Mass Timber Construction & Parkade 

Massive Canada is the first company to combine the strength of mass timber with the speed and efficiency of prefabrication. At Massive Canada, we deliver homes achieving a high standard of quality and value. Homes are built with precision and attention to detail. We prioritize a circular economy lens and are committed to using clean energy and reducing waste. Our durable design and materials can be reused, recycled and repurposed. Our vision includes replanting the forests we rely on, contributing to the restoration of natural habitats and helping mitigate climate change.

 

Our strategy is to use engineered wood from sustainably harvested new growth forests combined with smart design and line assembly in a controlled environment. This produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions and virtually no waste. A complete rethinking of how we build requires a fully integrated architectural, structural, electrical, mechanical, energy and building envelope design. Massive Canada’s mission is to make mass timber mainstream.

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718 North Mass Timber Parkade and Storage 

 

Phokas Heights has one below grade parkade.

It provides secure storage for resident’s vehicles,

bicycles, bicycle repair station, accessible

parking stalls and connections for EV chargers.

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Massive Canada, designed the first mass timber parkade in Canada, to be built at 718 North Road, Gibsons. Underground parking garages are traditionally made of concrete. The traditional suspended concrete slab requires temporary supports, formwork, reinforcing steel and a lot of time to pour the concrete and allow the slab to cure.

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To eliminate concrete and its carbon footprint, all supporting walls, posts, glulam beams and timber panels inside the parkade and the podium itself are engineered wood. This design forms a rigid structural diaphragm which is attached to perimeter foundations.

The engineered wood construction is expected to cost the same as a similar size concrete parkade. It will take much less time to build. The design takes into account a variety of loads that different portions of the structural system will have to support.

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“Timber has long been used for structures such as railway trestle bridges,” says Gaetan Royer, CEO of Massive Canada Building Systems. “Well designed wood structures can hold a moving freight train. CLT panels are as strong as a concrete slab of the same thickness. A key benefit is that trees extract carbon from the atmosphere to create wood fibre”.

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The other benefit is that wood CLT panels can be placed in a few days, without requiring temporary supports. The panels also do not require any time to cure.

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As for fire safety, the fire resistance of mass timber has been demonstrated through many independent tests. Massive Canada is carefully reviewing fire separation and protection and proposes to use non-combustible MgOSo4 boards where additional fire protection encapsulation is required. Massive Canada uses its own wall panels that are certified for one-hour fire separation for each half-inch in thickness.

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The project aligns with provincial and federal government policies to reduce carbon emissions from construction. Several government programs encourage builders to use wood as a means to mitigate climate change. More than 50 B.C. municipalities have adopted wood-first resolutions, policies, and bylaws as a way to reduce or eliminate the carbon footprint of traditional concrete structures.

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