Everybody’s talking about sustainable development. It’s something that matters a lot to us at Barrette Structural Distribution. Not only have we made sure the performance of this plant would be optimal, with precise and efficient assembly of our products, but we’ve also worked hard to build a sustainable and green plant.
The plant where the Open Joist TRIFORCE® is manufactured is the largest industrial building using glued laminated lumber in Eastern Canada. What is glue laminated lumber? It’s a process where wood columns and trusses are made of small pieces of wood that are joined together and glued. It’s a unique manufacturing process which allows to use unused portions (like the head) of black spruce trees from mature Quebec forests.
Manufacturing glued laminated lumber is more energy efficient and reduces greenhouse gases while supporting the Canadian lumber industry.
In addition, solar walls were installed to save energy. How does it work? To maintain good air quality in the plant, the air has to be changed several times a day. During cold periods, this air has to be heated, which requires a lot of energy without solar walls. Thanks to their dark green colour, these walls absorb heat and the air passing through the thousands of holes in these panels is heated naturally.
We also make a point of checking on the physical and chemical parameters of underground water. Water quality is key to sustainability and we want to make sure to preserve it. This is why all activities that may have an impact on water are located outside of the recharge zone, and there are seven probes for continuous water quality monitoring.
All in all, we manufacture wood products in a plant made essentially of wood, working hard to comply with sustainable development principles.