The Toronto Region Conservation Authority’s (TRCA) new head office is an 85,000 sq.ft., 4-storey mass timber post-and-beam administrative office building. Serving as both an administrative centre and a learning hub, the facility offers a highly flexible and collaborative work environment, featuring open workspaces, private offices, meeting rooms, and adaptable areas with movable partition walls.
The design of the headquarters utilizes Passive House principles and supports both the physical and psychological health of its occupants. Material choices include sustainable and low-emission materials (like the mass timber), which also have positive biophilic elements.
Project Details
- Mass timber construction emphasizes natural, low-carbon materials
- Open-loop geothermal heating and cooling
- Solar chimneys and dynamic daylighting
- Integrated systems for optimized indoor environmental quality
Apart from supplying the cross-laminated mass timber (CLT) floors and walls, Glulam beams, columns and braces, Element5 was integral to the value-engineering process for this project, including the proposal of a cost-effective prefabricated exterior envelope, helping drive the design development forward.
The project was a challenge to put up, as the building is not made of traditional right angles – instead it has a lot of unique geometries, making it a much more complicated building than others of similar square footage. It also means that every corner is different and unique.
The building is intended to be one of the most energy-efficient office buildings in North America, and has achieved LEED Platinum v4 certification. The project received funding through NRCan’s Green Construction Through Wood (GCWood) program, which aims to encourage greater use of wood in construction projects.
Awards Won
- 2025 Canadian Green Building Award (Commercial industrial large category)
- 2023 Ontario Embodied Carbon Award
Press Coverage
- Architectural Record, Feb 2025 – Bucholz McEvoy and ZAS Create a Mass-Timber Showcase for a Toronto Environmental Agency
