The City of Quesnel and Cariboo Regional District have been presented with an award for adding wood components to the new West Fraser Centre.
Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson says it was the Canada Wood Council that presented them with a burnt wood plaque that will go up in the new arena.
Simpson says while the main building is concrete and steel, they worked with West Fraser, C&C Wood Products and Dunkley Lumber to try and infuse as much wood as possible…
‘That wood ceiling we have in there is a West Fraser product, MDF around the Mezzanine floor and over the next little while we will be adding more wood trimmings and wood finishings and so that concept of putting wood into that building was recognized by Woodworks.”
Simpson says they hope to feature more wood in the community for other potential projects…
“Particularly in the public sector, we’re asking for a new ICU-Emergency facility, potentially a new school, a new addition to the College of New Caledonia’s Trade Centre, we’re hoping to build a new gymnastics facility and do a retro-fit on the Rec Centre. We would like to see more wood in all of those projects and we would like the government to recognize that in many cases it’s an additive cost until such time as we can figure this out and bring the cost down.”
Simpson says they got a receptive year from the government that that makes sense to them that we drive our own domestic market, our own demand, and have wood infused in more of our public buildings.