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More News – Wood Showcase Project Overview
Over the past 10 years, the Vancouver Island Association of Wood Processors and its business arm, the Island Wood Processors Cooperative, have provided innovative services to the Island's value-added wood products sector. Recently the VIAWP has responded to the need to create a permanent venue that showcases the beauty of BC native wood species and the quality workmanship of Island and Coastal manufacturers.
The Showcase facility will broaden markets for manufacturers in communities such as Victoria, Duncan and Nanaimo that currently enjoy strong local demand for their products. But more importantly, it will provide new opportunities for existing sawmills and value-added operators and incentives for start-ups in the Courtenay-Comox Campbell River north region. Communities in Gold River, Tahsis, Zeballos, Port Alice, Port Hardy, Port McNeill, Alert Bay, Sointula, Kelsey Bay, Sayward, the Queen Charlottes, Bella Coola and Bella Bella stand to benefit from increased economic diversification and employment growth.
The VIAWP is a founding member of the Wood Co-op showcase and retail outlet on Vancouver's Granville Island. We will build on this successful business model, by bringing together the value-added wood-processing sector with complementary Island and Coastal enterprises.
OBJECTIVES
Our first objective is to create a venue that attractively displays and markets VIAWP member products and other participating value-added wood processors, artisans, and building products' producers. Other important objectives are:
Stimulating value-added sector growth and job opportunities for Coastal communities.
Enhancing the sector's public profile.
Providing marketing support for smaller processors, particularly those in northern communities.
Expanding opportunities in domestic and international markets for larger operators.
Creating linkages with government and non-government trade organizations.
Creating a venue for trade missions and investors to view products and processing facilities.
Building relationships between producers and wood products' specificiers.
BENEFITS
The VIAWP Showcase facility will fill a critical gap by demonstrating the structural, interior and exterior, and furnishing capabilities of the value-added sector. It will create a one-stop shop for individual, domestic and international high-end builders, contractors and architects. Other key benefits include:
Creating a destination where tourists can view value-added wood, aquaculture, agriculture, and viniculture products and purchase unique giftware such as First Nations' arts and crafts.
Enabling operators such as shake and shingle manufacturers and small sawmills to focus on their business by providing a key marketing service.
Building economic diversification and employment in Island and Coastal communities.
Enhancing awareness of the environmental sustainability of the wood products industry.
Promoting increased fibre supply and value-added processing by developing stronger relations between primary mills, remanufacturers, and the millwork and furniture sectors.
PARTICIPATION
The VIAWP membership has demonstrated its support for the project, with 75% of its producing members agreeing to participate in the Showcase. Further marketing of the Showcase concept is expected to attract strong interest from First Nations and other artisans, complementary building product manufacturers, and aquaculture and agricultural associations.
BUSINESS MODEL
The Showcase facility will be a self-sustaining operation, funded by participants' fees. The fee structure developed will consider products displayed and participation levels in the facility.
PROMOTION
The Showcase facility will mount its own promotion through a Website launch, ongoing advertising, invitations to buyers, and coordinated marketing with partner organizations.
SHOWCASE FACILITY LOCATION
Because of its mid Island location, strong growth potential, transportation amenities and support from local economic development organizations, the Comox Valley is a prime site for a centrally-located Showcase facility site.
Geographically central to the North and South Island and East and West Coast, the Comox Valley features a full-service commercial airport with expanding service throughout Canada and the U.S. As a location for the Showcase facility it is conveniently accessible to participants and prospective buyers. The anticipated tourism stream from the new Campbell River cruise ship facility and the Mount Washington Olympic training facility will generate additional traffic to the Showcase facility site.
For more information contact:
Vancouver Island Association of Wood Processors
#208 - 312 Mount Benson St., Nanaimo, BC V9S 5K2
Phone: (250) 754-3270 Fax: (250) 754-3250
Email. viawp@telus.net
Website. www.islandwoodpro.com
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