Bigger, taller Mass Timber 做厙輦⑹ion (MTC) buildings are coming to Canada and the United States.
to the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), more than 140 projects are either under construction or in the planning stage across the country, adding to the nearly 700 MTC projects already completed.
The industry is advancing rapidly, but there is work to do to realize this opportunity of increasing manufacturing value-added products to the forest sector, the FPAC says.
One area that needs to be developed is appropriate training for those who work on the project sites and turn mass timber components into finished buildings.
An increasing number of post-secondary education institutes across Canada are now offering specialized education and training in MTC. Many of these are microcredential courses, some online and others in-person and target those with some previous construction experience.
For example, the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) an associate certificate in construction of mass timber structures for experienced carpenters, ironworkers and installers. The BCIT also provides an online microcredential in introductory studies in mass timber construction. Conducted in a flexible part-time format, students with at least one year experience in construction-related fields are introduced to the mass timber industry and explore fundamental features and tools associated with MTC.
Selkirk College based in Castlegar, B.C., a 16-week online microcredential course that develops MTC skills in Building Information Modeling and co-ordination, CNC machine design and optimization, fabrication approval process and BIM output generation. A similar microcredential is through the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in a self-directed online environment using interactive modular content, informative articles, videos and in-depth case studies.
In Ontario, the College of Carpenters and Allied Trades (CCAT) a fulltime, four-week, hands-on mass timber course covering the characteristics of various timber products, with practical training on full-scale mock-ups.
The CCATs efforts have been helped in part through of funding made available in 2018 from the Ontario government as part of the provinces plan to further MTC skills development and training. This has helped the CCAT, in conjunction with the Carpenters Union, to develop and deliver an innovative wood building and connection system training module.
At the same time, ironworker unions across North America are drawing attention to their claim the assembly of mass timber components in large buildings is much the same as the onsite steel assembly work they have been providing for decades.
JMC Iron-works, a contractor within British Columbia Ironworker Union Local 97, has been working on the National Centre for Indigenous Law at the University of Victoria. The 29,000-square-foot MTC-steel hybrid, an expansion of the Fraser Law Building, won the . JMC is also working on a new MTC archive, research and collection facility called the for the Royal BC Museum in Colwood.
Only recently we have been given the opportunity and have shown we can do both mass timber and structural steel, making us more competitive and attractive to general contractors, said JMC co-owners Jordan Lyman and Josh Csopak. The GCs would rather have one contractor do the work; this is where we, the ironworkers, are preferred.
Ironworkers applying their skills to the assembly of mass timber buildings is a trend that is quickly developing in the United States as well.
Thirty-five Iron Worker Localsacross the U.S. are currently training with mock-ups ofmass timber projects, with some sharingthese mock-ups with other locals, WNYLaborToday, a labour news source in Western New York State.
We have that heavy rigging skill set to be able to assemble any kind of skeleton framing for a building, said Eric Dean, general president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
Projectsthat take advantage of ironworkers proven expertise, and carpenters with specific mass timber training, are seen as playing a critical part towards the future success of MTC.
John Bleasby is a freelance writer. Send comments and Climate and 做厙輦⑹ion column ideas to editor@dailycommercialnews.com.
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