February 21, 2009
Duncan Company Designs Healthy Pre-fab for Aboriginal Housing Crisis
Small, but big enough for a family of four, this manufactured-home design is from a Duncan company that hopes the home is a partial answer to the housing challenges on Indian reserves.
Brent Pollard, sales director for EcoSIP Industries Inc., said the company has put together two designs at the request of the Carrier Chilcotin First Nation, near Williams Lake, which is initially looking for six houses. The company is also talking to other bands.
The cost of the 500-square-foot house is $55,000.
The house comes with a fire-retardant coating and another coating that eliminates the infamous mould growth.
Additionally, the EcoSIP houses would be equipped with a ventilation system that removes moisture and recaptures the heat from stale air.
A grant from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. to Carrier Chilcotin is for about $40,000 per house and the band was anxious to keep the cost down, because of the high rate of rent default, Pollard said.
As a bonus, heating costs are low in the homes, which are built of structural insulated panels -- a sandwich of oriented strandboard, plywood or concrete-board skins filled with foam.
The home has one bedroom, a sleeping loft, kitchen, living room and bathroom and the design can be expanded to about 2,000 square feet.
Pollard said the company assembles the floors, walls and roof in the factory and ships those parts, and the kitchen and bathroom materials to the site.
'Now we're looking at whether we can produce it on a larger scale and drive the cost per unit down,' he said.
The EcoSIP/Carrier Chilcotin collaboration couldn't come at a better time, for either.
On Wednesday Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced the federal government would spend about $50 million on reserve housing in B.C. over the next two years.
The federal government will spend $400 million over the next two years on reserve housing across the country.
The response to the announcement highlighted the need.
'We are moving beyond jurisdictional concerns to address this urgent issue,' Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations said in the federal government news release.
'Our people know too well the dire situations that are our communities are facing, and we can no longer ignore the housing crisis. It is time to come together, in partnership with governments, to develop a joint-process ... that dramatically improve the housing and infrastructure for First Nations.'
The Vancouver Sun
Brent Pollard, sales director for EcoSIP Industries Inc., said the company has put together two designs at the request of the Carrier Chilcotin First Nation, near Williams Lake, which is initially looking for six houses. The company is also talking to other bands.
The cost of the 500-square-foot house is $55,000.
The house comes with a fire-retardant coating and another coating that eliminates the infamous mould growth.
Additionally, the EcoSIP houses would be equipped with a ventilation system that removes moisture and recaptures the heat from stale air.
A grant from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. to Carrier Chilcotin is for about $40,000 per house and the band was anxious to keep the cost down, because of the high rate of rent default, Pollard said.
As a bonus, heating costs are low in the homes, which are built of structural insulated panels -- a sandwich of oriented strandboard, plywood or concrete-board skins filled with foam.
The home has one bedroom, a sleeping loft, kitchen, living room and bathroom and the design can be expanded to about 2,000 square feet.
Pollard said the company assembles the floors, walls and roof in the factory and ships those parts, and the kitchen and bathroom materials to the site.
'Now we're looking at whether we can produce it on a larger scale and drive the cost per unit down,' he said.
The EcoSIP/Carrier Chilcotin collaboration couldn't come at a better time, for either.
On Wednesday Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced the federal government would spend about $50 million on reserve housing in B.C. over the next two years.
The federal government will spend $400 million over the next two years on reserve housing across the country.
The response to the announcement highlighted the need.
'We are moving beyond jurisdictional concerns to address this urgent issue,' Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations said in the federal government news release.
'Our people know too well the dire situations that are our communities are facing, and we can no longer ignore the housing crisis. It is time to come together, in partnership with governments, to develop a joint-process ... that dramatically improve the housing and infrastructure for First Nations.'
The Vancouver Sun
News & Updates
December 12, 2009
NUDURA - ECOSIP INDUSTRIES INC IS AN AUTHORIZED DEALER!!
We are excited to announce that ECOSIP Industries Inc now can supply NUDURA Insulated Concrete Forms or ICFs on the island from Victoria to Comox Valley!
NUDURA combines the precise materials and techniques to provide a sustainable development for all your commercial and residential...
» Read moreNovember 5, 2009
MISTIC AWARDS
On November 5th the Mid-Island Science Technology & Innovation Council or MISTIC held their 2009 annual Awards Ceremony at the Vancouver Island Conference Center in Nanaimo. Over 300 invited industry leaders, government, municipalities, First Nations and representatives from Post secondary institutions attended to recognize local...
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