12-storey wood condo, project Origine, in Quebec celebrates capping

project Origine under construction (source: Nordic Structures http://nordic.ca/)

On May 8th the federal government was on hand to mark the capping of the tallest wood constructed condominium in North America, project Origine, a project in Quebec City’s Pointe-aux-Lièvres eco-district.

The building includes a 12-storey wood structure on top of a one-storey concrete podium. The 41-metre tall condo uses cross-laminated timber (CLT) as its primary building material.

Through Natural Resources Canada’s Tall Wood Building Demonstration Initiative, over $1.2 million in funding was provided to the project, undertaken by the project developers, the NEB Consortium.

The initiative is part of the Government of Canada’s strategy to help expand the North American market for Canadian wood products by encouraging the use of wood in construction in mid- and high-rise buildings. The program also provided $2.3 million to the University of British Columbia for the construction of its tall wood construction project, the Brock Commons Tallwood House student residence.

In this year’s budget, an additional $40 million was dedicated to increasing wood use in Canada. The funds will lead to further tall wood demonstration projects, advanced training and education for practitioners designing wood buildings and continued support for code changes to ensure a level playing field for wood in high-rise construction.

A tall wood building is typically much lighter than the weight of a building using traditional materials, which reduces the cost of a building’s foundations, and using wood products can help cities meet their urban density targets, while reducing their environmental footprint and mitigating the effects of climate change. It is reported that the project Origine stores 2,065 tonnes of carbon in its wood.