Jackson Wyatt’s (HBSc ’12 Innis) CABN in the woods may be the housing solution we need now
"I’m the CEO of CABN—in this role, as well as in my life, I embrace a balance between environment, technology, and health above all else. After selling my first business, Greenlid, a compostable products company, I started CABN, wherein we build sustainable homes and communities using our rapid, net-zero, carbon-zero technology. My central goal, both personally and professionally, is to support people in the development of sustainable lifestyles without prohibitive costs or sacrifices to their quality of life."
You’re building prefab houses that are designed to meet that elusive intersection of affordability and sustainability. What inspired you?
CABN was inspired by my goal of designing and building a sustainable home in a remote location: the modern version of Thoreau’s Walden Pond. Whether built on an island off the coast of Vancouver, in a remote area of Labrador, or on the mountains of Peru, the metrics of energy efficiency, sustainability, and cost had to remain the same. With the challenge of a list of difficult-to-build locations, paired with a requirement to have a carbon-zero home that is completely solar powered, I realized that the only path forward required a technology-led, manufactured approach to housing, a comprehensive product that comes complete with its own renewable energy infrastructure and high-efficiency systems. Previously, sustainable and solar-powered homes were only available as cost-prohibitive custom designs. In rebelling against this thinking, I charged our CABN team with designing a home that is manufactured cost effectively, shipped efficiently, and assembled easily in locations with limited labour and resources, offering equitable access to net-zero, carbon-zero housing. With CABN, we are poised to change the housing market.
Many Canadians would agree we are in the midst of a housing crisis. In your experience, what’s the biggest barrier to tackling it? Conversely, what’s the largest opportunity here that we should be taking advantage of?
The housing crisis is universal, and the biggest barriers are a reduced labour force, limited construction windows due to seasonality, and longer build times. This reduces supply and adds to a high cost of housing beyond what is reasonable. By manufacturing homes that can allow more Canadians to build rapidly, we can increase housing supply, reduce costs, and build better homes.
Climate also impacts the productivity of the industry—Canada has six to eight months of good building weather, with rain, storms, and heat all slowing down housing construction. Just the ability to manufacture year round can help tip the scales of affordability and supply! Through prefabricated housing, we can build year-round in climate-controlled facilities, panelize the homes, and then ship them to where they are desperately needed without straining local utilities and infrastructure.
(Photo courtesy of Jackson Wyatt)
This story originally appeared in the 2023/24 edition of Innis Alumni & Friends.