Technical Guide for Northern Housing
Introduction
The development of the Technical Guide for Northern Housing (TGNH) was led by the First Nations National Building Officers Association (FNNBOA). FNNBOA members play a role in serving Indigenous communities with inspection and construction of safe, healthy, and energy-efficient houses for the north. In the past few years, regional technical construction documents have been produced in various forms and complexity. This guide differs from those regional documents and is unique in the following three ways:
This TGNH provides user-friendly illustrated booklets that outline “best practices” for building solutions in house construction. The guide seeks to cover all northern and remote regions, including the arctic and subarctic First Nations and Inuit Nunangat regions (as noted, aside from Northern Ontario, the other booklets are in development). To cover this vast area, 14 overview booklets of the sub-regions are being developed to show the distinct challenges within each sub-region. Eleven technical booklets cover the house design and construction process.
The TGNH Appendix also presents “community-based” house designs developed from consulting and engaging with Indigenous communities. A team of Indigenous architects completed the consultations and produced house designs in 2020 that capture the direct housing needs of the First Nations community. The Inuit house designs presented are as-built designs developed over the years with ongoing consultations with the architectural team.
This TGNH provides information on the governance and challenges of construction in the north. It should be used by anyone working in the construction industry or providing construction supplies to the north.
Overview booklets
Introduction booklet: Technical Guide for Northern Housing (2MB PDF)
Introduction booklet: Guiding Principles (660kb PDF)
For Ontario sub-region
Overview booklet: Northern Ontario - 2.1MB PDF
Technical booklets for Northern Ontario
Part 1: Geotechnical approaches — Managing the ground conditions in your community
Booklet 1: Site planning & foundations - 1.2MB PDF
Part 2: Mechanical systems — The technical connections to the land/community
Booklet 2: Ventilation (healthy air) - 1.1MB PDF
Booklet 3: Heating (energy efficiency) - 700KB PDF
Booklet 4: Electrical (energy efficiency) - 1.2MB PDF
Booklet 5: Fresh water plumbing (healthy water) - 775KB PDF
Booklet 6: Waste water plumbing (water sanitation) - 1.1MB PDF
Part 3: The primary elements of a house — Keeping the heat in, and the snow, wind and rain out
Booklet 8: Windows and doors - 1.8MB PDF
Booklet 9: Structure (framing and connections) - 1.1MB PDF
Booklet 10: Interior finishes and acoustics - 485KB PDF
Part 4: Fire safety — Facing the greatest technical risk
Booklet 11: Fire safety - 500KB PDF
Example Northern house designs
NOTICE: The architecture plans and drawings in the technical guide are solely for information purposes and will not be used in the construction of any projects without first seeking professional and legal advice and how these plans will impact your community.
Example 1: Tahltan Band, Northern BC (Dease Lake, BC) - 11MB Zip file of PDFs
Example 2: Deline First Nation, Northwest Territories (Deline, NWT) - 3 parts / ZIP files containing PDF files
Deline First Nation - Part 1 - 12MB ZIP file
Deline First Nation - Part 2 - 10MB ZIP file
Deline First Nation - Part 3 - 17MB ZIP file
Example 3: Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Northern Manitoba (Oxford House, MB) - 2 parts / ZIP files containing PDF files + PDF Context report in 5 parts
Bunibonibee Cree Nation - Part 1 - 12MB ZIP file
Bunibonibee Cree Nation - Part 2 - 8MB ZIP file
Bunibonibee Cree Nation - Context report (this is a large document, split into 5 pieces)
Bunibonibee context report - Part 1 - 12MB PDF
Bunibonibee context report - Part 2 - 8MB PDF
Bunibonibee context report - Part 3 - 11MB PDF
Bunibonibee context report - Part 4 - 11MB PDF
Bunibonibee context report - Part 5 - 122KB PDF
Example 4: Wasaho Cree Nation, Northern Ontario (Fort Severn, ON) - 2 parts / ZIP files containing PDF files
Wasaho Cree Nation - Part 1 - 6MB ZIP file
Wasaho Cree Nation - Part 2 - 12MB ZIP file
Download all documents
For convenience we’ve placed all of the above files into a ZIP file.
Technnical Guide for Northern Housing - All of the above documents (132MB ZIP file)