Element5, a St. Thomas-based producer of mass timber products, has completed a $107-million expansion of its manufacturing facility, which will double its production capacity and add 150 jobs to the workforce.
Announced Sept. 17, the project includes the addition of a new, state-of-the-art glue-laminated timber (glulam) production line; a new, 57,000-square-foot building to house a lumber sorting line; and a two-storey, 18,000-square-foot office featuring cross-laminated timber (CLT) produced by the company.
This brings the complex’s footprint to more than 350,000 square feet, and doubles its production capacity to 100,000 cubic metres annually of CLT and glulam products.
It will also necessitate a growth in the workforce, creating 150 new jobs and bringing its total number of employees to 325.
The Ontario government provided $8 million from the Invest Ontario Fund toward the project. That’s in addition to $3.46 million the province contributed in 2024.
It’s also being supported by its parent company, the Hasslacher group in Austria.
“This expansion represents a bold step forward for Element5, our partners, and the mass timber industry in Canada,” Chris Latour, president of Element5, said in a news release.
“We are proud to provide innovative, sustainable building solutions that help address Canada’s urgent need for affordable, climate-friendly housing and infrastructure. With our expanded operations, we are even better positioned to support communities across Ontario and North America.”
Glulam and CLT are both engineered wood products, comprising layers of lumber glued together with adhesive to create strong building materials. Glulam is used for large beams and columns, while CLT is used for floors, roofs and walls.
The company said the expansion marks a significant milestone since its founding in 2020 with just 15 employees.
At that time, while based in Ripon, Que., Element5 partnered with White River Forest Products to create a stable supply chain to feed the factory.
In addition to producing glulam and CLT, Element5 designs, fabricates, and assembles mass timber buildings, completing more than 300 to date, including luxury condos and arts centres, offices and firehalls, Indigenous community projects, and more.
It’s also completed 10 affordable housing projects, with another 10 currently under construction or in development.
The province said the Element5 expansion will not only strengthen the domestic supply chain for forestry products, but also meet rising demand for sustainable building materials and modular homes.
It aligns with its recently released Advanced Wood Construction Action Plan, which aims to promote the use of wood in more construction projects in Ontario.
“Ontario’s forestry and wood manufacturing sectors support tens of thousands of jobs across the province,” Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation, and trade, said in the release.
“As our government delivers on our plan to protect Ontario, Element5’s expansion will create over 100 new jobs and bolster the province’s wood manufacturing supply chain, increasing the forestry sector’s competitiveness and unlocking new opportunities for workers, builders and homeowners.”
