The federal government is hoping its newly finished Housing Design Catalogue will help speed up home construction in Canada.

Together with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Ottawa has published 50 technical design packages for homes ranging from accessory dwellings to sixplexes and townhomes as part of its Housing Design Catalogue.

The packages, which are free to download and available online, include architectural and engineered drawings, energy reporting documents and templates, building performance reports, user guides and construction estimates.

“All of these packages provide big head starts to builders looking to put these in our communities,” said the CMHC’s Housing Policy and Programs Advisor Daniel Rubinstein. “I am excited to see what users do with the catalogue and how they make them their own, own look and feel.”

The CMHC says the designs are not automatically pre-approved but are “nearly permit-ready.” Municipalities, it advertises, are encouraged to streamline the approval process.

“You would work with a qualified architect and engineer to finish the site and then you can go ahead and submit,” Rubinstein said.