The province has completed its third wood products demonstration project in China aimed at expanding B.C.'s wood products market in the world's largest country.
The relatively modest project included the replacement of eight roofs for a complex of apartment buildings in Nanjing, China. The project follows similar demonstration projects in Shanghai and Qingdao, all which demonstrate the wood-truss roofing system common in B.C.
The province hopes these demonstration projects will prove the cost-effectiveness of using B.C. expertise in improving the country's aging residential structures. Most Chinese live in low-rise, concrete apartment buildings. Tens of thousands of apartments were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s and are in need of major upgrades.
The province believes China's low-rise, multi-family housing represents a potential market of up to 2.8 million cubic metres per year for spruce-pine-fir lumber in roof systems alone.