SiteSummit: Mass timber poised to disrupt traditional building

Key Takeaways:

• Canada’s mass timber sector is reaching a commercial tipping point driven by advanced digital modeling and growing government interest to address the housing crisis.
• The high-tech and automated nature of prefabrication is drawing next-generation labor to clean, quiet, and highly coordinated job sites.
• Scaling the industry requires overcoming significant hurdles including inverted developer cash-flow models that demand massive upfront capital and strict on-site moisture management strategies

The Whole Story:

Canada’s mass timber sector is no longer just a niche sustainability play—it is rapidly approaching a commercial tipping point. At the recent SiteSummit conference, a panel of industry experts broke down the shifting economics, regulatory momentum, and on-site realities defining the future of wood construction in Canada.

Moderated by Joseph Ogilvie, Founding Principal of Archangel Ventures and Chair at the Schulich School of Business, the “Mass Timber 101” panel featured David Moses, Founder of Moses Structural Engineers, and Chris McQuillan, Principal of Health and Science at KPMB. Together, they mapped out why the material is poised to disrupt traditional building methods, and the structural hurdles that still stand in the way.

The market shift: Catching up to the culture

Historically, Canada’s mass timber adoption has been uneven. While British Columbia has long mandated that capital planning processes evaluate and actively discount timber before opting for concrete or steel, Ontario is only now closing the gap.

“I always loved wood… but I thought I’ve picked the wrong city to be designing wood, because everything’s concrete and steel here,” said David Moses, reflecting on his return to Toronto two decades ago.

“But everything’s come around for the better,” said Moses. “The concrete industry has had 80 years to get to where they are and to perfect slab structures where you can look outside and see them everywhere, and we know how to do that really well. In wood, we’re not doing that yet, but it’s coming.”

Connecting urban demand with northern forestry operations remains a slow process, but government interest at both provincial and federal levels is surging due to the ongoing housing crisis. Moses noted that policies linking job training, local resource management, and housing needs are creating a “win-win-win scenario” for policymakers.

Technology and the next-gen labor force

The acceleration of mass timber is inextricably linked to advanced digital modeling and off-site manufacturing. Unlike traditional builds, mass timber requires sophisticated Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) coordination before a single column is cut. This high-tech barrier, however, is proving to be a massive draw for incoming industry talent.

“Mass timber relies on digital modeling technology to execute properly. It demands a higher level of coordination than historically we’ve applied to projects,” said McQuillan.

Moses noted that mass timber factories and sites rely heavily on automation, drawing parallels to the mechatronics of the automotive industry. This shift away from adversarial, chaotic job sites toward clean, quiet, and hyper-coordinated environments is crucial for attracting young professionals.

McQuillan emphasized that this technological shift aligns with a growing industry demand for better building performance and biophilic design, particularly in complex sectors like healthcare where wood environments have been shown to reduce stress and improve healing.

“Mass timber relies on digital modeling technology to execute properly,” McQuillan said. “We have a situation where labor is very costly and in short supply… The economics and the technology around construction are making this type of building possible.”

The financial inversion

Despite clear benefits—including massive reductions in site personnel and rapid floor erection speeds—the panel did not shy away from mass timber’s steep economic realities. Building with prefabricated timber fundamentally inverts the traditional developer cash-flow model. Instead of delaying supplier payments, developers must cut massive checks upfront to secure factory production lines.

Ogilvie pointed out that to break even against traditional concrete models under these constraints, a project requires at least a 30% schedule compression savings.

“The finance model around this has to change,” Moses warned, pointing to the complications that arise when planning or excavation delays stall a shipment. “Who owns that product at that time? And those questions are going to come up from the lawyers, from the insurance companies, and from the lenders… It’s a different financial model. I don’t have the answer. I think this is a big policy question for us right now in Canada to address.”

Managing moisture

When the discussion turned to risk, the conversation zeroed in on moisture management. The panel warned against relying on standard plywood components, which act as a sponge on-site and are notoriously difficult to dry before enclosure.

“In all the conversations that I’ve had with healthcare clients… moisture management is really almost the entire conversation,” McQuillan noted.

To mitigate these existential risks, the panelists pointed to permanent moisture sensors, data monitoring, and advanced enclosure strategies. Ogilvie highlighted Canadian innovations like Upbrella, which brings a weather-enclosed environment directly to the jobsite, effectively moving the factory to the field to protect the timber from the elements.

Ultimately, the panel concluded that mass timber is transitioning from an alternative experiment into a core structural staple. As McQuillan put it: “Eventually, we will look at the different materials and say, ‘Well, we get different things from these different materials and we’re going to pick the right one for the job.'”