Huge Toronto tower made of wood technically started construction over a decade ago

An impressive tower built largely out of wood is rising in Toronto, but this project technically started construction years earlier, before a tower was even proposed for this site near St. George subway station.

The University of Toronto's new Academic Wood Tower is rising at an impressive pace, though it had a bit of a head start. 

Growing from atop the north end of the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport at 110 Devonshire Place, this structure used the base of the 2014-completed sports complex as a springboard for its ascent towards an eventual 14-storey height.

First revealed in 2018, the tower's design by Patkau Architects and MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects (MJMA) plays off the geometry of the existing Goldring Centre — which featured the same design team.

Patkau/MJMA

When construction began in 2023, the tower was able to spring up from above the pre-existing foundations, basement, lower floors, and elevator core up to the fourth floor, which were already constructed using concrete and steel.

By the start of 2025, the tower was already making its impact felt above Devonshire Place, well on its way to a final height of 77 metres.

Currently, the tallest mass timber building in Canada is the Brock Commons Tallwood House, an 18-storey student residence building at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

While Brock Commons Tallwood House would retain the title of highest floor count for a building of this type in Canada, the new U of T building will far surpass its total height with much loftier institutional floor heights, and will become the tallest wood building in Canada upon completion.

As of late May 2025, the tower's mass timber structural elements stand ten storeys tall, with just four habitable floors and a large mechanical penthouse and crown section above before the structure tops out.

However, the feature of the building most evident to passersby right now is the steel structure of an internal staircase protruding from the upper floors of the tower's east facade. 

Upon completion, the wood tower will serve the Rotman School of Management, the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts and Science, and the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education with new spaces.

The building will be one of two landmarks bookending the Goldring Centre, and a new Rotman Commerce building was recently unveiled for a site currently occupied by a surface parking lot, located just south of the sports complex.