MONGOLIA BUYS 48 B.C. HOUSES

VICTORIA – A major contract for a Cowichan Valley business to supply homes to Mongolia shows that B.C.’s efforts to sell more wood products around the world are working, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced today.

“This contract shows that homes designed and built in B.C. can compete internationally,” said Bell. “And it illustrates what happens when business and government work together to open up new markets for our forest products.”

In the $4-million project, the Pacific Homes division of Pacific Building Systems is supplying 48 townhomes for a new development in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. All major structural components – including floors, walls and ceilings – of the homes will be built in Cobble Hill, and then shipped via containers to Mongolia where they will be assembled.

“We’re building everything from the foundation up using B.C. wood, finishings and other building products,” said Ray Greene of Pacific Homes.

Through Forestry Innovation Investment (FII), the Province has been working with the Mongolian government for the past 18 months to adapt its building code to Canadian standards and build capacity for a wood-frame housing sector. This included building two demonstration homes in Ulaanbaatar, and funding the British Columbia Institute of Technology to provide training and technical support to Mongolian officials and developers.

“The support from FII was a great help in landing this contract,” said Pacific Building Systems co-owner Grant McKinnon. “Updating the building code will create even more opportunities as the Mongolian economy expands.”

Pacific Building Systems sells prefabricated buildings to clients locally and around the world, including the United States, Korea, Iceland and Israel.

Several major mining projects by Canadian companies are underway in Mongolia and expected to create more demand for new housing as well as public infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and other facilities.

“I am pleased to be in British Columbia for the signing of this contract, which will facilitate the introduction of Canadian-style wood frame construction to the Mongolian market,” said Mongolian Vice Minister of Roads, Transport, Construction and Urban Development Amarjargal Gansukh. “Mongolia is pleased to be working with our B.C. partners to learn from your experience and to adapt your building technology to help meet Mongolia’s housing and construction needs.”

The FII-industry partnership in China, where sales increased 67 per cent in the first half of 2008 over the same period in 2007, is another example of how well business and government can work together to grow international sales. FII operates the Dream Home Canada facility in Shanghai and is leading a provincial-federal program to build new wood frame schools and other public buildings in Sichuan Province, the area of China devastated last spring by a major earthquake.

Photos of the two demonstration homes opened last summer in Ulaanbaatar are available at www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/media/bell/2008/09/24/ for download.

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1 factsheet(s) attached.
Media contact:	Jennifer McLarty Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592

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