Mississauga-based Viceroy Homes Ltd., a manufacturer of pre-engineered homes, announced today it has started work on some of the 30,000 temporary homes requested by the Japanese government to accommodate those displaced by the earthquake and tsunami.
Most of the prefabricated housing units will be manufactured at Viceroy’s plant in Richmond, using Canadian construction materials, before being shipped to Japan over the next two to three months.
Viceroy president Dan Fox told Business in Vancouver the company doesn’t typically build temporary housing units but is happy to do the necessary retooling to accommodate the work.
Japan comprises a quarter of Viceroy’s business and, for this initiative, Viceroy Homes is working with its exclusive Japanese building partner, Selco Homes, with whom it has a longstanding relationship.
Selco Homes’ head office is in the northern city of Sendai, at the centre of one of the most heavily damaged prefectures.
Having worked with Selco for more than 15 years, Fox is sympathetic to the plight of the Japanese people and was quick to offer help to “Japanese customers, colleagues and friends who have endured an unbelievably difficult situation.”
Fox told BIV, “This is obviously not a high-margin, big-business opportunity. But at the end of the day you’d like to think there is honour in business – even though it seems to be a vanishing aspect of it. These are our business partners and we want to help them out.”
Beyond responding to this initial emergency request from the Japanese government, Viceroy Homes will continue working with Selco to provide permanent housing solutions as Japan looks to rebuild upwards of 100,000 single-family units over the next three to five years in the devastated northern region.
“We are also prepared to offer our services and technical expertise to the Canadian government, should our government decide to include Canadian housing solutions as part of its own disaster relief program for Japan,” said Fox.