Tuesday, November 22, 2016 | By Lindsay Cashin
The UBC CSCE Student Chapter recently organized a tour to the office of StructureCraft, a construction company that engineers and builds with timber, in Delta, BC. The visit included a presentation as well as tour of StructureCraft’s in-house fabrication shop.
Justin Brown, a past member of the Chapter and now structural engineer at StructureCraft, headed the tour. The presentation covered high profile projects that StructureCraft has undertaken and successfully completed. Justin went over the design and construction of the T3 building in Minneapolis, introducing many of the attendees to novel wood construction techniques that StructureCraft has pioneered. Using these techniques, the project was able to save substantial cost while also optimizing the build process.
The shop tour allowed the students to see the practical side of the structural engineering business, and the interface between design and construction. Most of the wood products that the students learn about in their courses were on display at the shop. The group was introduced to the concept of modular construction, where much of the structure is assembled in the shop itself and shipped out to site, saving a significant amount of time and requiring much less labour. The visit to StructureCraft was one of a series of events organized by the UBC CSCE Student Chapter, as part of the organization’s mandate to support student learning and involvement in the engineering community.
Story and photos contributed by Royston D’souza, UBC CSCE Event Coordinator