Wood First Growing
Prince George, B.C. – It has been seven years since BC changed its building code to allow for mid rise buildings to be built of wood, and the rest of the country is now following that path.
The change to the building code in this province along with a “wood first” policy adopted in 2009, cleared the way for mid rise wood frame construction. The changes were meant to boost the forest products industry following the crash of the US housing market in 2008.
Last week’s announcement that the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Prince George would be a wood structure was music to the ears of the Canadian Wood Council. “BC’s been a leader in mid-rise (wood) construction” says Canadian Wood Council CEO Lynn Embury- Williams “This construction method is very important because it’s not only being used in residential building, but in hotels. So given this bounty of wood product construction in BC , it’s important to continue to incorporate wood into projects wherever you can.”
The Wood Innovation and Design Centre was the first mid-rise building for Prince George, and Embury-Williams says the hotel construction is not the first in the province “This is the third mid-rise hotel ( to be built with wood) in British Columbia” ” So there are other hotels that are three to 4 storeys, they tend to be wood frame, this is the third 6 storey to be built.”
Sukh Johal is the Technical Advisor for the Canadian Wood Council, and he has been crossing the country to sell and assist developers on mid rise wood frame construction “It’s not a hard sell at all, the rest of the country is very envious of what BC has accomplished.” Although the Provincial government led the way on the idea of mid rise wood frame construction, he says it more a matter of economics, “The numbers work for mid rise.”
Because BC has seven years experience in this type of construction, Johal says BC is exporting its talent and expertise on this type of construction “We’re actually doing peer reviews for mid rise projects in other provinces and we’re also exporting wood to other provinces it’s a great story”
There are now more that 258 mid rise wood frame buildings in B.C. “The latest numbers from Ontario are in the area of 50 (mid rise wood frame) buildings being permitted, so that’s brand new for Ontario” says Embury-Williams. They don’t have one completed yet, but they are on the way. They are concerned with affordable housing, the same as we are in British Columbia, so this is a building system that works well for them.”
She says mid rise wood frame construction has many benefits “Wood buildings are spectacular and they provide a significant advantage for combating climate change. It ( wood frame construction) is one that performs well, is cost competitive, very beautiful and one that will help save the planet.”
Comments
When these hotels build “wood first” I hope they get a much better quality of lumber that we get at the local lumber yards.
It seems to be our economic system forces us to “export the best, sell the locals the rest.” They don’t seem to do that in the States. But the practice is commonplace elsewhere, and I believe it has quite a bit to do with other countries’ currencies NOT being the ‘world’s reserve currency’.
Going back to the late 1960’s, I once owned a quite well used British made Land Rover. Great little vehicle for getting off the beaten path, but there was only one dealer in BC that stocked spare parts for them, an outfit in the lower mainland. So when it needed a brake job and a few other things I ordered the needed parts from them.
Along with the parts they included some brochures on ( the then) new Land Rovers. If you lived anywhere in the world OTHER than England, where they were made, you could get a wide variety of body styles and options. Pick-ups, station wagons, diesel engines, etc.
If you lived in Britain though, all you could get was the most basic, plain-jane model they made, a rag top, one windshield wiper, and that was it. All the other models were marked “for export only.” I thought that was crazy then, and I still do today. But we do exactly the same thing.
Not only with our lumber, but in trying to sell a whole host of other products abroad at a cheaper price than they could be obtained for right here ~IF they’re even available for sale here. It seems THEIR ‘money’ is better than OUR ‘money’. Though it certainly shouldn’t be.
FOREIGNERS get the #1 grade we get the crap.
Same for export power…don’t pay your bill…no problem
just try that here in northern BC…they would let you freeze to death
Actually no, when it’s cold your power cannot be cut off. I suggest researching your statements before posting misinformation.
This may be off the topic but it appears the news media is very quiet in BC about the oil spill on the SK river. Only info you get is from CBC news.
Ok, I’ll bit! What is the SK River????
SK for Saskatchewan BC for British Columbia.
Mainstream media has all the details about the Saskatchewan River incident.. Not really local news if you ask me. But anyway good for these guys making another big building out of wood!
Not too many years ago all the buildings in Prince George and all the hotels were built from wood. Mostly three and four stories high.
Surely people remember the following hotels. Canada, Macdonald, Astoria, National, Europe, Columbus, Yellowhead, etc; etc;
So the only difference is that they now use laminated beams and go a few stories higher.
Understand that they are building a huge wooden building at UBC in Vancouver.
Most of the time steel or cement support beams finished with wood. All wood buildings are nothing more than a fire hazard and safety concern if you do have a fire.
Que the drums, the money maker is-climate change. This misinformed lady has no idea what she is talking about so I will tend not to believe anything said about multi-story wood framework buildings.
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