Wood Enterprise Coalition to Help Develop Wood Innovation and Design Centre in P.G.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 12:04 PM

Victoria, B.C.- The newly-formed Wood Enterprise Coalition, backed with $1.75 million in seed funding, will help B.C. achieve its Wood First objectives says Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell. One of those objectives is to develop a Wood First education strategy that includes support for the planned Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George.

"British Columbia is home to a number of organizations and businesses that work hard to promote the use of innovative wood products," said Bell. "The Wood Enterprise Coalition was created to focus these efforts. By reducing overlap and leveraging each other's strengths and expertise, we can do more to promote the use of wood in commercial and institutional construction."

The Wood Enterprise Coalition is a partnership between WoodWORKS! BC, FPInnovations, and the BC Wood Specialties Group. The partners will co-ordinate their efforts to support the value-added forest product sector through promotion, education, training, product
development and innovation. Governed by the managing organizations and supported by an advisory board, the coalition structure allows for additional resources and new participants to join as it moves forward.

"Individually, our organizations pursue similar goals and objectives," said Grant McKinnon, chair of BC Wood Specialties Group. "This coalition brings us together in a way that provides British Columbia with a more efficient, cost-effective framework to implement wood-
focused activities."

The coalition's key work goals to March 2012 include:
* Developing a Wood First education and training strategy, including support for the planned Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George.
* Advancing Wood First demonstration and pilot projects.
* Increasing public communication around the benefits of using wood.
* Supporting implementation of Wood First policies and construction.
* Supporting commercialization of new wood products.

More information on the Wood First Initiative is available online at www.for.gov.bc.ca/mof/woodfirst/.

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Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 12:04 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Andyfreeze on April 20 2010 4:23 PM

Wow...seems the only one who has anything exciting to say about this is...wait for it...PAT BELL!
Expect a lot of these warm,fuzzy,feel-good announcements by politicians of no consequence...that's what governments in trouble do.
It could very well be a great project,but the less association it has with the Liberal government,the more likely it is to achieve it's goals.

Posted by: MrPG on April 20 2010 7:48 PM

Right, because if it's good news, it can't possibly be anything positive. There has to be a negative way to look at everything.

Posted by: Harbinger on April 20 2010 9:23 PM

Brand new building filled with poshy offices staffed by creative pencil pushers working 24/7 to justify their jobs to convince folks to build with wood. Cool! Just what we need!

Posted by: Eagleone on April 20 2010 10:05 PM

This is all hog wash to secure monopoly capitalism through creativity. I doubt it will be about securing a free enterprise market that in itself breeds sustainability.

My solution would be to find a way to sell more go-gen and pellet plant type options. Maybe Pat should be going to Europe to sell our pellets as part of the carbon neutral green economy using hot air efficiently in the name of saving the lumber industry?

The facts are that if a lumber mill can get more value out of its split off products like trim blocks, hog fuel, saw dust, wood chips ect ect then that in effect strengthens the bottom line of the lumber mill (most mills cover their payroll with the revenue from wood chips)... you need less of a contribution margin from you lumber sales to reach your break even or profit targets. Scale of production takes on a whole new dimension the more you add value to your split off products.

If we had a larger market for pellet plants (maybe a provincial program to subsidize rural home owners with pellet furnace conversions?)... maybe if we created a whole new market for pellets, charcoal ect... and maybe if we saw regional co-gen projects and the proliferation of new bio-fuel plants we would see what was once a worthless bi-product become an enabler of a more economically viable lumber industry. A lumber industry that has revenue sustainability through the diversity of its product line into completely different markets?

That's the only direction I can see at this time, but yet we always seem to get sidetracked on a none existent Chinese wood frame housing market, or bug-a-boo about the US housing market and our need to transform the 2x4 to bring it to the next level....

Time will tell I guess.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on April 21 2010 5:39 AM

The recent earthquake in China showed the chinese a couple things and it was mentioned on the news.
Many of the concrete buildings cracked, while the wooden ones collapsed.
This was mentioned many times.
Not the best advertizing for using wood frame construction,and probably didn't go unnoticed by the chinese.
There goes the 2x4 market in China!
Not going to happen.
They will build the way they have always built.
That's how the chinese do things, and all the political posturing to sell them lumber is a waste of time.