25-storey Main Street mass timber rental tower approved by Vancouver City Council

25-storey Main Street mass timber rental housing tower approved by Vancouver City Council

Artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver, as part of the Main Alley tech campus. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

Mass-timber construction for residential tower uses will be pushed to new limits in British Columbia, following Vancouver City Council’s approval last week of a 260 ft, 25-storey tower project.

This represents an upcoming phase of Westbank’s Main Alley tech campus and the first residential addition to an otherwise job-space-focused complex of buildings.

The tower, named “Prototype” or M5, a reference to this project being a taller mass timber case study and the fifth building at Main Alley, will replace the surface vehicle parking lot at 2015 Main Street — the northwest corner of the intersection of Main Street and East 4th Avenue on the easternmost edge of the Mount Pleasant Industrial Area.

The development site is within close walking distance to SkyTrain’s future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr and Mount Pleasant stations.

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This tower will carry 100% secured purpose-built rental housing for its residential uses on top of nearly 6,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level.

Like other taller mass timber buildings currently being built in Vancouver, this design uses cross-laminated timber (CLT) components that are pre-fabricated off-site before being delivered for assembly and installation.

This project is also made visually distinct with its mass timber checkerboard facade.

2015 main street vancouver westbank m5 prototype mass timber

Artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver, as part of the Main Alley tech campus. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

For seismic and fire safety considerations, taller buildings built out of mass timber have a concrete core, which also serves to conceal the elevator and staircase wells, and Prototype/M5 is no exception to this design.

But during the public hearing, the proponents told City Council they were ready to completely drop the mass timber design and revise their project into a conventional concrete tower if they were to be forced to follow City staff’s direction by incorporating traditional private balconies for every unit.

Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects made a plea to City Council asking for an exemption from the balcony requirement, asserting that providing private balconies would compromise the design of the building due to water leakage risk into the CLT floor slabs and the significant costs. If private balconies were to be achieved, they would be steel balcony structures bolted onto the building’s exterior.

“The reason is there are significant risks of moisture getting into the CLT floor slabs. All of our buildings over the years have an issue with water penetration and leakage. CLT floor slabs are very vulnerable to moisture. The amount of money and extra money that is going to bolting on steel balconies is exceptionally scary. We believe projecting steel balconies will not only be damaging to the project’s financial survival but also dangerous in terms of liability,” said Henriquez during the public hearing, noting that they have been working with City staff on this proposal for the past four years.

“I’m not willing to take liability the rest of my life with this building with balconies. If it is not approved with private balcony removals, this will become a concrete building.”

Instead of private balconies for every unit, as a compromise to meet the intent of providing outdoor living space, the proponents are providing a north-facing communal balcony on every third floor for a total of eight communal balconies. This is in addition to a significant indoor/outdoor amenity space on the entirety of the tower rooftop.

As well, each unit will be provided with Juliet balconies, for a total of 598 Juliet balconies in the building.

Artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver, as part of the Main Alley tech campus. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

Doug Smith, the acting chief planner for the City of Vancouver, suggested to City Council that if a balcony exception is provided to this project, it could set a precedent for future mass timber buildings.

“Staff do not agree with the assertion that mass timber cannot deliver balconies. If Council amends the condition to remove the requirement, it’d be unlikely we’d get balconies in future mass timber buildings. It sets precedent,” said Smith.

“Staff would not recommend Council change policy to enable just one project as much as this project is innovative and interesting.”

City Council approved the requested balcony exception amendment by ABC councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung. She raised concerns that the architect would not want to put their name on this mass timber project with traditional balconies as the technology is unproven and noted that while there is significant interest in mass timber construction, not many projects are crossing the line towards construction.

Green councillor Adriane Carr invoked the memory of BC’s leaky condo crisis from the 1990s due to poor construction methodologies for building facades. She suggested this project-specific exemption will not set a negative precedent, as balconies are generally seen as desirable marketable features for developers.

“I will remind everybody of the leaky condo crisis within the city, where it seemed fine at the time, but look at the impact. It was hugely horrendous, and we didn’t know at the time that architectural design and style of building would lead to that kind of problem. We’re a city of rain, and we’ll probably see more rain in the future because of climate change,” said Carr.

“I’m willing to take the risk of that knowing and believing that developers will not use this as an excuse to give up open space for the benefit of the families and people who live in the buildings or give up balconies entirely because they tend to be something that’s desirable in the marketplace.”

Artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver, as part of the Main Alley tech campus. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

ABC councillor Lenny Zhou asserted whether private balconies are included in a project design should be left up to the free market and customers to decide similar to abolishing minimum vehicle parking standards, not municipal regulations.

“The less regulation governments get involved with, like this, the better. We have to understand the diverse housing needs across the city, and I’m pretty sure in this city we can easily find 200 families in this city who are okay with living in a condo without a balcony,” said Zhou.

ABC councillor Mike Klassen says the balcony exception is only being provided as this is both a mass timber building and a project that provides a significant number of rental homes.

“We’re not doing this for your average concrete tower,” said Klassen. “This is really in recognition of getting this project moving.”

In total, there will be 210 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 168 market units and 42 below-market units. The overall unit size mix is 53 studios, 84 one-bedroom units, 53 two-bedroom units, and 20 three-bedroom units.

There will be zero vehicle parking spaces — except for loading, visitor, and accessible parking spaces — but over 340 secured bike parking spaces. The total building floor area will reach roughly 162,000 sq ft.

The tower’s height does not appear to be limited by mass timber construction, but rather the artificial ceiling of the height restriction imposed by the protected mountain View Cone 3 emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park.

2015 main street vancouver main alley prototype m5

Site of Prototype/M5 within the Main Alley tech campus at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

Existing condition of 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

Artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver, as part of the Main Alley tech campus. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

The developer previously indicated they are interested in redeveloping Main Alley’s first building of M1, which currently has WeWork as its anchor tenant. The 1947-built, 55,000 sq ft, two-storey building, previously used as the RBC Visa Centre, was extensively renovated in 2019 prior to its current uses as office space.

Westbank has indicated it will seek to redevelop M1 in a future separate rezoning application into a 22-storey building — named M6 — with a three-storey base podium containing retail/restaurant uses and a fitness gym and residential uses in the tower above.

The 175,000 sq ft M2 office building reached completion in 2022, and M5, currently under construction, will reach completion in 2025, which will include a 110,000 sq ft new animation and visual effects studio for Animal Logic.

October 2022 concept for Prototype/M5 (left) and the future M6 phase (right) of Main Alley at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects)

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