By IAN ROSS
Northern Ontario Business
A Belgian home builder could be manufacturing upscale European-style homes and building components in North Bay by mid-2005.
Quackels, a small, family-run company based in Kontich, Belgium, specializing in the construction of high-quality, custom-made homes, has purchased manufacturing space in the city to build pre-engineered components for the Canadian and North American markets.
The company, which has already built two model show-homes in Brampton and North Bay, has purchased the former Beauticians Supply building on Ferris Drive as a site for a future manufacturing facility.
The company produces block and stone-like panels made of composite material that can be used in the home-building and refurbishment market, says Rick Evans, North Bay’s manager of economic development.
The number of jobs that could potentially be created or the size of the investment is not yet known. The company has not moved any equipment on site, but Evans says they expect to be in operation by the first or second quarter of 2005.
Quackels will manufacture the composite material at the Ferris Drive location and new additional space will likely be needed for the home-manufacturing side.
“In Europe, they don’t build any houses to inventory,” says Evans. “Every house is pre-sold.”
Homes are built to the customer’s design specifications, shipped out and installed.
Evans says the company is still conducting market research in North America, fine-tuning some changes to their product and is “working to get comfortable” with domestic trades people.
Quackels is one of a number of diverse companies that has Evans grinning about North Bay’s long-term future.
The city is planning a marketing campaign focused on the city’s thriving and diverse light industrial base, as well as promoting internationally the region’s value-added mining expertise as part of a northeastern triangle of mining camps.
“No one city, including Sudbury, has the critical mass to be all things to all people. We feed off each other.”
Companies such as drill-bit makers J.N. Precise, Stroma Engineering, Seymour Windows and BW Marine Products are either expanding or finding niche markets with specialty products.
The tourism component is also a potential engine for growth.
Though North Bay does not boast any large-scale man-made waterfront attractions, the city is seeking to cultivate partnerships with communities and agencies to recognize and promote the Blue Sky Region’s “under-utilized” natural products.
“Temagami is a fantastic attraction when you think of Grey Owl, the lake itself, old growth pine and the trail system that’s developed,” says Evans. “We just need the right partnership in place to take advantage of these.”
He calls Algonquin Park a “phenomenal attraction” that can be marketed relatively inexpensively to European and Asian audiences.
As well, there is an abundance of outdoor adventure activities, leisure farm tours, artisan tours, area sport fisheries and ATV trail systems that can be
cooperatively packaged as natural destination attractions.
