Design tool aims to accelerate affordable mid-rise housing with mass timber construction

Mercer Mass Timber is releasing a new free design tool aiming to accelerate affordable mid-rise housing.

BuildSpec allows architects, engineers, and developers to explore hybrid cross-laminated timber (CLT) and cold-formed steel (CFS) hybrid buildings during early project planning. “BuildSpec reduces design uncertainty, helping project teams identify viable mass timber solutions sooner,” Mercer says.

The tool enables:

• Teams to rapidly prototype structural schemes and generate high-level cost and embodied carbon comparisons in real time.
• Evaluation of conceptual structural layouts against key design parameters, helping project teams assess feasibility earlier in the design process.
• More efficient design decisions on prefabricated and lower-carbon building approaches for mid-rise housing.

BuildSpec will initially focus on the Canadian market, with a U.S. version expected by Summer 2026.