Policies & Incentives: Regional Jurisdictions Building Taller with Wood

Eric Karsh, Founding Principal, Equilibrium

Welcome by Master of Ceremonies

11:00 – 11:05

Eric Karsh is the founding partner of Equilibrium, a globally recognized leader in timber engineering and construction since 1998, with offices in Vancouver, Atlanta, and Paris.

With over 35 years of experience as a structural engineer, Eric has played a pivotal role in shaping the international timber industry. His portfolio includes numerous landmark, award-winning projects, such as the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in British Columbia, Mass Timber One (MT1)—Google’s first mass timber office building, located in Sunnyvale, California, and the Créteil Schoolboard office building in Paris, France.

Renowned for his innovative design approach and dedication to sustainable construction, Eric has received international recognition for advancing environmentally responsible building practices. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers (UK) and a part owner of BC Passive House, a leader in the prefabrication of wood-based, high-performance building systems.

Helen Goodland, Head of Research and Innovation, SCIUS Advisory Inc.

Moderator

11:05 – 11:10

Helen is an architect registered in the UK and has an MBA from the University of BC. She brings over 30 years of experience working on transformative solutions for the real estate and construction industries in Canada and around the world, and has become one of Canada’s leading advisors on innovative, low carbon construction policies, processes and technologies. She has also played an instrumental in coalescing British Columbia’s emerging timber technology ecosystem. She has been a member of the authorship team for both the CLT Handbook and Tall Wood Design Guide for Canada. She led the first State of Mass Timber report and data collection process for the federal government and continues to collect sector data and provide market to the BC government. Currently, she is working with CSA Group to develop a national framework for circularity in the built environment. Helen sits on the BC Digital Construction Council and is a director of Building Transformations (formerly CANBIM). She also serves on BCIT’s Mass Timber Education Advisory Board and the University of Victoria’s Green Engineering Advisory Board.

Paul King,
CEO, Built by Nature

The Principles for Responsible Timber Construction

11:10 – 11:30

Paul is CEO of Built by Nature, a not-for-profit organisation whose vision is a built environment in unison with nature. Previously Paul was Managing Director, Sustainability and Social Impact, Lendlease Europe. He was the founding CEO of the UK Green Building Council. Before that, he worked for WWF-UK as Director of Campaigns, Campaign Director for WWF’s One Million Sustainable Homes campaign and co-founder of One Planet Living. Paul was a trustee and Vice Chair of the Board of Centre for London, the city’s only dedicated think tank, and a director of BeOnsite, a not-for-profit focused on bringing unemployed people from disadvantaged backgrounds into sustained employment.

Paul was Chairman of the public/private sector Zero Carbon Hub and a member of the Zero Carbon Homes 2016 Task Force, established by the UK Government to translate the zero carbon homes policy ambition into reality. He was a member of the UK Government’s Green Construction Board and Chair of its Buildings Working Group. On an international level, he was a member of the Board of the World Green Building Council and Chair of the WorldGBC Europe Network.

Raphael Dang, Consul General of France in Vancouver

PL01.02 Plenary Speaker

11:30 – 11:50

Raphaël Dang began his duties as the Consul General of France in Vancouver in September 2025. His jurisdiction covers British Colombia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and the Northwestern Territories.

Following higher education in Political Science, Public affairs, Economy, Italian and Chinese, Raphaël Dang has worked for the French Central Bank and then joined the French diplomatic service in 2013, where he started as a desk officer and negotiator on Sustainable development and climate change at the General Directorate for Globalization and partnerships.

In 2016, he was promoted as head of the team on EU development policies. He then served in the United Nations and International Organizations Department in Paris on Security Council negotiations. He then joined the Permanent mission of France to the United Nations in New York in 2017.

After four years in New York, he moved to Rome and the French Embassy to Italy where he served as counsellor on foreign policy and strategic affairs.

In November 2022, he joined Minister Catherine Colonna’s private office, as counsellor on United Nations, multilateral, global and legal affairs. He was then appointed in the same position in the private offices of the two following Ministers of Europe and Foreign Affairs: Stéphane Séjourné and Jean-Noël Barrot.

Raphaël DANG has also taught international relations and Asian and Far East civilizations at Sciences Po Paris from 2013 to 2017.

Valérie Lasek, Senior Official, French Ministry of Ecology

PL01.02 Plenary Speaker

11:30 – 11:50

Valérie Lasek is a senior official at the French Ministry of Ecology, where she has worked in the fields of planning, urban development, and construction, particularly focusing on sustainable cities. Since 2021, she has been leading the Bordeaux Euratlantique Public Development Authority, which has been committed to timber construction in the new districts south of Bordeaux since 2015. As co-organizer of Woodrise in Bordeaux in 2023, the EPA is a founding member of the French association Woodrise Vallée, which brings together industry stakeholders in a single location to accelerate training, research, and the integration of wood construction methods to decarbonize urban planning and the real estate sector.

Atsuhito Oshima, Director, Wooden Housing Promotion Office, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Japan’s Challenges to Promote Wooden Housing and Buildings

11:50 – 12:10

After joining the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in 2002, he has been engaged in housing and urban policies, including the programs on energy efficiency in housing and buildings, disaster resilience in urban areas, and public and social housing. He also served the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2019 till 2022, and the Nara Prefectural Government in Japan from 2015 till 2017. He holds master’s degrees in urban planning and public policy (Georgetown & Syracuse University).

Helen Goodland, Head of Research and Innovation, SCIUS Advisory Inc.

Panel Discussion

12:10 – 12:30