Business View Magazine | September 2022

80 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 9 to approach each project as a clean slate, which came with some challenges. Chouinard acknowledges, “Most of the projects we won were designed as either concrete or steel buildings because that’s what the industry knows how to design and develop. We’d then get the question, how much would this building be if it was in mass timber and end up investing a tremendous amount of time and energy handholding those buildings from early stage design through to manufacturing. We decided instead of continuing with custom-only projects, we would develop an affordable housing solution called the Attainable Series. These are pre- engineered, predesigned building typologies targeting the middle-market, which lies at the epicenter of the affordable housing crisis. Because we can build the Attainable Series competitively, maybe we have created part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis.” Element5’s future looks nothing but rosy, at least from where Chouinard sits. With hundreds of mass timber projects underway in Canada and the United States, mass timber is no longer a theoretical concept but a tsunami gaining momentum. “If you look at Europe, mass timber is a major part of their construction industry, putting them maybe 30 years ahead of us,” says Chouinard. “Considering that the North American market is much larger than the European one, it’s a massive opportunity for anyone in the mass timber industry right now. For Element5, our geographical location in Ontario gives us access to the Central U.S. and the Eastern Seaboard, while in Canada, we are perfectly situated to access the vast forestry resources in the region. Element5 is currently the only mass timber manufacturer in the province, creating a great business opportunity, as we could not be any better situated for the unfolding mass timber revolution than where we are right now.” PREFERRED VENDORS/PARTNERS n Synergy Resources www.synergyresources.net Synergy brings together a collaborative team of experts, best-in-class ERP solutions, a world-class partner group, and proven best practices to create tailored solutions that provide manufacturing and distribution companies with a dynamic advantage now and in the future. Along the way, our clients gain powerful perspectives on their business processes and get solid answers every time from a team that is 100% committed to impact. n Infor Canada Ltd. www.infor.com Infor is a global leader in business cloud software products for companies in industry specific markets. Infor builds complete industry suites in the cloud and efficiently deploys technology that puts the user experience first, leverages data science, and integrates easily into existing systems. n Almac Industrial Systems www.almac.com