Market: China

CWC to cultivate local talents for wood prefab with key industry stakeholders

Canada Wood China has agreed to work with two key industry stakeholders to cultivate local talents for wood and hybrid prefabrication.

Executives from Canada Wood China, the China Association of Construction Education and Shanghai Lenyer Technology Co. kicked off the cooperation at a launching ceremony at Tongji University in Shanghai on March 17th.

The group pledged to work together on modernizing teaching methods in construction education, especially on wood and wood/hybrid prefabrication. Canada Wood is expected to offer expertise in wood structure construction, as well as wood prefabrication projects. Read more

Market: China

Shanghai to draw up technical guidelines on passive house constructions

The Shanghai municipal government has started compiling a guidebook on passive house constructions, a move it hopes will encourage a more energy-saving and environmentally friendly construction model.

The Shanghai Green Building Council and East China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co. LTD will compile the book. The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has also endorsed the idea.

A passive house is a building that does not require conventional heating on account of its excellent thermal insulation. Such buildings are called “passive houses” because most of their heating requirements are met through “passive” sources such as solar radiation or waste heat from occupants and technical appliances. A Passive House uses about 90 percent less heating energy than existing buildings and 75 percent less energy than an average new construction. Read more

Market: China

China to set up ministry of natural resources

China will set up a new ministry to protect and manage the country’s natural resources, according to a reform plan submitted to the national legislature on March 14th.

The restructuring of the State Council, China’s cabinet, is designed to streamline government and make it more efficient and service oriented.

Responsibilities of the new ministry will include overseeing the development and protection of the country’s natural resources, setting up and implementing a spatial planning system, and establishing a system for paid use of natural resources.
Read more

Market: China

Suzhou wood project wins 2018 BC Wood Design Awards

A timber structure project in Jiangsu Province has won the International Wood Design Award at the 2018 Wood Design Awards in Vancouver, Canada.

The Timber Structure Enterprise Pavilion at the Jiangsu Horticultural Expo in Suzhou was honored for excellence in wood building and design at the 14th annual industry event hosted by Wood Works! BC, a national industry-led program of the Canadian Wood Council.

The design of the pavilion’s main hall was inspired by three concepts: pastoral landscapes, environmental science and cultural life. Read more

Market: Japan

Canada Wood Launches Midply Promotions Campaign

During the first quarter Canada Wood commenced our branding and promotions campaign to raise awareness about the Midply high performance shear wall system. Thanks to multiple years of technical development work we anticipate ministerial and code approvals for Midply in fiscal 2018. A promotional campaign is being launched to coincide with these forthcoming approvals to raise awareness and encourage commercial adoption of this high seismic performance shear wall system.

Canada Wood worked with a graphic designer and media relations expert to develop the Midply branding and catch copy. The branding campaign is being rolled out through print and internet media through interviews with influential technical experts and a case study of the first Midply project in Japan. Read more

Market: Japan

Canada Wood Launches “Wood-Solutions.org” New Website for Architects

On March 15th Canada Wood Japan launched a new “wood-solutions.org” website targeted at supporting architects and designers specifying wood products. The project was led by Yusuke Neriko, Canada Woods’ Marketing & Technical Support Representative – Hybrid Building Systems. The site is an interactive tool and resource base for designers interested in specifying in wood. It contains extensive case examples of Japanese and Canadian wooden projects as well as detailed specifications for structural assembly options. Read more

Market: Japan

Japan Housing Starts Summary for January 2018

Total housing starts dropped 13.2% to 66,358 units in January. In particular, non-wood construction fell significantly while wooden housing largely held its own. The mansion condominium starts fell 50.2%, dragging down the non-wood starts average. I would caution against reading too much into this one month decline: condo starts are notoriously volatile depending on the timing of when large projects start or stop. Wooden starts totaled 38,962 units, just 0.3% behind last year’s pace. Single family owner occupied housing increased 0.1% while rentals declined 10.8%. Read more

Market: Japan

Japan Economic Update

Japan has been experiencing the longest period of uninterrupted growth since the 1980s, however, recent indicators possibly point to some rough sailing ahead. Exports have posted 15 consecutive months of growth, registering a 1.8% gain in February. From the beginning of January to the end of March, Japan’s Nikkei 225 equity index fell close to 14% to the low 21,000 level. With the imposition of new US tariffs on steel and aluminum there is growing concern Japanese exporters will be caught up in rising trade tensions. International trade uncertainty is also resulting in a strengthening of the Japanese yen from the 112 level to USD in January to the 105 level by late March. Read more

Market: Japan

COFI Midrise Wood Building Design Awards

To accelerate the adoption and expand awareness of 2×4 midrise wood construction projects (4-storeys or higher) in Japan. In a first of its kind, COFI Tokyo conducted a wood midrise design competition with support of Japanese government, academics and industry. The design competition began on November 16th, 2017 and applications from architect firms and construction companies were received until January 22nd, 2018. On February 23, an expert panel of judges, three rrenowned Japanese architects, deliberated and selected eight projects to be recognized for innovation and excellence at a gala award ceremony hosted at the Canadian Embassy in March 22nd. Read more

Market: Korea

8th Year Inspection of the Canadian Treated Wood at Jinju Field Testing Site Reveals No Surprise

The inspection of the Canadian treated wood samples for ground contact and ground proximity test was conducted on March 9, 2018 in collaboration with Professor Jong-Bum Ra of the Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology (GNTEC), an expert and scholar on wood preservation, and Canada Wood Korea at the field testing site in Jinju located in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.

The inspection found all the samples made from refractory wood species from Canada, Western Hemlock and White Spruce, are all in excellent condition showing no sign of damage by decay or termite attack after almost 7 and a half years since they were first installed while untreated controls are deteriorating by decay and termite attacks. Read more

Market: Korea

Promoting WFC in Busan, Korea’s Second Largest City

The Busan Housing & Interior Exhibition is held at BEXCO in Busan every March and Canada Wood Korea (CWK) opened our industry booth again this year, introducing Canadian lumber and engineered wood to visitors. In particular, the CWK’s booth, which was designed and built with Canadian S-P-F lumber, became one of the best booths at the Busan Housing & Interior Exhibition attracting thousands of visitors.

CWK technical staffers handed out booklets and materials on WFC technology published by CWK for free, responded tons of questions on WFC and trade lead at the CWK booth and introduced the latest materials and technologies including Wood Infill Wall, CLT, NLT, Midply Shear Wall, and so on. Read more

Market: Korea

WFC Seismic Design B to B Seminar and Workshop Held in Busan

Canada Wood Korea is flooded with inquiries about the WFC seismic design due to concerns that Korea is no longer safe from earthquakes and the intensified construction laws on seismic design.

In particular, the southeastern region has been showing growing interest in seismic design since the earthquakes in Gyeongju and Pohang, and Canada Wood Korea held the WFC Seismic Design B-to-B Seminar at the Westin Chosun Busan Hotel on March 9, inviting key architects in Busan and southeastern Korea. Over 20 local architects including the president of the Korean Institute of Architects Busan attended the B-to-B Seminar and discussed WFC seismic design with Prof. Sang Sik Jang of Chungnam National University who is one of the code writers of the Korean Building Code. Read more