It is part of the company’s focus on China, where it hopes to create demand for two-by-four housing, a skilled workforce to deliver it, and even the sawmills to manufacture lumber from timber harvested in Siberian forests.
Canfor’s director of marketing Lynn Embury-Williams said the company sees “huge opportunities” despite the absence of a tradition of wood construction in China.
She had returned from Shanghai, where the Canfor school had just completed its first week of classes. Eighty-five students from around the country were introduced to North American construction methods.
“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Ms Embury-Williams said. “Our number one focus is to develop the two-by-four construction method in China.”