Modern methods of construction
Midrise housing.We're changing the way it's built.
MidRise5 is a Modern Methods of Construction consulting and design firm that helps public, non-profit, and private developers deliver mid-rise housing faster, more affordably, more sustainably, and at greater scale using modular mass timber and hybrid building systems.
A practical approach to building more housing.
Off-site manufactured, adaptable, repeatable, kit-of-parts midrise housing optimized for speed, cost, predictability, and community needs, using natural, renewable materials.
Benefits
Modern Methods Advantage. Smarter form of construction for people and the planet.
Affordable
5–15% total construction cost savings compared to traditional materials and methods.
Speed & Efficiency
10–20% faster builds, 20–40% less design effort.
Scalable
From four-plex to large multi-unit developments, manufactured off-site as kits-of-parts in highly automated factories.
Healthy
Healthy buildings for occupants and the planet.
Sustainable
Naturally regenerative materials that reduce global warming.
Beautiful
Lovely, human-centred buildings where people thrive.
The HeadStart Affordable platform
HeadStart Affordable
A platform by MidRise5
Give your housing project a developed starting point.
HeadStart Affordable is a Modern Methods of Construction design platform that gets mid-rise housing built faster, more affordably, sustainably, and at scale.
License a comprehensive, coordinated set of architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical drawings, refined over 20+ affordable housing projects across North America. Your architect adapts it to your site, saving months of preconstruction time and soft costs.
- Coordinated architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical design.
- A repeatable approach developed for modern construction.
- Flexibility to work with your own professional team.
- Project-specific adaptation before permitting and construction.
Services
Support at every stage of your housing project. Engage MidRise5 for targeted advice or coordinated support across the development process.
Design
Practical, repeatable housing optimized for speed, cost, predictability, and community needs.
Costing
Early, accurate cost modeling to ensure affordability, feasibility, and financial certainty from concept onward.
Financing
Structuring capital stacks, grants, and funding strategies to make affordable housing projects financially viable.
Team Formation
Assembling aligned teams of architects, engineers, builders, manufacturers, and operators to deliver projects efficiently.
Construction Management
Overseeing construction execution to ensure quality, safety, cost control, and timely project delivery.
Mass Timber Advisory
Advisory services supporting the entire mass timber value chain.
HeadStart design licensing
Start with a conversation about your project.
Use the HeadStart licensing portal to introduce your organisation, describe your project and provide the information needed to review a potential licence.
- 01
Introduce your project
Share your organisation, site and housing plans. Save your progress while you gather information.
- 02
Confirm the details
Work with the team to confirm the selected drawing package, permitted use, signers and commercial terms.
- 03
Complete the agreement and next steps
Follow the agreed signing, payment and drawing-access process once your project is ready to proceed.
Submitting an enquiry does not grant a licence or access to drawings.
Selected project experience
Experience across a range of housing needs.
Explore projects from MidRise5’s portfolio, including affordable, supportive, transitional and rental housing.
Built (9)
Under Construction (7)
Scarborough, ON
Thunder Woman Healing Lodge
Healing lodge for Indigenous women
View project: Thunder Woman Healing Lodge
Peel Region, ON
Wilkinson Shelter
Shelter for men experiencing homelessness
View project: Wilkinson ShelterAbout MidRise5
Industry experience. A shared commitment to housing.
MidRise5 brings together experience in modern construction, mass timber and project delivery to help organisations advance housing that responds to community needs.
Patrick Chouinard
Founder & Principal
An entrepreneur, housing advocate and founder of Element5, Patrick focuses on advancing practical mass timber and modern construction approaches to housing.
Patrick Chouinard is a Canadian entrepreneur, housing advocate, and founder of Element5, one of Canada’s leading mass timber manufacturers. With a career dedicated to innovation in sustainable construction, he has spearheaded numerous affordable and supportive housing projects across Ontario. Patrick is deeply committed to solving Canada’s housing crisis by advancing modern, scalable building solutions that are warm, efficient, and environmentally responsible. His work blends practical industry leadership with a mission-driven focus on serving society’s most vulnerable.
A pioneer in applying Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), Patrick has championed offsite prefabrication, modular mass timber structures, and hybrid timber systems to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing. He has helped advance the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT), glulam, and panelized building envelopes to create repeatable, factory-manufactured mid-rise housing solutions.
