David Moses, alongside Marco VanderMaas from Kirkor Architects, Mike York and Tony Currie from the College of Carpenters and Allied Trades presented “Timber Enclosures & Structures: Delivering Projects from Design to Completion” at Facades+, the premier conference on high-performance building enclosures. The event was held in Toronto on October 11, 2019,
After the Ontario Building Code changed to allow taller wood buildings in 2015, the College of Carpenters and Allied Trades turned to Architect, Marco VanderMaas and Structural Engineer David Moses for advice on how to enhance their training curriculum to include larger wood-frame structures. Mike Yorke, President of Local 27 and Tony Currie, Program Director at the College saw the merits of building a six-storey mock-up at the College’s Training Centre to display the opportunities and challenges associated with more sophisticated taller wood construction as they recruit, train and supervise the instructors.
Marco, David, Mike and Tony presented the lessons learned while they worked together developing these new skills.
Daily Commercial News writes:
David Moses, principal of Moses Structural Engineers and a leading proponent of mass timber buildings in Canada, told workshop participants that while wood receives high marks for carbon sequestration, successful green designs pay attention to cladding systems as well because they have “a huge impact” on energy performance and sustainability.
Moses spoke about moisture issues that develop with wood products (many of which are delivered in a kiln-dried state) when they are left unprotected by the contractor on site. “Those are things we want to see improve. Contractors should have a plan in place,” he said.
Prefabricated cladding systems can be erected quickly to eliminate potential moisture issues, he said.
Moses told the workshop that the use of cross-laminated timber has soared since 2010 when production around the world was about 50,000 cubic metres. Today North American production tops 180,000 cubic metres. “This is supply trying to meet the demand,” he said.
