The Local Government Offsite Housing Accelerator is collaborating with leaders across British Columbia to create secure manufacturing jobs and advance meaningful solutions to our housing and climate crises.
Delivering on Top Priorities for British Columbia
With supportive public and private sector practice, constructing wood frame and mass timber buildings in manufacturing plants can deliver on multiple local and provincial priorities.
Affordability & Housing Supply
- Drive step changes in construction speed and total annual housing completions, delivering big construction cost savings.
- Increase market and non-market housing supply and offsite construction demand with strategic land use.
Climate
Action
- Meet near zero energy new construction targets, local and provincial Energy Step Code commitments.
- Reduce embodied carbon in new buildings by avoiding construction waste and displacing concrete in large buildings with mass timber.
Economic Development
- Offset US market losses by increasing domestic demand for mass timber construction.
- Create secure jobs in small towns, Indigenous communities, and big cities.
- Create more local economic value with lower forestry harvest volumes.
Offsite Wood Construction - How Does it Work?
In forest-based communities, small towns, and big cities, B.C. is home to some of North America’s most innovative offsite building manufacturers. While these industries are well-positioned to deliver, they face multiple barriers.
1. Offsite Manufacturing
Panels, trusses, and modules are manufactured in a factory environment that supports labour productivity and quality and cost control, avoiding waste, and improving efficiency and performance.
Foundation construction happens simultaneously, increasing time savings.
2. Onsite Assembly
Prefabricated components are transported to the construction site on flat deck trucks, where they are craned into place, assembled and finished by a small crew, minimizing local disruption and dramatically reducing construction time.
Solving Big Provincial and Local Problems: How We Work
Engagement and Education
Delivering inspiring and educational face-to-face and digital events.
Capacity Building
The Accelerator will be developing guides and resources to support offsite construction.
The Offsite Accelerator is collaborating with leaders to solve the biggest local barriers and steadily grow demand for offsite construction to grow manufacturing capacity:
- Increase affordable housing and housing supply
- Support permitting efficiencies that reduce local government and construction costs
- Create manufacturing jobs in small towns, Indigenous communities and big cities
- Help deliver on near zero energy construction requirements industry-wide
- Support economic and social reconciliation.
We’re convening players from diverse sectors with important insights to better understand and advance meaningful local solutions:
- Local and provincial government decision makers
- Panel, modular, truss and mass timber manufacturers
- Builders, developers, and design professionals
- Non-market housing providers
- Forest products industry
- Post-secondary education and training institutions
Strategic Power Players: Why Local Government Matters
Current housing policy and practice is designed to facilitate traditional, onsite construction, inadvertently increasing cost, time and risk for offsite construction.
Innovations are necessary at every level of government and by the private sector to deliver the benefits of offsite construction.
Local governments have unique authority and influence that can reduce cost, construction time and risk for builders, developers, and manufacturers, specifically:
Permitting optimization
Land use innovation
Construction sector collaboration
Providing builders and developers with practical guidance on integrating offsite construction into their operations.
Economic transformation
Project News and Resources
Next Event
Future events will be posted here.
Updates
Future resources will be posted here.
Partners and Delivery
The Local Government Offsite Housing Accelerator is being delivered by ZEIC, an external consulting team led by Alex Boston, and in collaboration with BC Indigenous Housing Society. The Real Estate Foundation of BC and ZEIC have provided catalytic support for the project’s start up.
Local Government Offsite Housing Accelerator Team
