Premier David Eby Directs $120 Million for BC Mass Timber Prefabrication and Modular Housing Plants

VANCOUVER — British Columbia Premier David Eby and Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey announced on Monday the distribution of $120 million in provincial capital grants through the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund (BCMJF) to finance the expansion and tooling of four commercial-scale Mass Timber, Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), and Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam) prefabrication manufacturing facilities in the Kootenays, Okanagan, and Prince George.

The funding equips domestic timber manufacturing plants with computerized 5-axis CNC robotic joinery gantries and high-pressure hydraulic presses capable of manufacturing precision-engineered modular timber floor and wall assemblies for 18-story mass timber residential towers authorized under the BC Building Code.

Transforming BC Forestry into High-Value Modular Homebuilding Traditional forestry sawmills faced cyclical export tariff pressures from raw log shipments. Processing timber into high-value engineered mass timber panels creates up to seven times more domestic manufacturing jobs per tree harvested while locking sequestered carbon into urban buildings.

"British Columbia has the finest sustainable wood in the world, and we should be using it to build beautiful, affordable, low-carbon homes for British Columbians right here at home," Premier David Eby said at a mass timber fabrication plant in Castlegar. "Instead of shipping raw logs overseas, this $120 million investment equips our domestic timber mills with cutting-edge robotic machinery to build prefabricated modular homes, supporting sustainable forestry jobs in our rural communities and speeding up home construction across B.C."

Manufacturing Plant Expansions Funded Key factory allocations include:

• Kalesnikoff Mass Timber Facility (Castlegar): $40 million to double automated CLT and glulam production capacity for multi-family residential housing.
• Structurlam Modular Housing Plant (Penticton): $35 million for robotic wall panel assembly lines.
• Prince George Mass Timber Center: $25 million for finger-jointed stud and structural beam manufacturing.
• First Nations Mass Timber Partnership (Terrace): $20 million in joint equity partnership with the Kitselas First Nation for value-added lumber fabrication.

Forestry union leaders, modular architects, and construction associations commended the provincial investment, highlighting that domestic mass timber fabrication cuts building construction timelines by months while sustaining rural forestry employment.