News

The Hokkaido Abira Municipal Hayakita Gakuen that utilizes timber produced from a forest owned by Mitsubishi Materials Corporation will open in April 2023.

Hayakita Gakuen, which is a new integrated elementary and junior high school for compulsory education created by merging three elementary schools and one junior high school in Abira town, is a community-based facility with a library, gymnasium, and other spaces open to the community. The new school building constructed for the opening of the school was designed and built based the concept of using materials nurtured by the local climate and history of Hokkaido. Of the materials use, about 524m³ of raw Japanese larch logs that were cut down for maintenance of Hayakita Forest, which is located in the town and owned by us, were used for the beams, columns, and other members of the new school building. This accounts for about half the amount of timber used for the school building.
Hayakita Forest is one of the principal forests of the approximately 14,000 ha of forest we own in Japan. We are engaged in activities that contribute to the local community, such as providing environmental learning opportunities for local children and students, while producing timber, particularly Japanese larch, with consideration for the natural environment. Through this initiative, we plan to deepen our relationship with the local community and engage in a variety of community-based activities.

We have company-owned forests in various areas of Japan and practice forest management that takes into account the habitats of the animals and plants that live in these areas. We will continue to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through efforts such as aiming to obtain Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECM) designation with company-owned forests and other areas in the future.

Interior of the school building that utilizes timber
from our forest

Hayakita Forest

Overall view of Abira Municipal Hayakita Gakuen (image)

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