Month: February 2025

Celebrating International Day of Forests

Posted on by Stacey

On this International Day of Forests, we at Cornerstone Timberframes take a moment to honour the vital role that forests play in our world. They are not just a source of beauty; they are essential to our planet’s health. Forests provide habitat for countless species, help mitigate climate change, and are a source of sustainable materials that we rely on in our construction practices.

As a company deeply rooted in the timber industry, we recognize the responsibility that comes with utilizing forest resources. Our commitment to sustainability drives every aspect of our work, ensuring that we protect and nurture the forests we depend on. Here’s how we contribute to sustainable and earth-friendly practices:

1. Sustainable Sourcing and FSC Certification: We prioritize sourcing timber from responsibly managed forests, with a strong commitment to sustainability validated by our FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. FSC certification ensures that our materials come from forests that are managed according to rigorous environmental and social standards, supporting both the ecosystem and local communities.

2. Efficient Use of Resources: Our timber framing techniques are designed to minimize waste. By maximizing every piece of timber and creatively utilizing by-products, we reduce our environmental impact and make the most of our materials.

3. Carbon Sequestration: Wood is a remarkable material that naturally sequesters carbon, helping to offset greenhouse gas emissions. By choosing timber construction, we contribute to the fight against climate change, creating structures that not only shelter but also enhance the environment.

4. Innovative Practices: We invest in cutting-edge technologies that promote efficiency and sustainability in our production processes. From using CNC machines for precise cuts to adopting eco-friendly finishing techniques, including low VOC stain, our approach is anchored in innovation that supports a greener future.

As we celebrate International Day of Forests, we invite you to join us in reflecting on the importance of our forests and our collective role in protecting them. Together, we can build a sustainable future that honours the natural world.

At Cornerstone Timberframes, we are dedicated to leading the way in environmentally friendly construction, ensuring that our buildings are beautiful and beneficial for the planet.

Here’s to our forests – may we protect and cherish them for years to come!

Engineering Week: Celebrating Our Collaboration with Engineers

Posted on by Gary Snider

At Cornerstone, we take pride in working with remarkable engineers who not only understand timber’s advantages as a building material but also bring attentiveness, creativity, and exceptional analytical clarity to their work.

Over the decades, our relationship with engineers has evolved into a more proactive and collaborative partnership. In the past, we would simply submit final shop drawings for structural review. Now, we engage engineers early in the design process, exploring innovative solutions that excel in function, finance, and aesthetics.

In engineering, as in other professions, standards of professional responsibility provide an important ethical baseline. However, they seldom address the real-world concerns that matter most to clients, such as quick turnaround on questions, openness to collaboration, alternative solutions, reasonable fees, and excellent personal rapport. These qualities are driven by the people and the workplace culture of individual firms.

Three engineering firms exemplify this new approach to collaboration. I’ve changed their names not to avoid giving them credit, but to encourage all engineers to continue striving for a more collaborative, client-centred practice.

Clarity Engineering – This multi-office firm provides engineering solutions across various sectors, including transportation, buildings, and water treatment. We appreciate their thoroughness and highly detailed proposals that are clear and comprehensive. They are champions of value engineering and readily offer studies of alternative solutions.

Grand Engineers – This international engineering firm specializes in mass timber and has established itself as a leader in large, high-profile projects. When project complexity rises, they deliver exceptional solutions that allow architects to utilize intricate geometries, massive cantilevers, and striking curves. They remain at the forefront of monumental wood design.

Boutique Engineering – With a single office and seven engineers, they stand out with remarkably fast responses that reflect a deep understanding of project priorities, constraints, and opportunities. Boutique excels in small and medium-sized projects, consistently maintaining high levels of service. While fees shouldn’t be the sole deciding factor, their great service and fair pricing make for a winning combination.

In the past, the engineering profession may have been perceived as a little distant and occasionally inflexible. These old stereotypes have been overturned thanks to a new generation of engineers who value collaboration and welcome alternative solutions. Cornerstone’s structural engineers appreciate wood and realize the vast potential that mass timber holds for safe, resilient, sustainable construction.

Join us this week to celebrate the contributions that engineers make to our lives and the built world we inhabit. Their innovative ideas and value-driven solutions are truly inspiring!

When Affordable Is Sustainable

Posted on by Gary Snider

Imagine a comfortable, attractive home that is well-designed and has features that greatly reduce the energy demand. It has a heating and ventilation system that is half the size and cost of a regular home. It has exceptionally clean indoor air. It can handle prolonged power outages and stand up to extreme weather. It is far less susceptible to loss from a wildfire or other calamity. In short, it’s as close to future-proof as one can imagine.

And the kicker – its price tag is what your neighbour just spent on their “custom home,” but yours will be completed in 1/3 of the time and will outperform the neighbour’s place in every measurable way. In 20 years, when you sell, your place will have appreciated at twice the rate of your neighbour’s, and if you invested your savings from low utility bills, you now have an impressive nest egg. Although you and your neighbour spent the same on your new homes, you are hundreds of thousands ahead simply by choosing the affordable/sustainable option.

Dozens of authors, scores of studies and thousands of built examples tell us how we can build better. So why are we not there yet? Sadly, the construction industry is the most dysfunctional, wasteful and unproductive sector of our economy, and it’s a system that stubbornly resists change. As homebuyers, we are disadvantaged because so few of us understand how poorly homes are built, and even fewer know that radically better ways exist. A better way, exemplified by companies like US-based Unity Homes, is steadily gaining traction, but you don’t turn a 10 trillion-dollar ship around in a day.

Image source: ThinkWood

To help move the rudder in the right direction, we need more:
1) Collaboration –Affordability happens when trades, regulators, architects and suppliers work together, removing waste and creating efficiency. Silos of power and control are roadblocks to the future we need.
2) Building off-site – Manufacturing is a big part of the answer. Prefabrication provides better quality, reduced costs and shorter timelines.
3) Demands for efficiency – higher efficiency requirements support the building of homes with the lowest lifetime cost of ownership. Affordability is the purchase price plus all the utility and upkeep bills for as long as you live in your home.
4) Innovation & Automation – Building science and advanced manufacturing equipment combined with new ways of using natural materials to achieve more affordable, warmer, healthier homes.

If you’re interested in new and better ways of building, we’d love to hear from you. In 2026, Cornerstone will introduce an innovative yet straightforward wall system that will provide a beautiful option for architects, builders, and clients. It’s exciting to be on the leading edge of change, and maybe a little nerve-racking too. But this is how change starts.

Would you like to dig deeper? Here are a few books on the housing crisis and the role
for cities, policymakers, and you and me on how to resolve it.

  • Our Crumbling Foundation, Gregor Craigie, 2024, Random House Canada
  • Escaping the Housing Trap, Chuck Mahron, Daniel Herriges, 2024, Wiley
    Home Truths, Carolyn Whitzman, 2024, UBC Press
  • You’ll Pay for This!, Michel Durand-Wood, 2025, Great Plains
Image source: Elemental Green