Robot builders create turnkey housing

October 19, 2021



A new factory in Delta, B.C. is aiming to prove robots can build wood-frame, mass-timber, multi-family homes faster and better than conventional tradespeople.
In May 2021, Intelligent City began building urban housing projects in their factory and held its official opening on October 12.
The company is focused on the construction of mid- to high-rise urban housing through the use of mass timber, design engineering, robotic manufacturing, and proprietary software. It is currently working on projects totaling 2,880 homes in Canada and 1,400 homes in the United States—many of which are supported by BC Wood, an agency that promotes building with mass timber.
Intelligent City’s first project is a multi-family complex in Vancouver with completion expected in 2022.
Co-founders Cindy Wilson and Oliver Lang, who have worked in architecture for 25 years, have led the company since it began in 2008.
“Today marks a very important milestone for Intelligent City. We are leading the housing industry through a product- and platform-based approach to address affordability, livability and climate change issues. We are now the first in the world to use advanced robotics to automatically assemble mass timber building systems that meet the latest building code and net zero standards,” Lang said.
He added that the factory can produce “turnkey housing projects.”
 A YouTube video from the company explains how the Intelligent City robotic construction works.
Intelligent City recently won the Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada competition. The company has also received about $460,000 in funding from the B.C. government, which is actively promoting mass-timber construction in the forestry-rich province.