B.C. WOOD USED IN CHINA EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY

MIANYANG, CHINA – British Columbia signed agreements with officials from Mianyang Municipality and Beichuan County to support the reconstruction of community facilities devastated by the May 2008 earthquake, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced today.

“I want to thank the governments of Mianyang and Beichuan for affording British Columbia the opportunity to contribute to the rebuilding effort, using North American wood-frame technology,” said Bell. “Local residents will benefit from the reconstruction of important community facilities while B.C.’s forest sector stands to benefit by demonstrating how wood-frame construction delivers safe, seismically sound, energy-efficient, multi-storey structures.”

The preliminary design for the Beichuan Leigu Town Elderly Care Centre Project includes two buildings for administrative and care facilities, and two to three multi-storey residential buildings for up to 200 seniors left homeless by the earthquake. These buildings would use about 610,000 board feet of B.C. coastal wood and feature traditional Qiang Minority design elements.

The early design for the Mianyang Rehabilitation Centre and School for the Disabled Project includes a multi-storey dormitory, three classrooms, a cafeteria, and a building for staff and administration. These six buildings would use about 745,000 board feet of B.C. wood. In 2005, Prince George signed a friendly economic and trade cooperation agreement with Mianyang, Sichuan’s second-largest city.

The signing ceremony was preceded by a visit to the Canada Wood College, Sichuan Campus, a partnership involving the Sichuan College of Architectural Technology and Canada Wood Group, a non-profit group of industry associations. The college is a vocational school to transfer skills and technology, and provides the most effective wood-frame building training in China. The college opened a Shanghai Campus in February 2008.

“In order to supply lumber to this market, there have to be people who know how to use it properly, including how to use British Columbia’s range of tree species and wood products in construction applications,” said Rick Jeffery, chair of Canada Wood Group and CEO of the Coast Forest Products Association. “Canada Wood College is an important piece of the larger strategy to develop the Chinese market.”

The Beichuan Leigu Town Elderly Care Centre and the Mianyang Rehabilitation Centre and School for the Disabled projects are supported by the $8-million Canada-B.C. Wenchuan Earthquake Reconstruction Project, created to provide wood-frame buildings and technical support to help rebuild areas of Sichuan Province.

British Columbia, through its Crown agency Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd., and in conjunction with the Canada Wood Group, has been working over the last several years to diversify B.C.’s markets by demonstrating new uses for softwood products.

Photos from the China trade mission are available online in the Ministry of Forests and Range media room http://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

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