CHINA: Rebuilding with help from British Columbia

. DON MILLS, Ontario / Canada.com / June 2, 2009 By Gordon Hamilton, Canwest News Service Vancouver Island carpenter Steve Ross moved to China two years ago as part of a Canadian effort to introduce the growing Chinese middle class to Canadian-style wood-frame homes. But it's not in the sophisticated setting of Shanghai -- where North American-style villas are a sign of status -- that he's making a mark. Instead, he's in mountainous Sichuan, a rural and mostly poor province where five million people were left homeless following a deadly earthquake on May 12, 2008. And he's not building villas for the rich. He and a handful of other Canadians are building small, affordable houses, made from British Columbia lumber, in the county of Qingchuan, where their work has been getting a lot of attention from the Chinese news media. Ross isn't attracting attention just because he's a foreigner who is helping rebuild after the disastrous 2008 earthquake. It's the type of house he and three other Canadian colleagues are building. Chinese normally do not build with wood. They prefer concrete or brick. But wood-frame houses are more earthquake resistant than brick, an obvious bonus in the minds of the residents of Qingchuan, as well as in faraway Beijing, where they remember the quake that left 90,000 people dead. The Canadians have been interviewed by Chinese reporters more than 20 times, and this spring Ross was introduced to 250 million Chinese television viewers as "Steve, the foreign carpenter," on China's CCTV news where he and Canada's wood-building expertise were showcased. It's the kind of attention that Ross -- director of training for Canada Wood, which is spearheading the wood-construction drive in China -- hopes will lead to a breakthrough. Related report Sichuan rebuilds with B.C. lumber China needs new houses. And Canada needs to sell lumber. B.C. in particular has been working for most of this decade on introducing wood-frame housing to China. Successes so far, it's fair to say, have been zip. Now, for the first time ever, B.C. lumber sales to China are rivalling those to Japan, even surpassing Japan in February and March. While only a tiny percentage of the wood is going into housing, it's raising hopes on this side of the Pacific that China may one day be a major lumber market. Ross believes the switch to low-cost housing in the earthquake zone, funded by an $8-million package from the B.C. and Canadian governments, is a factor in China's new interest in B.C. wood. "We are slowly seeing an actual market develop," Ross said from Shanghai, where he had returned for a few days. "When the locals see a wood-frame house, they recognize that it looks very stable in terms of earthquake resistance. The builders have noticed that and they want to grasp something new. And because it's relatively affordable they figure they can make a go of it as a new building system." And with North American lumber prices near record lows, Canadian wood-framed houses, complete with insulation, vapour-barriers and waterproofing technologies, are all of a sudden an affordable alternative to brick and stone. Ross trained local builders in the techniques of wood-frame construction and has overseen the construction of three demonstration homes. Other Canadians are building apartment complexes, a school, a special education centre and a home for the elderly. Further, another 60 single-family and multi-family homes are under construction by the local builders to be sold to local residents. Contracts have been signed for 150 new homes. © Copyright (c) Canwest News Service