Europe’s Natural Building Movement Might Help Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis

Canada faces conflicting crises with the current severe housing shortage and a critical need to reduce emissions related to construction.

Bioregional construction is an emerging approach, successfully used in Europe, that could help with both. Bioregional construction uses locally sourced natural construction materials like wood, clay, and straw.

Could lessons from Europe’s implementation of bioregional construction help transform Canada's building industry?

For a closer look at the details, read Bioregional Construction: Do European Lessons Apply to Canada? by Denis Koshelev.

What Is Bioregional Construction?

Bioregional construction is simply building with materials that were sourced and processed within a region nearby the project. The objectives include:

• Reducing emissions from transporting materials long distances 

• Lowering embodied carbon

• Strengthening the local economies

• Building resilient supply chains

  
  

The philosophy specifically sets up construction activity within natural regions. By ignoring political boundaries, projects are more likely to cross provincial lines in Canada.

Natural Building Materials in Europe

European bioregional construction projects show how natural materials are both sustainable and effective. Examples from across Europe include:

• Germany and Austria prefabricate passive houses built of wood, clay and straw

• Spain's Vernacular House primarily constructed from local materials

• France reviving traditional techniques of clay-based building

• Passivhaus-certified prefabricated straw-panel homes in the UK

  
  

Canada’s First Steps to Follow Europe’s Lead

Canadian architect Ryan McClanaghan is currently researching European bioregional design. In British Columbia, McClanaghan created a demonstration wall-and-floor assembly using BC materials, like timber, cellulose, wood fibre, and earth. His prototype generated less embodied carbon than traditional steel-stud walls and improved thermal performance.

There’s growing Canadian interest as the University of Toronto's Daniels Faculty added bioregional approaches to the curriculum. Research networks emerge across the country as practitioners working with straw bales, hempcrete, and light-clay-straw construction connect from BC to Ontario. Plus, in Alberta, an Indigenous-owned company, Asinikahtamwak, manufactures hemp blocks in Elk Point.

Canada's bio-based construction sector is certainly poised for future growth.

Conclusion

Certainly, bioregional construction is no longer a European niche concept. It is well-suited to support solving the housing crisis in Canada because of our abundant natural materials. As Canadian expertise grows, the quest is no longer whether we can rely on natural construction elements, but how quickly we can integrate them into mainstream construction systems.