Due to the prohibitively high cost, developers have not yet embraced the construction of tall wood multi-unit residential buildings. The rising cost of concrete in Vancouver, combined with a cost premium associated with mid-rise concrete buildings, led to a feasibility study that demonstrates a “short wood” building can be comparable in cost to a concrete equivalent. Building codes currently prescribe noncombustible construction or encapsulated mass timber construction for residential buildings up to twelve storeys in height, with no distinction for lower-height mass timber buildings, thereby leading to construction inefficiencies and increased costs for wood mid-rise buildings. Short Wood 8 proposes an eight-storey prototype made up of CLT floor slabs, CLT shear walls and load bearing wood-frame walls that provides an innovative cost-competitive alternative to conventional concrete mid-rise residential buildings that exceed six storeys in height.
Short Wood 8
Vancouver, BC
UBC Properties Trust
2023
6,400 sqm

entry approach
sustainability
LEED Gold
mass timber

compact form
Short Wood 8 responds to world-wide interest by proposing an eight-storey wood-frame and mass timber building system that maximizes the inherent positive attributes of wood for the high-rise multi-unit residential market.
UBC Properties Trust

wood-frame and mass timber structure

section

end view

load bearing walls and CLT panel layout

2-bedroom suite
sustainability
LEED Gold
mass timber

entry lobby

amenity

suite entry

standard suite

CLT stair core

CLT and roof components

CLT and acoustic separation components

CLT and concrete slab components
Short Wood 8 demonstrates that it is now economically feasible for a hybrid wood-frame and CLT structural system to rise above the current six-storey building code limit.
UBC Properties Trust