COMMUNITY CELEBRATES NEW VALUE-ADDED WOOD PLANT

OKANAGAN FALLS – Clients, staff and provincial government representatives celebrated the grand opening of Structurlam’s new state-of-the-art value-added wood facility, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced today.

“Structurlam is an outstanding example of a successful value-added wood products company,” said Bell. “They are leading the way in expanding the market for wood in commercial and institutional construction – both in British Columbia and around the world.”

Structurlam’s new ‘South Plant’ is the largest laminating facility in Canada, with a production capability of over 60,000 board feet per day. Structurlam now has 100 workers employed at two plants in the south Okanagan, both specializing in large and complex commercial heavy timber structures.

“This new plant is a great leap forward for our company, both in terms of capacity and productivity,” said Structurlam president Bill Downing. “We recognized long ago that to remain competitive in the wood products industry, we must invest substantially in technological innovations. We were the first heavy timber company to invest in European technology, such as modeling software and robotic machinery, and it has paid off in terms of the work we’ve done.”

Structurlam is Canada’s premier supplier of heavy timber packages (glulam, parallam and solid timber). Working closely with architects, engineers and contractors, Structurlam provides precision shop drawings using leading edge 3-D CAD software, specifically designed for the timber industry. The North Plant, in Penticton, houses Structurlam’s design centre and over 2,322 square metres (25,000 square feet) of finishing area.

Penticton-Okanagan Valley MLA Bill Barisoff also attended the opening ceremonies.

“Structurlam truly epitomizes a local success story,” said Barisoff. “They have managed to take advantage of British Columbia’s exceptional fibre and have turned it into some of the most beautiful buildings in the world.”

The company, which started as a small laminating plant in 1962, played a major role in constructing the Richmond Oval, which contains the longest hybrid wood/steel arches in North America. It also worked on the new Art Gallery of Ontario, and is currently constructing the largest wood roof in North America, at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, in North Carolina.

The potential to expand the use of wood products in commercial and institutional construction is a significant opportunity. Wood products make up nearly 95 per cent of the value of construction materials used in residential housing, but currently comprise only 19 per cent of commercial and institutional construction.

Photos from the ribbon-cutting will be made available at: www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/media

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Media contact:	Sophia Proctor Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592	Bill Downing President Structurlam 250 462-5050

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