Ottawa releases catalogue of pre-approved housing designs – National [Video]

The federal government on Friday unveiled a list of 50 pre-approved housing designs as part of its promised catalogue aimed at speeding up construction of homes across the country.

The pre-approved designs are aimed at cutting red tape and reducing approval time for new builds and include designs for rowhouses, fourplexes, sixplexes, and accessory dwelling units across the country.

Specific designs were released for all of Canada’s provinces and territories.

The size of pre-approved designs released on Friday range from additional dwelling units (ADUs) of 50 square feet to three-bedroom sixplexes of 739 square feet, depending on which province or territory the design is approved for.

These standardized designs will help smaller homebuilders cut through the complexity, speeding up the time between concept and construction and lowering costs of building,” Housing Minister Nathaniel Erskine-Smith said in a statement.

While designs for fourplexes were expected in the catalogue, the government also included design for sixplexes.