Ontario Launches Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan
June 26, 2025
Province protecting forestry jobs and building homes and buildings faster by promoting the use of advanced wood construction
KITCHENER — The Ontario government has released the Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan to increase the manufacturing and use of high-quality made-in-Ontario wood building products. To support the government’s plan to protect Ontario, the use of prefabricated and modular wood-based building materials, known as advanced wood construction, will help build more homes faster and create a more resilient forestry sector in response to U.S. tariffs by attracting investment, increasing revenues and providing economic opportunities that create and sustain local jobs.
“As our government delivers on its plan to protect and build Ontario, this action plan will help promote and prioritize wood-based building with made-in-Ontario wood construction products,” said Mike Harris, Minister of Natural Resources. “Advanced wood construction is a new opportunity that can help get more homes built faster and build a stronger, more competitive forest sector that can withstand whatever comes our way.”
Locally made mass timber and wood construction can be used to build modular and prefabricated buildings, including mid-rise and tall multi-family homes and a wide variety of commercial and industrial buildings. Advanced wood construction can complete projects up to 50 per cent faster and cut costs by up to 20 per cent, making it essential to achieving the government’s goal of building more homes.
The Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan focuses on four objectives:
- Support initiatives that create awareness and encourage the use advanced wood construction
- Identify and remove barriers in codes, standards and regulations for the use of advanced wood construction
- Stimulate innovation and investment in advanced manufacturing facilities to grow Ontario’s advanced wood construction sector
- Demonstrate and display examples of advanced wood construction to instill confidence in adopting new Ontario wood building products
“We’re harnessing forest sector innovation to enhance how we build our homes, businesses and communities,” said Kevin Holland, Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products. “Our government recognizes the potential of advanced wood construction – and our action plan is bringing its benefits to Ontario.”
To date, Ontario has committed over $13 million to enhance the province’s advanced wood construction capacity, including:
- Over $8 million to establish and scale up production at Element5: Ontario’s first state-of-the-art, fully-automated manufacturer of cross-laminated timber
- Close to $3M for wood-based construction education, research and training led by organizations such as the Canadian Wood Council and Canadian Wood Construction Research Network, to support building with wood
- Over $1.5 million towards the construction of educational buildings incorporating mass timber at George Brown College and the University of Toronto
- Over $750,000 to support FPInnovations’ research and testing of wood-based construction materials and development of technical resources
- Over $300,000 to help the University of Toronto’s Mass Timber Institute develop ways to use more underused wood for advanced wood construction and study modular housing deployment to maximize environmental and economic benefit
Releasing the Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan advances Ontario’s Forest Sector Strategy commitments to increase wood use, grow markets and encourage forest sector innovation. To learn more about the plan, visit: https://www.ontario.ca/page/advanced-wood-construction-action-plan
Quick Facts
- The Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan complements the government’s ongoing actions to increase wood-based building, including supporting building code amendments, developing technical resources and engaging with fire services, insurers and other key stakeholders to build acceptance of wooden construction.
- A draft of the Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan was posted to the Environmental Registry of Ontario for review and public comment in July 2024.
- The forest sector generated $21.6 billion in revenue from the sale of manufactured goods and services in 2023 and supported 128,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2024.