BC Local News – April 1, 2016
Structurlam Products LP is literally reaching new heights in its latest construction projects.That includes the 55-metre, 18-floor Brock Common student residence at the University of B.C. which will be the tallest wood structure in the world. The company is providing the structural components made from its innovative, state-of-the art solid cross laminated timber (CLT) product Crosslam.
“The first two floors are concrete and then 16 floors of wood. Right here in little old Penticton you’ve got some world-class projects going through,” said Structurlam president Bill Downing. “All of it’s B.C. fibre, B.C. labour and it’s really a value-added story. This isn’t two-by -fours being shipped to China.”
Another feather in the company cap is the multi-million-dollar Rocky Ridge recreational centre being constructed in Calgary. There, the BC based Structurlam plants have been supplying the materials for North America’s largest wood roof. At its widest point, the 27-metre beams, when fastened together will stretch about 90 metres across. Described by its architects as “inspired by the hills and ribbon horizon of the foothills region, the soft, curving undulations of the building create an open and integrated facility.”
That translated into just short of an impossibility for those charged with the task of physically putting the pieces in place.”To see some of this stuff going through the shops is just mind boggling and not easy either, that’s for sure,” said Downing. “There are 2,000 pieces in it and no two are the same, it’s a really complicated roof.”