The Engineers and Geoscientists BC and AIBC Joint Professional Practice Guidelines - Encapsulated Mass Timber Construction up to 12 Storeys were developed in response to BC Government changes to the BC Building Code and the BC Fire Code to permit construction of mass timber buildings up to 12 storeys based on the new classifications of building size and construction relative to occupancy: Article 3.2.2.48EMTC. Group C, up to 12 storeys, Sprinklered, and Article 3.2.2.57EMTC. Group D, up to 12 storeys, Sprinklered. Sentence 1.1.1.1.(7), Division A, lists the local authorities within which the EMTC provisions apply.
Please note: An overview of the guidelines was presented in a webinar on September 21, 2021 and is available in the Online Store. Attendees of this online workshop are strongly encouraged to view the overview webinar and read the guidelines prior to attending.
The guidelines cover minimum qualifications, professional practice, roles and responsibilities, and quality assurance for encapsulated mass timber construction (EMTC) projects. They also identify issues to be taken into consideration, provide sources of information, and, in some instances, design options when providing architectural, building enclosure, fire protection, acoustical, structural, mechanical, and electrical design services for EMTC buildings up to 12 storeys, or parts of such buildings.
The discipline-specific segments will focus on the following:
- The architectural session will cover approaches to managing integrated systems; changes to systems, structural member sizes and grids, and assemblies; and prefabrication.
- The enclosure session will cover how the EMTC provisions impact the design, detailing, material selection, and construction of building enclosures; moisture control requirements and strategies to protect the mass timber during construction; and considerations for prefabricated enclosure elements.
- The fire protection section will cover common misconceptions on the calculation of char and rules for exposed mass timber; firestopping and concealed spaces, specifically around connections; and construction fire safety.
- The acoustics section will cover the importance of establishing the design intent and targets early in the project; assembly/layering requirements; and interior separations and noise isolation, including the various transmission paths.
- The structural section will elaborate on the char calculations and concepts introduced in the fire protection section and will cover considerations and coordination required to determine appropriate gravity systems; limitations of shearwalls and code compliant lateral systems; and connections and services routing.
- The mechanical section will cover fire protection and general considerations for running services, especially those containing water, in concealed spaces; structural and acoustical considerations for services routing; and the requirement for encapsulation during construction as it relates to installation and testing of services.
- The electrical section will cover the Canadian Electrical Code requirements; general design considerations including services routing and coordination with other professionals; and construction sequencing as it relates to installation and testing.
CEO, Co-Founder, Intelligent City and Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture
Oliver Lang is an architect, urban product designer and technology entrepreneur with over 28 years of experience. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Intelligent City, a housing technology company that takes an adaptable product- and scalable platform-based approach to simultaneously address climate change and housing affordability, across varied markets and broad customer needs. The company offers one-stop mixed use housing and workspace solutions through the seamless integration of award-winning design-engineering, software, robotics, mass timber building systems and industry collaborations, creating quality buildings that are faster to assemble, more affordable to build and operate, while being consistently carbon neutral. The company has pioneered, and successfully tested, now market ready mass timber and Passive House technology for mid- to high-rise (6–18 storeys, EMTC/IBC21) mixed-use buildings, and opened its first automated manufacturing facility in Delta BC this summer. Intelligent City is a winner of Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada and has been awarded the Solar Impulse Foundation Label. Oliver is also the Co-founder and Principal of LWPAC, a Governor General's Medal winning architecture practice based in Vancouver BC since 1999. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the TU Berlin.
Principal, Senior Building Science Specialist, RDH Building Science
Graham Finch is a building science engineer who specializes in enclosure design, risk management, research, and investigation work for new and existing buildings. Graham also works with building product manufacturers and other clients on product research and development, and the creation of various industry guidelines and training initiatives. Graham is directly involved with the majority of RDH’s mass timber and high-rise wood building projects and instrumental in leading industry research, risk management, and façade development for these new wood buildings. As a result of this experience he is regularly invited by various organizations and clients to speak to the practical and technical issues of mass timber building enclosure design and construction. Graham is a also a co-author of the building enclosure chapter of the recently published joint professional practice Engineers and Geoscientists BC/AIBC Encapsulated Mass Timber Construction Guidelines which are covered in the seminar (AIBC-Engineers and Geoscientists BC Joint Professional Practice Guidelines - Encapsulated Mass Timber Construction Up To 12 Storeys V1.0).
GHL Consultants Ltd
Andrew Harmsworth is the Principal Fire Engineer in Charge on many innovative timber projects, including the Tallwood House at Brock Commons, UBC, and is now working on over 15 tall wood buildings. Andrew also authored a report on use of timber in schools which addressed options for timber schools with larger areas and up to 4 storeys.
Director, Jensen Hughes
Robert (Bob) Heikkila has a diverse background with wide experience in Building Code consulting and fire protection engineering. Mr. Heikkila provides Building Code and fire protection consulting services on various projects throughout BC and in Alberta, as well as Certified Professional services in participating municipalities. He has been involved in all aspects of Building and Fire Code consulting and fire protection engineering, including Code reviews, specialized analyses, computer fire modeling, inspections, systems review and approvals, and client relations. Mr. Heikkila has extensive experience with a wide variety of projects over his career including multi-tower mixed-use highrise developments, industrial facilities, hospitals, major residential developments, and institutional facilities such as schools and penitentiaries.
