Wooden Hospice: With Help from Our Friends
On a recent Alberta Forestry Mission to Japan, we were able to visit and tour a hospice being constructed in wood in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward on November 11, 2024. The project tentatively named “Family Hospice Kamishakuji House” is a 3-storey 1,400 m² facility that is being built with Canadian wood products; SPF, OSB and Hemlock, and once completed next year will have consumed a combined total of 250 m³ of these structural wood products in its construction. This 2×4 building incorporates the use of 1 hour Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) ministerial approvals that were jointly obtained by COFI Japan and the Japan 2×4 Home Builders Association. These fire resistive 1-hour MLIT ministerial approvals have enabled builders to expand two-by-four construction into non-residential, mid-rise, and large-scale buildings. A cumulative total of 228 2×4 fireproof medical and elderly facilities as well as a total of 156 midrise (4, 5 and 6 storey) fireproof structures have been constructed in Japan.
Mr. Hakuto of structural engineering firm Azusagawa Sekkei Co., Ltd. has played a pioneering role in the development of mid-rise 2×4 non-residential construction in Japan. He has worked closely with our organization over the years the company has supported our efforts, and his firm has worked on over hundred large and mid-rise wood projects and has frequently served as a keynote lecturer at our 2×4 non-residential seminars which are held across Japan to train architects and engineers and expand the market for Canadian forest products.
Mr. Takahashi, President & CEO Japan Hospice Holdings Inc., has cooperated with our organization to highlight and expand the number of wooden hospices being built across Japan since we first were acquainted at an elderly care seminar event that we co-sponsored introducing and highlighting building these projects with wood several years ago. His company has constructed over twenty wooden care related facilities and hospices across Japan with platform frame construction (PFC).
Recently, Mr. Shimizu, Mr. Nohara, and Mr. Miyashita who are all designers/architects and representatives of Masashi Yoshida & Associates Co., Ltd., were responsible for planning and designing this hospice, only the second two-by-four building the firm has designed. It is pleasing to see how these companies are working together to design and build these larger non-residential two-by-four structures across Japan, and by doing so, not only expanded their businesses, but also the market in Japan for Canadian wood products as well!!