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)

  • Livret d'introduciton : Guide technique sur la construction des habitation dans le nord (3.5MB PDF)

• Introduction booklet: Guiding Principles (660kb PDF)

  • Livret d'introduction : Guide technique sur la consctruction des habitations dans le nord - Principes directeurs (3.2MB PDF)

For Ontario sub-region

• Overview booklet: Northern Ontario (2.1MB PDF)

  • Livret-résumé : Nord de l’Ontario guide technique sur al construction des habitations dans le nord (4.2MB 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)

  • Livret 1 : Planification des sites et des fondations (6.3MB PDF)

Part 2: Mechanical systems — The technical connections to the land/community

• Booklet 2: Ventilation (1.1MB PDF)

  • Livret 2 : Ventilation (6.2MB PDF)

• Booklet 3: Heating (700KB PDF)

  • Livret 3 : Chauffage (3.5MB PDF)

• Booklet 4: Electrical (1.2MB PDF)

  • Livret 4 : Électricité (4.7MB PDF)

• Booklet 5: Fresh water plumbing (775KB PDF)

  • Livret 5 : Eau potable (2.9MB pdf)

• Booklet 6: Waste water plumbing (1.1MB PDF)

  • Livret 6 : Eaux usées (4.8MB PDF)

Part 3: The primary elements of a house — Keeping the heat in, and the snow, wind and rain out

• Booklet 7: Roof, walls and floor (3MB PDF)

  • Livret 7 : Murs, toits et planchers (14MB PDF)

• Booklet 8: Windows and doors (1.8MB PDF)

  • Livret 8 : Ports et fenêtre (7.5MB PDF)

• Booklet 9: Structure (1.1MB PDF)

  • Livret 9 : Structure (5.5MB PDF)

• Booklet 10: Acoustics (485KB PDF)

  • Livret 10 : Acoustique (2MB PDF)

Part 4: Fire safety — Facing the greatest technical risk

• Booklet 11: Fire safety - 500KB PDF

  • Livret 11 : Sécurité incendie (1.7MB PDF)

All Technical Guide for Northern housing document

• All of the above documents - English (16MB .ZIP file)

• Tous les documents ci-dessus - Français (65MB .ZIP file)

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.

These documents are also not available in French.

• 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 the above files into a ZIP file (Available in English only).

• Technnical Guide for Northern Housing - All of the above documents (132MB ZIP file)

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