Massive Canada logo/via massivecanada.com
A Lower Mainland company, which is developing new projects through “mass timber,” is set to make a major investment in the Interior.
Port Moody-based Massive Canada‘s CEO Gaetan Royer says they’re hoping to finalize a deal by the end of this month to establish a mass timber manufacturing plant in Williams Lake.
“We’re going to be refurbishing an existing building that was used for engineered wood for decades, actually, in Williams Lake. It’s located right next to West Fraser’s sawmill and Tolko.”
Royer says once the purchase of the land and building goes through — possibly by the end of June — they expect small-scale operations to get underway by early next year.
“If we strike the deal before the end of the month, then we will be in operation in very modest… almost building the units by hand… in January 2024,” said Royer. “By the end of the year in 2024, we’re going to be operating with 70 people who are going to be employed in the plant, and all the way up to 140 when we’re into multiple shifts in a couple of years.”
Royer says while this new project will have direct benefits for Williams Lake, he says they hope their products will be utilized in construction throughout the province, noting their products use wood which is readily available in the BC Interior.
“We’re going to be utilizing lumber that is of small dimensions. We’re not looking at taking 12-by-12 lumber. We’re looking at simple, run-of-the-mill two-by-fours, two-by-sixes,” noted Royer. “We’re going to be utilizing that to create housing in Williams Lake, and ship those housing units to other locations within the Interior of BC as well as the Lower Mainland.”
Massive Canada, with its planned 68-million dollar investment in Williams Lake, is one of a number of companies diving into the “mass timber” construction concept, which sees small pieces of wood glued together to create industrial strength supports for construction projects that would otherwise utilize concrete.
“Mass timber” has been earmarked by the BC government as an “emerging economic sector” in this province.