Technical Director/Principal, RWDI
Steve studies and implements acoustic and vibration controls for buildings such as schools, hospitals, museums, and universities. Projects such as these demand excellent solutions for room acoustics, sound isolation, mechanical system noise and vibration. Known for his painstaking work to advance clients’ objectives and promote the safety and comfort of building occupants, Steve is a valuable partner to those charged with creating important civic and institutional structures. One of Steve’s notable achievements was his work with the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum in Boston, MA, USA; he and his team studied and set vibration limits for the facility to ensure the comfort of staff and visitors as well as the safety of the museum’s collection while the institution carried out an ambitious expansion.
Principal, Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.
A respected champion for innovations in wood design and increases in the use of mass timber systems, Grants work has pushed the height limits of traditional wood framed structures both in practice and through code development. He also leads highrise and developer oriented projects, considering costs and buildability to develop the right solution to maximize pro formas and deliver architectural vision. While his projects are often complex in nature, he brings simplicity to design, seeking practical, effective solutions. His practical sense comes from his life lessons working with wood and concrete on personal projects.
Grant graduated from the University of Calgary in 1989 and completed his master’s at McGill University. He is a member of the BC Advisory Group on Advanced Wood Design Solutions, co-authoring guidelines that support code changes revising the 4-storey limit to 6-storey both in the BCBC and NBCC. He has authored several guides, given numerous presentations, and provided support for Michael Greens Tall Wood Study, and FP Innovations CLT Guideline and Tall Wood Guideline. Grant is now working with the AIBC and Engineers and Geoscientists BC on a guide for Encapsulated Mass Timber Structures moving to 12 storeys. His involvement with tall high-rise structures up to 50 storeys and long history with wood structures made him a natural to push the status quo far beyond 4-storeys. Grant also helped develop Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Practice Guidelines for Structural, Fire Protection and Building Envelope Professional Engineering Services for 5- and 6-storey wood frame buildings. He was a member of the Board of Directors for NEWBuilds, a multi-disciplinary NSERC strategic research Network for Engineered Wood-based Building Systems highlighting CLT’s development in Canada.
Technical Director, Integral Group Consulting (BC) LLP
Kenneth W. Newbert is a mechanical engineer specializing in the design of building services, specifically plumbing, fire protection, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in all types of buildings. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1976 with honours in mechanical engineering and went to work for Vinto Engineering Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta. He moved to Vancouver, BC, in 1980 and became branch manager for Vinto Engineering in 1985. Later in 1985, in partnership with Mr. Len Heerema, we bought the local practice of Vinto Engineering and formed VEL Engineering, which became Cobalt Engineering LLP in 2005 and Integral Group in 2013. Throughout his 45 year career he has specialized in building services design, which involves plumbing, HVAC, and fire protection for all types of buildings.
He is the former chair of the Consulting Practice Committee and a current member of the Practice Review Committee for the Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia. He is also the former chair of the Standing Committees on Energy Efficiency in Buildings for the National Research Council Canada and Building and Plumbing Services for the National Research Council.
Senior Associate, Buildings Engineering – Electrical, Stantec Consulting
Dejan is an electrical engineer with over 40 years of experience in design and project engineering, construction administration and project management, gained mostly as a consulting engineer on a number of projects in the field of buildings and infrastructure services. He has managed, in Canada and abroad, projects of various complexities and sizes, including institutional, commercial, and industrial buildings, and has coordinated different engineering disciplines. Over the course of his career, Dejan has been registered with engineering associations in the United Kingdom (IEE), Zimbabwe (ZIE/ZACE) and Yugoslavia/Serbia (SMEITS). He specializes in power system distribution for institutional and commercial buildings, and leads the power engineering group for Buildings in Stantec's Vancouver office.
Certified Professional Program Manager
Teresa Coady is a Canadian architect and the former president and founding partner of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based architecture firm B+H BuntingCoady (now part of B+H Architects). She is a member of the Canadian Chapter of the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment and a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Advisory Board. She is the author of Rebuilding Earth: Designing Ecoconscious Habitats for Humans.
Teresa Coady received her degree in Architecture in 1983 from the University of British Columbia. She is best known for her architectural work in the area of sustainability and energy-efficient design. Coady completed 2 years of engineering and received a bachelor of fine arts prior to pursuing a master's degree in architecture.
Allison DenToom, P.Eng., PE
Practice Advisor, Professional Practice, Standards & Development
As a Practice Advisor with Engineers and Geoscientists BC, Allison is responsible for managing the development of professional practice guidelines and practice advisories for a variety of different areas of practice, providing practice advice services, as well as liaising with industry stakeholders and supporting a number of advisory and working groups for the development of professional practice guidance.
Allison is a registered professional engineer with experience in the structural design of buildings. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from McGill University. Prior to joining Engineers and Geoscientists BC, Allison worked as a project engineer designing a variety of buildings from high-end custom homes to recreation centres to mid-rise concrete towers. The majority of her experience is on the design and project management of custom high-end homes and estates.
