisticated building information modelling and virtual construction work due to the challenging zero-lot-line site.
The installation of the CLT building structure was completed in 15 days by Naikoon Contracting due to the use of prefabricated panels over conventional methods. The building meets Passive House standards for energy efficiency and also employs state-of-the-art seismic devices for resisting earthquakes. Its design and use are examples of climate resiliency in action.
The owner of the building is Robert Malczyk, the engineer of record on the project and principal of consulting structural engineers Timber Engineering Inc. said oN5 is the first building of its kind outside of Europe. During the opening, he noted the three main innovations on this project were the full prefabrication of the building, the seismic device (Tectonus hold-down system) and flat CLT slabs.
“The City of Vancouver and British Columbia are leaders in wood excellence, and we’re proud to be part of it,” he said.
