March 1, 2024
Episode Summary
In this episode, Anne has a conversation with Jean-Marc Dubois, the Director of Business Development at Nordic in the United States. We delve into the significance of a business perspective within the mass timber sector. Jean-Marc shares insights from his unique vantage point at Nordic, shedding light on the company’s distinctive stance in the mass timber industry and the demand for value-added products. The discussion spans topics such as innovation in mass timber design and engineering, considerations of sustainability and wood sourcing. Jean-Marc also explores the potential advantages of mass timber for rural and Indigenous communities, examining both the opportunities and challenges in mass timber construction, particularly its viability for mid-rise housing. I trust you’ll find this episode insightful and enjoyable.
In This Episode
Jean-Marc is the Director of Business Development for Nordic Structures, the building systems division of Canadian lumber manufacturer Chantiers Chibougamau. His career spans 44 years in the building products industry with regional, national and international corporations, focusing on value-added, engineered wood and Mass Timber products. Jean-Marc’s penchant for delivering customer solutions through value engineering and process optimization led him to join the structures division of Nordic Structures, collaborating with clients, architects, engineers, designers and builders to provide sustainable built Mass Timber solutions across North America.
Jean-Marc is passionate advocate for sustainability, serving on a number of industry councils; he is a founding member of Timber Edge, an advocacy group dedicated to increasing urban Mass Timber utilization, was a founding board member of the International Mass Timber Alliance, and also serves on the American Wood Council’s Green Building Committee and APA: the Engineered Wood Association’s MAC Committee. He has been a keynote speaker at Holzbau and Woodrise Congress, and a guest lecturer at universities as well as architectural, engineering, and sustainability conferences across North America, Scandinavia and Japan
Jean-Marc
“We became a development company, became our own GC, we became our own erector – it was the nascence of the vision that Nordic is today…if we’re going to be promoting a product, we have to be able to offer a service that’s beyond the tradition”
“When you build a boutique project, that’s great, but the promise of mass timber is also its replication and its ability to standardize construction”
“We started working with the Cree community to bring a sawmill back that was going to be in their community”
Connect with Jean-Marc
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- Alan Organschi – Carbon Positive City : https://www.hewv.com/knowledge/vdm-recap-alan-organschi/82
- Larch Lab: Mike Eliason: https://www.larchlab.com/author/15kwhm2a/
Land Acknowledgement
We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.