9 February 2012
Langfang, China
The Government of Canada is committed to helping the Canadian forestry industry to diversify and succeed in priority markets around the world. To this end, on February 9, 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the China-Canada Green Building Design Center in order to highlight Canada’s achievement as China’s largest supplier of lumber.
The China-Canada Green Building Design Center is a 2,500 square-meter facility which features environmentally friendly, seismically stable, and energy efficient Canadian wood frame technologies and materials.
The wood frame technology, together with solar energy and the design of the sound and heat insulation systems, all contribute to significant energy savings in the heating and cooling of the building.
Constructed by Shanghai Jiude Construction Company and completed in October 2011, the Center features the following wood materials: Douglas Fir glulam (glued laminated timber), Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, hem-fir (hemlock-fir species), SPF (spruce-pine-fir species group), OSB (oriented strand board), and I-Joists (an engineered wood joist).
Forestry Innovation Investment China (the Chinese subsidiary of Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd., an agency of the Government of British Columbia that promotes an environmentally sustainable and prosperous forest economy in British Columbia) and Canada Wood China (a non-profit organization registered in Canada and China to represent the Canadian forest industry abroad) advised on design companies and builders for the project. Both entities work to promote Canadian wood products.
Thanks to their versatility and environmental benefits, wood frame construction, such as that used for the Green Building Design Center, have become more prominent throughout China and have led to a major boost in Chinese demand for Canadian wood and wood frame technology. As a result, 18 Canadian mills have reopened or dedicated part of their production to servicing the Chinese market.
During the first eleven months of 2011, wood products were Canada's third largest export to China, totalling $1.36 billion and expected to exceed $1.5 billion in 2011.
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9 February 2012
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