Lockdown pushed families into home-expansion panic mode, with parents forced to turn every forgotten corner into usable space: unfinished basements became makeshift offices, kids’ bedrooms became ad hoc dance studios and bathrooms became the only place to find a quiet escape for conference calls.

To the rescue came prefabricated construction, a practical, affordable and quick way for cramped residents to squeeze every last inch out of their square footage. It’s a speedy solution for maxed-out households looking to keep extended family close–but not too close.

A digital mastermind series profiling Toronto’s top city-building innovators and the stories behind the movements they built. Join us for the next episode of the How We Built This Toronto mastermind series and hear about Leith Moore’s ascent into one of Canada’s preeminent creators, developers and builders of innovative housing solutions involving wood construction and factory built panelized solutions. Leith’s story starts with deep roots in the traditional real estate industry with 30+ years of development experience and evolved into a mission to solve the missing middle conundrum. They said it couldn’t be done, but Leith continued to persevere. A story that we are very excited to share.

Ontario’s first six-storey mass timber residential rental building in Toronto is underway on Queen Street East. The largely prefabricated CLT structure will be assembled in less than six weeks, after the foundation has been completed. The mass timber design consists of a 20-foot-wide six-plex and a 40-foot 12-plex.

Every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. Thanks to investments made by the Government of Canada and a unique partnership with the United Church of Canada, up to 5,000 new affordable housing units will be built across the country over the next 15 years.

The announcement was held at 1598 Queen Street East in Toronto, the site of the first R-Hauz all-mass timber residential building in Toronto. The environmentally sustainable building represents UPRC’s commitment to fill the “missing middle” in housing across the country and advocate for progressive real estate models that are environmental and financially sustainable.

Posted with permission of the publisher of NRU Publishing Inc. Original article first appeared in Novae Res Urbis Toronto, Vol. 24, No. 33, Friday, August 21, 2020.

A growing trend in home use is rising from a tradition that was once just the way we lived: multi-generational housing.

Even before the pandemic’s world-changing effects, 20 per cent of Canadians were living in multi-generational housing, according to a Pew Research Center study. Canadian Census data indicates an increase of 37.5 per cent in multi-generational housing from 2001 to 2016, with the highest proportion – 17 per cent – in Toronto.

We were pleased to collaborate with Ryerson CBI and Urban Land Institute Toronto on this video featuring local city builders speaking to the challenge of housing affordability and options in Toronto. The aim was to provide a summary of current challenges, and some innovative solutions for multi-family, “Missing Middle” housing in residential neighbourhoods and along our avenues.

Business is not as usual – but we haven’t hit pause. Embracing this new state of being has allowed us to focus on perfecting our process, designs and creating content we hope you love…

Canadian architects and designers have also been realizing the potential of prefab construction beyond the scale of modular homes. Potentially, some of the most impactful work is in mid-rise, infill housing–the “missing middle” that is considered crucial for densifying Canada’s cities. Bringing mass timber into the mix–a natural fit, in that mass timber products are fabricated to spec–has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of the resulting buildings.