Chile is a country of approximately 20 million people located along the west coast of South America. It occupies an area of more than 750,000 km2. There are abundant forest resources there. This Spanish-speaking country is currently facing a deficit in social housing. The government’s solution is to focus on the prefabrication of wooden buildings, a mega order of 600,000 housing units in 10 years.
It is in this context that the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics of Laval University welcomed a Chilean delegation of 14 people, mainly industrialists from the construction sector, between April 21 and 26.
“The delegation came here to see how we work in our ecosystem,” explains Professor Pierre Blanchet, from the Department of Wood and Forest Sciences and holder of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair on eco-responsible wooden construction. “I think we can say that Laval University researchers and Quebec entrepreneurs have international level expertise in prefabrication of wooden buildings,” he continues.
An opportunity to exchange
According to the professor, this technical-economic mission was first of all an opportunity to exchange. “The group visited eight factories,” he says. Each time, the visit exceeded the scheduled time. Sometimes it took three hours. I don’t mean it negatively. The people in the delegation asked a lot of questions to those who welcomed them.”
Economic development officer Frane Zilic represented the Chilean government on the delegation. During the interview with ULaval news, he named the company RG Solution as his first choice among the companies visited. The same goes for José Pablo Undurraga, a Chilean entrepreneur studying for a doctorate at the University of Biobío in Concepción.
RG Solution is located in Saint-Romain, in Estrie. This company specializes in custom modular construction based on independent working units. “The organization and logistics behind it are impressive,” says Frane Zilic. Professor Blanchet adds. “Everything is so well organized, sequenced,” he says. The unit is stable and the team and materials arrive at the cells in a very organized manner. Nothing is lying around, everything is clean. This is atypical for a factory. It feels like you’re entering a factory that’s stopped.” For José Pablo Undurraga, it is the philosophy of the team, not of the person. “If an employee makes a mistake,” he explains, “the team is responsible, not the individual.”
A long-standing collaboration
The mission was led by the University of Biobío. According to Pierre Blanchet, there are many links between the research in prefabrication of wooden buildings carried out at Laval University and the objectives behind the mission. “Six of the eight companies visited are research partners of Laval University,” he says. One of them is a young start-up launched by two master’s graduates in wood engineering and industrial engineering.”
The professor also mentions the self-locking connector for modular construction, an innovation imagined and designed by Laurence Picard, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering who has now graduated. This research project was carried out under the supervision of Pierre Blanchet and that of his colleague André Bégin-Drolet, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “The patent was sold to a French multinational,” he continues. I passed the information on to one of the Chilean engineers. He is interested to see if it is applicable in Chile.”
The collaboration between the two universities dates back around 25 years. Some professors from the University of Biobío did their doctoral studies in Quebec.
On the Laval University campus, the Chilean delegation visited the research laboratories of the Gene-H.-Kruger pavilion. A unique piece of equipment caught their attention: a climate unit capable of reproducing outdoor and indoor conditions.
A land deficit
The Chilean government’s ambitious project will face a major challenge: the lack of land on which to erect the small buildings. “We will face a problem of densification of urban land,” maintains Frane Zilic. For this, we will need to build tall buildings. However, for us, this represents a problem since we do not have the know-how. This is why the first stage of our strategic program will focus on one or two storey wooden buildings.”
According to Professor Blanchet, one of the main observations made by visitors related to a perception, that prefabrication requires large financial investments. “I think,” he said, “they realized that wasn’t the case. They saw how, in an SME context, Quebec companies succeed in doing prefabrication quite efficiently. They have their place in the market.”
José Pablo Undurraga highlights the presence, in the delegation, of the union representative Paola Zuñiga. She asked questions about health and safety at work, the presence of women in this industry, working conditions and salaries.
According to Frane Zilic, Chile and Quebec face the same issues to a certain extent, whether it be strategic positioning, carbon neutrality, the scarcity of labor and the future of construction. “We observe the same urgency,” he explains, “the same high prices and the need to move from artisanal construction to industrial construction. During our visit, we had good discussions on this.” And Pierre Blanchet added: “I agree with Frane on the global issues. Here at the University, we work on them with the Scots, the Spanish, the French. We really have an international positioning in all these issues, whether it is the use of wood or the industrialization of construction.”
The delegation visited the Maisons Laprise factory in Montmagny. This company is a manufacturer of energy-efficient, custom pre-fabricated kit homes.
The delegation poses with the Chilean flag in front of the RG Solution factory in Saint-Romain.
