Just a little more than two weeks ago, Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell was showing off B.C.'s first six-storey wood frame condominium in Richmond to a high-ranking Chinese official.
The six-storey wood frame condo, known as The Remy, burned down earlier this week, which Bell acknowledge was disappointing.
However, Bell said he believes there will continue to be a keen interest on the part of the Chinese to look at wood frame construction as an option.
Chinese vice-minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Qiu Bao Xing made the visit to Vancouver to discuss how wood-frame construction could help solve China's housing needs.
Bell noted the Richmond building burned while under construction, when it is most vulnerable to fire. "We do absolutely believe once the building is built, it is safe with the appropriate measures in place which this building would have had," he said.
The Richmond building was the first to take advantage of B.C. building code changes introduced in 2009 allowing wood-frame buildings as high as six storeys.
Wood-frame buildings had been limited to four storeys due to fire risk and structural concerns.
Bell said he expects no impact on B.C. lumber sales to China, which reached a record 2.8 billion board feet with a value of $687 million, supplanting Japan as the province's No. 2 export destination after the U.S.
The province, in co-operation with the Canadian government and industry, have been making a push to gain acceptance for wood as a construction material in housing, particularly in three-and-more storey walk-up apartments common in China.
Although B.C. has made inroads into the Chinese market, lumber has been used largely in concrete forming, scaffolding and in secondary manufacturing. There has been some success in using wood in roof trusses and in-fill walls.
Forest industry consultant Russell Taylor, who has expertise in the Chinese market, said he didn't view the incident as particularly troubling, since wood buildings under construction have burned down before. "My take it it's really unfortunate timing and really bad if you are trying to market six-storey wood-framed buildings," said Taylor, president of the Vancouver-based International Wood Markets Group.
Firefighters say the blaze broke out at around 10:30 Tuesday night, and because the building was still under construction, it was quickly engulfed in flames.
Crews could only try to keep the fire from spreading to nearby properties -- a task complicated by flaming embers that sparked small fires on several properties up-wind of the blaze.
An empty house next to the destroyed 188-unit condo could not be saved. Investigators say it's too early to determine the cause of the fire.
The B.C. Liberal government has promised a Wood Innovation and Design Centre downtown in Prince George, which Bell has said could be built with wood six storeys or higher.
Prince George fire chief John Lane said as long as building code standards are followed for larger wood-frame construction, he does not have any concerns.
Lane noted that any building under construction is more susceptible to fire, and when it gets under way it's hard to stop.
