The Hive: Government of Canada supports groundbreaking Mass Timber Building
July 5, 2023
July 5th, 2023: Taleeb Noormohamed, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced a $3.5-million contribution to the construction of The Hive (2150 Keith Drive), an innovative hybrid mass timber commercial office building in Vancouver’s False Creek Flats neighbourhood. The contribution will be made through the Green Construction Through Wood (GCWood) Program that supports projects and activities that increase the use of wood as a low-carbon construction material in infrastructure projects.
Featuring a unique honeycomb-shaped exterior, The Hive will be 10 storeys tall and over 15,000 m2. It will be constructed with advanced mass timber systems using prefabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels and glue-laminated (glulam) timber columns, braces and beams. Due to its wooden braced-frame system on the exterior, the design eliminates the need for an interior concrete core, thereby reducing its environmental impact. The replicable shape of its exoskeleton design also makes it ideal for more sustainable, cost-efficient and green construction.
The building is the tallest braced-frame mass timber project or building in North America and will employ an innovative seismic resistance system. The project design includes Tectonus devices (seismic dampers and connections for maximum earthquake resilience) at each of the braced frame members and within the CLT shearwalls. Furthermore, the building is targeting a minimum LEED Gold certification with construction expected to be complete in 2025.
The project is also supported by the province of British Columbia through the NetZero Energy Ready Program and a $500,000 contribution from the Mass Timber Demonstration Program (MDTP).
The announcement was made in Fast + Epp’s R&D hub, Concept Lab and was attended by the design and construction teams involved in the project: DIALOG Design, Ventana Construction, Kalesnikoff and George Third & Son. Arran Stephens, Co-Founder of Nature’s Path, the anchor tenant and representatives from Bentall Green Oak, the project owner, were also present.
L to R: Robert Jackson, Partner, Fast + Epp; Arran Stephens, Co-Founder, Nature’s Path; Taleeb Noormohamed, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville; Rick Moffat, HKA and Martin Nielsen, Partner, DIALOG
