A developer is to use 500-year-old scrap timber from a second world war airplane hangar to build homes in British Columbia.

Vancity Enterprises paid more than C$400,000 for the Douglas fir forming the structure of No 1 Hangar at 19 Wing Comox on Vancouver Island.

The demolition of the hangar is currently the province’s largest recycling project.

Jacques Khouri of Vancity Enterprises said the timber included sections which could not be bought today, such as 34ft spans.

He intends to use the wood for flooring and decorative features in several housing projects, including a 60-unit social housing scheme in Burnaby and a sustainable community project in Victoria.