Tag Archives: Element5

11.22.25
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‘St. Thomas is exactly where we need to be’ – Vianode CEO Burkhard Straube in announcing a $3.2 billion investment in the city

With the Yarmouth Yards industrial park serving as a backdrop, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called Thursday’s (Nov. 20) announcement of a $3.2 billion investment by Norwegian firm Vianode a historic milestone for southwestern Ontario and a major win for workers.
The ceremonial ground-breaking was on the site of what will become a state-of-the-art synthetic anode graphite manufacturing facility that will initially result in 300 new, good-paying jobs.
Anode graphite is a critical component in electric vehicle batteries, nuclear reactors, semiconductors, aerospace and defence systems, steelmaking and other strategic industries.

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09.20.25
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Element5’s St. Thomas expansion: ‘We have come here with a long-term vision – to stay, and to help shape the future of building with wood.’

At a ceremony Tuesday morning in St. Thomas, Element5 officially opened its new state-of-the-art glue-laminated production line and unveiled the expansion of its mass timber manufacturing facility in the city’s north end.
Element5 is the province’s first certified manufacturer of cross-laminated timber, and the expansion more than doubles the size of the plant from 130,000 square feet to over 350,000 square feet.
It will create 150 new jobs, increasing the company’s workforce to over 325 employees.
The expansion doubles the facility’s production capacity from 50,000 cubic meters annually to 100,000 cubic meters annually of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued-laminated timber (Glulam) products.

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06.14.25
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Industrial growth in the city? ‘The majority of it is reinvestment by companies that have shown that they care about St. Thomas’ – EDC CEO Sean Dyke

All factors considered, “2024 was a pretty good year for St. Thomas.”
That was the assessment of Sean Dyke at the city council meeting this past Monday (June 9).
As CEO of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corp., Dyke is a front-line worker when it comes to the city’s overall fiscal health.
He presented an economic scorecard to council members on Monday, highlighting the EDC’s relatively new vision statement.
“It is to cultivate a community that people fall in love with, where businesses thrive and prosperity blooms.
“It sounds flowery on purpose,” conceded Dylke. “We’re trying to suggest that we’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes to really help people enjoy being here in St. Thomas, whether it’s from a business or residential perspective. Tourism, of course, also.”

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06.22.24
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Residential growth in St. Thomas to push west from Wellington Road

A week after city council received a growth analysis study predicting the population of St. Thomas will almost double by 2051, members Monday evening (June 17) got an insight into where many of those newcomers may live.
A sprawling residential development stretching from Wellington Road northwest to Major Line is being proposed by two developers.
Landrise Developments/Don West Construction and Lecram Inc. have acquired the majority of land in the Sandymount Development Area with a proposal to add almost 1,500 housing units, including single detached homes, townhouses and high-density apartments.

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05.25.24
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There is no denying the numbers, St. Thomas is where possibilities live

Without a doubt, this is an exciting time to be a resident of St. Thomas.
Exciting that is if you are not averse to change of epic proportions.
And as Sean Dyke, CEO of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation pointed out a presentation to city council on May 13, exciting because his organization gets to share “the really good news stories.”
Dyke continued, “I recall being here 15 years ago at the height of a pretty negative time in St. Thomas talking about a lot of businesses that were leaving.
“And, it’s so nice to be here at a time when we can talk about the complete opposite. The strides we’ve taken as a community to push this forward.”
To indicate just how busy the EDC has been, Dyke noted over the past fiscal year ending in March, they have had 856 consultations with different businesses.
From that, 256 new jobs were created in the community, which includes all of Elgin county.

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03.02.24
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Rapid development and expansion prove Element 5 is not out of its element after locating in St. Thomas

city_scope_logo-cmykWith little in the way of fanfare, Element 5 has become a significant regional success story less than four years after constructing its $50 million plant on 40 acres of land on Dennis Road in the city’s north end.
Even more impressive is the fact the company itself has been in existence for less than a decade.
It was founded in 2015 when it purchased a small cross-laminated timber (CLT)manufacturing company in Ripon, Quebec and began production.
Its St. Thomas facility, completed in 2020, is the most highly automated, state-of-the-art mass timber plant in North America.
It can annually produce 45,000 cubic metres of CLT and 5,000 cubic metres of glulam (glued-laminated timber).
A second shift was added in 2021 and last year, expansion of the existing plant began.

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07.27.19
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New timber plant an innovation showcase for St. Thomas

city_scope_logo-cmykIt will be the first of its kind in Ontario and, as announced Wednesday (July 24), it is to be located in St. Thomas with an economic impact rippling across southwestern Ontario.
At the Dennis Drive Industrial Park, the province’s minister of Natural Resources and Forestry John Yakabuski and environment minister Jeff Yurek announced $5 million in provincial funding to construct a cross laminated timber plant that will create 60 high-paying jobs.
The $32 million, 125,000 sq. ft. Element 5 facility “will showcase the kind of innovation we want to see more of in Ontario,” stressed Yakabuski at the funding announcement.
Based out of Toronto, Element 5 has an existing plant in Ripon, Quebec which produces solid wood panels made with multiple layers of lumber planks cross-laminated with environmentally friendly adhesives. Continue reading →