Business View Magazine | January 2021

49 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021 ELEMENT5 Building with mass timber gives complete flexibility for architects to be creative with the design –imposing few limitations. The industry calls it mass customization. Essentially, most of the buildings are made with a post and beam structure. Glulam columns that support the roof, and glulam beams that support the massive CLT floor slabs. But there are mass customization options to make the building smaller, bigger, add floors, add wings… it’s like a Lego set. Element5 provides the core components and the architect creates the design. Environmental sustainability is the motivation fuelling the Element5 team and they take great pride in offering an alternative building methodology using sustainable materials. “With mass timber, we’re leveraging our forests’ natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide,” says Chouinard. “And forests produce the oxygen we breathe. The remaining carbon is stored in ever-increasing amounts of wood. We’re in the midst of this construction revolution, where buildings are being constructed offsite, and it has the potential to dramatically change the whole industry. Ideally, we want to convince more owners, architects, engineers, and general contractors to get on board with this because, collectively, we can make huge contributions to communities and the environment.” Right now, there are more mass timber buildings being designed and constructed in Canada than the U.S. but Chouinard predicts that will change in the next two years. He shares, “We see a tremendous opportunity for us, particularly into the central U.S and the eastern seaboard. We honestly believe that people will buy from us not because of what we do but why we do it. So we hand-pick the people on our team who share the same passion for making a positive contribution to the environment and communities – we’re changing the world for the better. We hope you’ll join us in the revolution!”