Canada has no shortage of flatiron (iron) buildings, historical examples of which are scattered throughout the provinces from Toronto to Vancouver, Lacombe, Alberta and beyond.
Canada also enjoys its status as a hotbed of mass wood building, with Quebec serving as a kind of epicenter for this movement. However, these two things – the design of the flatiron building and the use of artificial wood products – have never been combined.
This could change with the Leaside Innovation Center (LIC), a six-story flatiron office building proposed for Toronto that will feature wood elements including glued laminated lumber (CLT) floor slabs, glued beams and columns. LIC is one of the first buildings in Toronto to take advantage of changes to the Ontario Building Code to allow heavy timber structures up to six stories high. Provided that planning permission is obtained this year, construction is scheduled to begin shortly thereafter on the development site at 154 Wicksteed Avenue in Leaside, an affluent area northeast of downtown Toronto. If this schedule is followed, settlement could begin in early 2024.