In Vancouver structures more than four storeys tall cannot be made of wood. For residential mid-rises less than four storeys in height wood is the dominant building material.
That leaves reinforced concrete and steel for mid-rises above four storeys. For the last decade or more concrete has been used almost without exception in Vancouver.
A large part of the reason for this is that Vancouver is very well supplied by concrete vendors and it has a mature building/forming industry, both of which make for predictable costs and timely construction schedules. A further factor is that all new parking in Vancouver must be below grade and this requires a concrete substructure that is continued above grade for simplicity.
Lastly, Vancouver is in a seismically active area with strict structural building codes and reinforced concrete meets this with ease.
To the best of my recollection in Vancouver there are only two new mid-rise steel buildings going up, with the exception of the immense mid-rise height, 1.1 million square foot
Vancouver Convention Centre expansion. (
image)