A tiny Finnish wood company received a million dollar contract from Bhutan

A small Finnish company focused on wood processing technology Avant Wood has been involved in a rare project. The Kingdom of Bhutan plans to build the world’s first Mindfulness City, a city where awareness and happiness are key.

What is it about?

The country wants to build a completely new city called Gelephu Mindfulness City, which will be located at the foot of the southern Himalayas, right on the border with India.

The core idea is well-being and peace of mind, which Bhutan wants city dwellers to experience in harmony with nature. The city is going to be built from natural materials, and the city will use sustainable forms of energy, i.e. hydropower, wind and sun.

The main building material is wood. Finns have expertise in this.

“There are hundreds of tree species in the country that currently cannot be exploited commercially. We have developed a modification technology that can manage the drying of fresh wood or the processing of wood to meet the customer’s needs”, says the founder of Avant Wood Pekka Ritvanen.

Sample trees by mail to Finland

The Bhutanese became interested in Finland because Bhutan lacks proper wood processing skills.

Royal Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuckin representatives visited Finland in December of last year, after which things started to happen.

“After the meeting, we received a package that contained 31 half-meter-long samples representing different types of wood, which we began to test the modification of in our test facility,” says Ritvanen.

In Avat Wood, the device was therefore bought by the investment company of the country’s royal house Druk Holding and Investments.

The device is delivered from Finland. The transport of the device, which weighs more than 50 tons, consists of ten containers that go by ship to India and from there on to Bhutan. The journey takes a couple of months.

The value of the current contract is a few millions. Now that the doors to Bhutan are open, Avant Wood believes it will become a profitable activity.

“However, it is about long-term earning potential. Then, when the first devices are put into use, tens of millions of stores are waiting there,” says Ritvanen.

Avant Wood has got a Finnish investor name behind it Finlandia Finance. They did not want to reveal the value of their investment, but the funding supports Avant Wood in conquering Asia.

“I liked the company and its values ​​and their way of doing business. In addition, I am fascinated by developing markets”, says Petri Björkbacka Finland Financesta.

A legacy of spirituality

The project is ambitious to say the least. According to its marketing material, the city wants “conscious and sustainable companies that are inspired by Buddhist spiritual heritage” and that “want to put human well-being in the most important position”.

Wangchuck said when the plans were released that the country is “not bound by tradition and can innovate quickly to implement plans that other countries may hesitate to implement.”

Gelephu is a vast plain that covers about a thousand square kilometers.

The works to build the city have already started, the transport infrastructure is currently being built there. No building taller than natural wood will be built in the city.

Other Nordic experts have been attracted to the project, as a Danish sustainable development architect Bjarke Ingels is one of the main designers.

In addition, the construction of a new international airport and a dry port has started. There is no set completion date for the project.