New institute in Sudbury will focus on housing solutions

The McEwen School of Architecture in Sudbury is building an addition to its downtown property to help combat the housing crisis.

On Thursday, Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe announced $450,000 in federal money to help create the Institute for Northern Housing Innovation at the school of architecture.

The goal is to share knowledge and innovative solutions to address critical challenges in the region’s housing sector.

“The kind of weather that we have, what kind of material works best?” Lapointe said.

“What are some of the constriction approaches that would work really, really well? So, they will be developing those local solutions, and they will be sharing them with the government so that we can then develop programs that make a lot of sense for these regional areas.”

Steven Beites, founder of the institute, said the housing crisis has prompted the school to look at housing in the North through a much more affordable and sustainable lens.

New construction methods

“We want to work with industry both in terms of developing and adopting new construction methods and materials,” Beites said.

“We want to provide training not only to our students in terms of complexity when it comes to housing, but training in terms of professionals when we start looking at advanced manufacturing, robotics, embodied carbon.”

“The new technology is looking at using robotics and AI and other new innovations to speed up the way houses are built,” said Tammy Eger, Laurentian University’s vice-president of research.

“But also (using) materials that are sustainable and that can withstand the climate of northern Ontario.”

The Greater Sudbury Development Corp. and Desjardins also announced they are providing $150,000 each to help build the institute.

School officials said shovels will go into the ground this fall with a completion date sometime next summer.