VICTORIA – British
Columbian wood products and building expertise are helping Mongolia alleviate an urban housing crisis,
Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell said today as two B.C.-designed
demonstration homes officially opened in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.
“Rapid urbanization is creating a housing shortage in Mongolia, and a real need for safe and permanent
housing,” said Bell.
“B.C.’s expertise in wood-frame construction offers Mongolia an affordable, energy-efficient
housing solution and continues to create new international marketing opportunities
for B.C. wood products.”
Under an agreement signed last year
between the Province and Mongolian government, the British Columbia Institute
of Technology (BCIT) helped Mongolia
update its residential wood-frame construction building code to Canadian
standards and provided training and technical support. The two demonstration
homes were built from B.C. wood products and showcase how the new building
standards can be applied to local needs. The homes will be used to promote
residential wood-frame housing and for training in construction and related
trades. More than 1,000 potential home buyers have already toured the homes in
the weeks leading up to the official opening.
“Mongolia
picked British Columbia and BCIT because of our
expertise in designing affordable housing and because Canadian building systems
are ideally suited to Mongolia’s
needs,” said Wayne Stevens, director, BCIT Canadian Housing and Construction
Centre. “Like Canada, Mongolia
experiences cold winters and requires energy-efficient, safe and flexible
housing technology to meet the needs of its population.”
Forestry Innovation Investment
(FII) Ltd., a government agency that supports the
forest sector, funded the project as part of their ongoing efforts to
introduce wood-frame housing to developing economies. The strategy focuses on
linking B.C.’s wood products and construction technology to countries interested
in adopting modern wood-frame housing systems.
The Province announced an
$8-million FII project to provide wood-frame buildings to help survivors of the
earthquake in Sichuan, China in June of this year, and arranged 10
demonstration homes in Indonesia
as part of the reconstruction efforts following the 2004 tsunami disaster. BCIT
also provided training and technical support for the Indonesian project, which
has resulted in two B.C. companies building about 800 new homes that use wood
products from B.C. mills.
Photos are available at www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/media.
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