This session explores two distinct but complementary perspectives on advancing the built environment in Canada. Tanya Bachmeier, CEO of Cornerstone Timberframes, shares the evolution of her company from a traditional residential timber framing business to a multifaceted manufacturer delivering both custom timber frame structures and commercial mass timber projects. Drawing on decades of industry experience, she discusses the challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned while adapting to changing markets and emerging wood construction technologies.
The session also features Rosaline Hill, Principal Architect and Senior Planner at RHJ Architecture + Planning, who introduces BuildingIN, an initiative developed to address Canada’s housing supply challenges. Drawing on extensive experience in infill housing design and planning, Rosaline examines the barriers that limit housing development in existing communities and presents strategies to support sustainable, community-supported growth. Together, these presentations highlight the importance of innovation, collaboration, and practical solutions in shaping the future of wood construction and housing development across Canada.
Tanya Bachmeier
PDG
Cornerstone Timberframes
Tanya Bachmeier, CEO of Cornerstone Timberframes, will share her insights on the evolution of the timber industry, drawing from over three decades of experience with one of Canada’s leading heavy timber structure manufacturers. Growing up in a family deeply rooted in construction, Tanya has been immersed in the craft from a young age. Her journey from working alongside her father and uncle in the business to leading Cornerstone Timberframes as its CEO is a testament to her dedication, vision, and passion for the industry.
In her speech, Tanya will explore how she and her partner have transformed Cornerstone into a multifaceted manufacturer, with a dual focus on traditional residential timber frames and cutting-edge commercial mass timber projects. She will discuss the challenges and opportunities of being a woman in a male dominated industry, finding a place in the emerging world of mass timber and emphasizing the importance of innovation while staying true to the craft’s roots. Through her unique perspective, Tanya will offer valuable lessons on leadership, adaptability, and the future of timber construction in Canada and beyond.
Rosaline Hill
Principal Architect, Senior Planner, Development Consultant
RJH Architecture & BuildingIN
Most people prefer to live in low-rise areas, on tree-lined streets, close to transit, in communities that are well serviced and walkable. Few municipal housing strategies target this vision or focus on existing low-rise neighbourhoods. But this housing niche holds the potential to transform our cities and pull us out of housing crisis. Low-rise multi-unit repeatable infill housing in existing urban neighbourhoods is the key to housing supply and municipal fiscal sustainability. At the same time, it is the most affordable way to dramatically reduce household emissions. Housing, fiscal and environmental sustainability, with new homes in the kinds of neighbourhoods people love – it is a win for all. So why aren’t developers building this? They are not allowed, or can’t make a profit doing it. But municipalities can change that!
The BuildingIN team has leveraged housing industry knowledge to understand the financial and regulatory barriers to this housing solution. Using GIS, we map our advanced housing market response forecasting to show cumulative outcomes for housing, fiscal and emissions reductions across low-rise urban areas. With this powerful simulation tool, we have reverse engineered a solution for municipalities.
As a winner of the CMHC Housing Supply Challenge, BuildingIN is able to provide municipalities with a full suite of services; to quickly implement regulatory changes and establish necessary investment strategies, so that developers will build the housing we need and want, over and over and over again. We enable municipalities to plan with certainty and make evidence based decisions, instead of the age-old ‘make some adjustments’ then ‘wait and see’ approach. Our team has been researching, testing, and simulating solutions for neighborhoods for the past 6 years. This has led us to the creation of BuildingIN – a transformational solution to our country’s housing supply challenge.
