Sustainable wood housing makes its mark in India

FiII India better known as ‘Canadian Wood’ is the crown agency of the government of British Columbia (B.C.) with a mandate to promote its forest products in offshore markets. B.C. is known world over as the leader in sustainable forest management and for its lumber with versatile qualities. In India, Canadian Wood has been actively engaged in promoting building with sustainably sourced B.C. wood species suited for a wide range of applications. Its collaboration with MAK Projects is a step further in this direction. MAK Projects – is a responsible and leading Constructions and Property development company based in Hyderabad. Spread over 250 acre in the heart of Hyderabad’s Knowledge City, BTR Greens by MAK Projects is a world-class gated and guarded community project. Comprising 300 premium villas, it offers all the luxuries of city-life in a serene environment. The Canadian Wood state-of-the-art villa is a unique part of this cluster that stands apart in its very appeal and making. The display villa has been made from almost ready-to-use, seasoned, sized, graded and certified lumber from B.C. The villa has been built in WFC (Wood Frame construction) style with Canadian spruce-pine-fir; a wood species known globally for its high dimensional strength and stability making it the perfect choice for structural applications. WFC style of construction is one of the most widely used methods to build in North America. This technique optimises the building process by helping reduce the time and cost involved in the construction process. All technical and material assistance was provided by Canadian Wood on the project. Speaking about the launch of Canadian Wood Villa, Pranesh Chhibber – Country Director, Canadian Wood said: “Growing awareness of the relationship between human health, the environment and the economy has led to a rise in the concept of sustainable wood homes in India. It’s a responsible decision to choose wood species such as Canadian Wood that are sourced from sustainably managed forests of British Columbia. Having said that, we encountered that the real estate industry in India, though highly accomplished in building with concrete, was found highly wanting in knowledge and local skills required to build with wood. That is when we at FII India decided to embark on identifying potential builders and contractors for sharing knowledge with and imparting training through seminars, training workshops and wood colleges besides, and sharing best practices to help develop local expertise. Additionally, we began supporting the developers by arranging the required architectural and structural engineering expertise from Canada to build with wood. The collaboration with MAK Projects is one such example of our efforts.” Commenting on the collaboration, H E Nawab Mir Nasir Ali Khan, Promoter and Managing Director, MAK Projects Private Limited, said; “Wood is a sustainable, renewable and natural building material. Even today, wood is amongst the few natural elements that can simultaneously achieve reduced carbon emissions, bring about increased sustainability in a building’s life cycle and offer improved occupant well-being. As compared to concrete and steel, it offers high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent design flexibility. It is known to be a very good insulator of heat and cold and is 15 times better concrete and 400 times better than steel. The Canadian Wood Villa is a significant step by MAK Projects towards demonstrating these intrinsic advantages of building with wood besides our commitment to sustainability. This landmark collaboration between Canadian Wood and MAK Projects is aimed at promoting sustainable wood housing in India as it offers multiple benefits over concrete and steel based infrastructure. We hope this becomes an example for others to follow.” The inauguration of the Canadian Wood display Villa at BTR Greens was scheduled on 8th October 2021 and was graced by honorable bureaucrats and reputed industry professionals.