Mass timber buildings are in the headlines but despite the movement’s positives of high-performance, sustainability, low-embodied energy and esthetics, the “knowledge gap” in the building industry is stunting the sector’s potential growth.

Architects Dorothy Johns and Yash Vyas have been researching how big that gap is and what can be done to close it.

The pair, who are conducting PhD research at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) into the hygrothermal performance and durability of mass timber, have collected 90 responses to a Canadian construction industry survey on the subject with some surprising results.

From the survey’s 11 questions on the perceived barriers and benefits primarily to using cross-laminated timber (CLT), less than 10 per cent of the respondents indicated they had “significant experience” or familiarity with CLT and only 58 per cent were aware of the product, Vyas told a seminar audience at the 16th Canadian Conference on Building Science and Technology (CCBST).