Laura Van de Bogart
Chief Operations Officer
Laura brings a background in urban planning and organisational transformation, helping connect people, processes and delivery.
A former managing director at a global big 4 consulting firm, Laura brings 25+ years of experience leading large-scale operational and organizational transformations across healthcare, transit, government, and the not-for-profit sector. She built a career on aligning people, process, and technology to deliver outcomes that last.
Trained as an urban planner, she has never lost interest in housing and cities. Laura brings the operational rigour of a consulting career to the challenge of scaling mass timber – one of the most promising tools available for building more housing, more sustainably, and at the speed cities need.
Industry partners and associates
Expertise across the project team.
Housing delivery brings together architecture, engineering, manufacturing and construction experience. Industry partners are independent professionals who collaborate with MidRise5.
Matt Bolen
BAS, M.Arch, OAA, CPHD · Principal, McCallum Sather Architects
A Director and Architect at McCallum Sather focused on multi-residential design, from urban infill to mid-rise and multi-phase high-rise development.
Matt Bolen, a Director and Architect at McCallum Sather, is immersed in integrating his deep understanding of conventional construction with advanced research and innovative development initiatives. With a focus on multi-residential building design, Matt’s expertise spans small-scale urban infill, mid-rise, and multi-phase high-rise development. His leadership is pivotal in addressing the complex challenges of residential design, ranging from supportive and affordable housing to rental, market-rate, and high-end condo developments.
Licensed as an Architect with the Ontario Association of Architects and certified as a Passive House Designer, Matt’s passion lies in leveraging innovative techniques such as mass timber, DFMA panelization, modular construction, and high-performance design to create sustainable and functional built forms. His commitment to socially responsible architecture is evident in his diverse portfolio of impactful projects, including CLT (cross-laminated timber) affordable housing developments, rapid housing initiatives with supportive services, and mixed-use adaptive-reuse projects.
In addition to his role at McCallum Sather, Matt contributes to the academic community as a lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. A graduate of Waterloo Architecture, he focused his Master’s thesis on the urban revitalization of mid-sized cities, using Kitchener-Waterloo as a case study.
Christopher Minerva
P.Eng., P.E. · Principal, Trave Structural
A structural engineer and co-founder of Trave Structural, specialising in high-performance mass timber and hybrid building systems.
Chris Minerva is a structural engineer and co-founder of Trave Structural, a Toronto-based firm specializing in high-performance mass timber and hybrid building systems across Canada. With more than 25 years of experience across major residential, institutional, and civic projects, Chris is known for making mass timber work architecturally, structurally, and economically, through a constructability-first approach that bridges design ambition with real-world delivery.
A long-time advocate for Modern Methods of Construction, Chris specializes in hybrid timber systems, DFMA-driven structural solutions, and prefabricated assemblies that accelerate project timelines and improve cost certainty. His work spans post-and-beam glulam frames, CLT floor and wall systems, and hybrid timber-concrete assemblies. His project portfolio includes the 60 Bowden Seniors Affordable Housing Building, the Elizabeth Fry Society Supportive Housing Building, the Wagner Green YMCA Transitional Housing Building, and the TRCA Administrative Building, among others.
Licensed across multiple Canadian provinces and U.S. states, Chris has built a practice grounded in how timber structures actually get built, from fabrication constraints to site sequencing. He brings that practical authority to his guest lectures in the Design of Wood Structures at McMaster University.
Chris Loftin
President, Loftin Management
President of Loftin Management, a construction management firm specialising in multi-residential and affordable housing across Ontario.
Chris Loftin is President of Loftin Management, a construction management firm specializing in multi-residential and affordable housing projects across Ontario. With deep experience in modern methods of construction, Chris has led numerous developments that use prefabrication and mass timber systems to deliver housing.
His work includes projects such as Toronto’s 1120 Ossington supportive housing and the 7 Vanauley YMCA project, which provide affordable homes using cross-laminated timber and prefabricated construction approaches. Through close collaboration with architects, developers, and public partners, Chris focuses on delivering efficient, high-quality housing.
Associates
Contact
Let’s talk about your next housing project.
Whether you are exploring an early concept, assembling a project team or considering HeadStart Affordable, tell us where you are and what support you need.
hello@midrise5.caLooking for a HeadStart design licence?
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