Tess van Straaten

WATCH: Vancouver Island’s first 12-storey mass timber building touted as faster, cheaper and more environmentally-friendly. But what about safety concerns? Tess van Straaten takes a look. Construction crews are hard at work on two new condo towers in Esquimalt —part of a major building boom in the township. “It’s quite exciting actually, with the number of projects that have come through and been approved,” says Esquimalt mayor Barb Desjardins. One of those projects is Vancouver Island’s first 12-storey mass-timber condo tower. The 83-unit Corvette Landing will be built along Admirals by the entrance to CFB Esquimalt. “Where you had two single family homes, we will have a 12-stories of units so there’s a significant boost to the municipal taxes,” Desjardins says. Projects like this, and the record-breaking 18-storey Brock Commons Tallwood House at UBC, are pushing wood buildings to new heights.