Episode 035 | Patrick Crabbe: Carbon is the Universal Language
“In this episode my guest is Patrick Crabbe. Patrick is the Director of Mass Timber at Bird Construction, North America’s first general contractor to dedicate full-time expertise, and a create a national centre of excellence, for sustainable mass timber construction.
“We have to start managing infrastructure from a starting point of carbon. Carbon is the universal language. Maybe we need to stop looking at chasing points in certain building accreditation programmes, and really starting to focus on what is the carbon impact of this decision?” Patrick Crabbe
I’ve come to know Patrick as one of Canada’s sustainable mass timber industry leaders , with a focus on mass timber’s potential to reduce and sequester carbon dioxide emissions. Patrick is not only hugely knowledgeable, but he is also one of the most passionate and energetic advocates for sustainable mass timber I have met.
Growing up in a wood manufacturing family, and then earning degrees in biology from St. Francis Xavier University, and then an Honours degree in Wood Products Processing from the University of British Columbia, Patrick brings a lifetime of experience and expertise to sustainable mass timber construction.
In his leadership role at Bird Construction, Patrick supports 18 districts across Canada with a focus on providing constructability input during the design and pre-construction and construction phases, as well as educating project teams, clients, and the public. He is an active member of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (led by the World Bank) and a trusted advisor to Infrastructure British Columbia and the Canadian Wood Council.
Our conversation ranges from a discussion of Patrick’s passion for wood and mass timber as a powerful tool to meet the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce embodied carbon in the construction industry, to the opportunities and challenges for mass timber market acceptance, to the advice he would give listeners, and of course, and to the two books that Patrick Recommends to listeners.
I hope you enjoy our conversation!”
About the TFCI Podcast
The Twenty First-Century Imperative podcast series was created to explore how we as a species will meet the critical challenges of Twenty-First Century Imperative – those being:
- How will we continue to live on our planet without destroying our biosphere?
- How will we repair and regenerate the environmental damage we have already caused?
- How will we adapt to the escalating impacts of climate change?
Craig interviews scientists, designers, planners, engineers, business entrepreneurs, politicians, and other successful change-makers, who are looking for and finding smart, effective ways to answer these three critical challenges.