Using timber to rebuild the earthquake-stricken Christchurch could revitalise New Zealand’s stagnating timber industry, one of the city’s mayoral candidates, Jim Anderton, has said.
The South Island city is facing a major building and renovation programme after suffering a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on September 4.
“Wood is a material whose time has come in an earthquake-prone country,” Mr Anderton told The Press newspaper.
Timber was environmentally friendly, energy efficient and recent NZ research showed building with wood could be 8% cheaper than using steel or reinforced concrete, said Mr Anderton.
“Approriately designed wooden buildings built for residential or commercial use can also be more earthquake proof and fire resistant,” he said.
“If we in Christchurch rediscover the advantages, beauty and flexbility of wood as a building product, our timber industry will develop as a vibrant, commercially sustainable and internationally competitive sector.”
Mayor Bob Parker agreed that wood offered opportunities and said it would be “in the mix” when rebuilding talks began.
