New housing units at CFB Esquimalt expected to cost $86M: DND

[SeaKingTacco]

Yes it was a very common method - but isn’t used any more for several good reasons.

Concrete comes in many different grades - you will not get wood as durable as you can get with reinforced M55 concrete.

Warrior Block in Shearwater is built from concrete and is designed to be so durable as to survive a nuclear blast. As is Nelles Block in Esquimalt. Yet, those two buildings are widely considered to be the worst accommodations in the country. Their durability is part of the problem: they are crap to live in; expensive to fix and really, really expensive to demolish. Which is partly why they have persisted well past their life spans.