Taking in the downtown skyline and the soaring condo towers of Humber Bay Shores, the view from the sixth floor of the Hälsa 230 Royal York rental building would be familiar to most Torontonians. Less familiar are the materials used in its construction, in a city where glass and concrete towers dominate.
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Developed by Windmill Development Group and Leader Lane, Hälsa — a 60-unit nine-storey structure composed of glue-laminated timber columns — will become Ontario’s tallest prefabricated mass-timber residential building upon its scheduled completion in early 2026.
According to Vancouver-based Intelligent City, the company prefabricating Hälsa’s glue-laminated timber columns and beams, as well as its cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor and wall panels, the building cuts overall concrete consumption by roughly 75 percent compared to conventional construction methods by limiting its use to the foundation and central core.
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Built from multiple layers of wood, each about 100 to 120 millimetres thick, the CLT panels are pressed together to create a load-bearing material so dense that, in the event of a fire, only the outer surface would char while the inner layers remain intact and structurally sound. At the same time, Intelligent City reports, mass timber’s natural flexibility allows it to bend without failing during seismic activity, giving it earthquake resilience comparable to that of steel. Prefabricated in the company’s facility in Delta, B.C., the CLT components are robotically cut and assembled, then shipped to Toronto for installation.