Mass timber hangar planned for Kelowna airport

KELOWNA, B.C. — The first-ever mass timber aircraft hanger has been announced for the Kelowna International Airport.

Federal officials announced they would be contributing $800,000 to KF Aerospace to build a multi-use airport hangar.

The two-storey structure will be the first of its kind in Canada, using state-of-the-art floor and tall wall wood-based systems to accommodate the large spacing between columns — a typical design element for a hangar but not yet done using mass timber building systems.

Once built, the hangar will house an aviation museum and a conference centre. The total carbon benefits realized from the use of mass timber for this construction are an estimated 1,753 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The project’s funding is being delivered through Natural Resources Canada’s Green Construction through Wood Program, which aims to advance the use of wood in non-traditional construction projects like low-rise non-residential buildings, tall wood buildings and bridges. The program positions Canada as a world leader in innovative wood construction technologies and the low-carbon economy.

“Wood is being used more and more in building bigger and taller buildings, and we’re leading the world at it,” said Seamus O’Regan Jr., federal minister of natural resources, in a statement. “Creating new markets for Canadian timber supports our forestry workers, creates jobs and gets us to net zero.”