Thomas Wimmer
Certified Passive House Consultant &
Construction Verifier
Design & Innovate Responsible!
At Urban Berlin Design, we believe better buildings begin with better ideas—and the responsibility to turn those ideas into solutions that make a meaningful difference.
We work at the intersection of Modern Methods of Construction, mass timber, prefabrication and resilient building design, connecting innovative technologies with the people, projects and markets that can put them to work.
A core part of our work is helping prefabricators, manufacturers and building-system innovators transform technical expertise into commercial opportunity. Through sales, business development, market strategy and project development, we help bring innovative solutions to market, build industry relationships and create pathways from introduction and specification to procurement and construction.
For architects, developers, builders and owners, we connect design ambition with practical building solutions—advancing construction methods that improve quality and resilience, increase efficiency, reduce waste and embodied carbon, and support the transition toward net-zero and zero-carbon buildings.
Our focus is on technologies and systems that are changing how we build: mass timber, prefabrication, off-site manufacturing, high-performance building systems - Modern Methods of Construction.
Urban Berlin Design brings together innovation, technical understanding, market development and carefully selected building solutions within one evolving platform.
Because responsible innovation is about more than creating something new. It is about creating better ways to build, better ways to connect and better buildings for the future.
Urban Berlin Design
Design & Innovate Responsible!
01
The Objective
The objective is to accelerate the transition toward resilient, low-carbon and intelligently constructed buildings by connecting innovative ideas, technologies and building systems with real-world opportunities.
02
The Process
Urban Berlin Design connects technology, people and projects. Making smart decisions based on facts while keeping focus on the objective will be the way to success!
Developing strategies, implementing best practice and learnings from previous projects will help throughout the process of creating a sustainable, resilient and ultimately high permanence building. Our involvement can begin with a technology or product and continue through market introduction, project identification, specification, design integration, procurement and implementation.
This creates a practical bridge between those developing better ways to build and those looking for better ways to build.
Together as a team we have the ability to find the best solution that will elevate the project while keeping the focus on sustainability, constructibility and the most economical approach.
03
What we believe in
We believe innovation carries responsibility.
The construction industry has an opportunity to rethink not only what we build, but how we build it.
We believe in buildings that are resilient, efficient, healthy and designed for generations. We believe in reducing energy demand, material waste and embodied carbon.
We also believe that meaningful change happens through collaboration. Manufacturers, designers, builders, developers and owners each bring different expertise—and better outcomes emerge when those capabilities are connected early.
Our role is to help make those connections and bring responsible innovation into the built environment.
Design & Innovate Responsible!
The Journey
Founder & Managing Director
Thomas Wimmer
From Building Components to
Better Ways of Building.
The story of Urban Berlin Design is closely connected to the professional journey of its founder, Thomas, and a continuing desire to understand one fundamental question:
How can we build better?
Thomas began his professional career in Germany in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning industry, followed by military service and policing - experiences that shaped the approach to responsibility, discipline and solving problems with purpose.
After moving to Canada, he entered the window and door industry and quickly became interested in the differences between European and North American construction practices.
Coming from Germany, he saw an opportunity to introduce different approaches to building performance, energy efficiency and construction technology to the Canadian market.
That curiosity—and the belief that we can do better—became the foundation for Urban Berlin Design, established in December 2015.
It Started With a Window.
Urban Berlin Design began by replacing windows and doors, primarily in residential buildings.
Those early projects provided firsthand experience with existing buildings, installation conditions and the relationship between a high-performing product and the building surrounding it.
The business soon progressed into new construction, with an increasing focus on high-performance European fenestration systems manufactured from uPVC, aluminum and wood-aluminum.
But working with increasingly sophisticated products raised a bigger question: What good is a high-performance product if the building around it does not allow it to perform?
That question changed the direction of Urban Berlin Design.
From Products to Building Performance.
The focus expanded from the window itself to its integration into the complete building envelope—airtightness, thermal continuity, moisture management, installation and overall building performance.
This led to a deeper exploration of Passive House principles and building science.
Thomas became a Certified Passive House Consultant in 2021 and, in 2023, achieved the designation of Passive House Construction Verifier through the Passive House Institute in Germany.
Passive House reinforced an important principle that continues to influence Urban Berlin Design today:
Buildings perform as systems, not as collections of individual products.
From Building Performance to
Market Development.
As Urban Berlin Design evolved, the opportunity of helping innovative manufacturers successfully introduce their technologies to the North American construction market emerged.
Thomas has supported two European wood-aluminum window manufacturers with their North American market development, combining technical knowledge with sales, business development and project development and securing projects across a range of scales.
That experience demonstrated that innovation alone does not change an industry.
Connecting manufacturers with architects, developers, builders and the right project opportunities therefore became an increasingly important part of the Urban Berlin Design philosophy.
From Prefabrication to
Modern Construction.
Thomas' current work with Fab Structures opened the next chapter.
Working within the world of mass timber and prefabricated building systems expanded his perspective from individual building components and envelopes to the way complete buildings can be designed, manufactured, coordinated, delivered and assembled.
This exposure to prefabrication, off-site manufacturing and Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) reinforced the potential for construction to become more precise, efficient, scalable and predictable—while reducing waste and supporting the transition toward low- and zero-carbon buildings.
It also brought the previous chapters together.
Building performance.
Manufacturing.
Prefabrication.
Mass timber.
Building envelope.
Sales and business development.
The Next Chapter.
Today, Urban Berlin Design is evolving into a platform that connects innovative building technologies, manufacturers and prefabricators with architects, developers, builders, owners and real project opportunities.
Combining technical understanding, building science, sales, business development and market strategy with a strong interest in the technologies that are transforming construction.
And as Urban Berlin Design continues to grow, so will the solutions we make accessible—from knowledge and consulting to carefully selected products and building technologies that support better, more resilient and responsible construction.
The business has evolved considerably since 2015, but the question that started the journey has remained remarkably simple:
How can we build better?
For Thomas, the answer begins with curiosity, continues through innovation and comes with the responsibility to make those ideas work in the real world.
Design & Innovate Responsible!
