Category Archives: Wood, Paper & Green Building

In 2019, a masterpiece of engineering opened its doors in Steinberg am See, Germany. The worldwide largest walkable wooden sphere (capacity for 950 visitors at a time) by inMotion Park Seenland GmbH is superlative in many ways. With a weight of over 500 tons, a height of 40 metres and a diameter of almost 50 metres, this project can already be seen from afar. 627 m³ of glued laminated timber, 190 tons of steel parts, 40,000 screws, 18,000 bolts/building screws/dowels, 3,300 m² cladding panels, and 2,200 meters of railing – these are just a few of the key features of this enormous project. The twenty external structural glulam elements have an arch engraving of around 15 metres and a total length of 55 metres. …This made it possible to provide the glued laminated timber elements at the factory in Kleinheubach with two joints and to prefabricate them completely.

Envisioned by multidisciplinary studio AEMSEN, Barbizon is a modular residential complex that proposes a new urban living concept for barbizonlaan in capelle aan den ijssel, the netherlands. based of the principle of creating future-proof, sustainable and affordable housing, the project focuses on the use of a prefabricated timber structure that can be stacked to establish social interaction and a balance between the city and green spaces.  Barbizon has been designed as part of the redevelopment of the sites on the barbizonlaan, however, AEMSEN also proposes that the concept could be adapted to other locations and briefs. this specific scheme contains 112 apartments in 16 different housing types, varying in size from 45 m2 to 120 m2. the factory-built CLT modules are stackable and switchable without additional auxiliary construction. this dry construction method with biobased materials and gas-free apartments provides an attractive ecological residential complex.

ENGLAND — The Government’s recent consultation on extending the ban on combustible materials to more building types and lowering the height restriction in England. Andrew Carpenter, Chief Executive of the Structural Timber Association discusses how this ruling if adopted will severely inhibit our ability to decarbonise the UK construction industry. …Roger Harrabin, the BBC’s Energy and Environment Analyst ….rightly pointed out that this action would contradict other advice to increase timber construction because trees lock up climate-heating carbon emissions. But this also flies in the face of the support that the government itself has shown for offsite manufacturing to deliver much needed housing –  the most efficient of which are timber-based systems. …Furthermore, it is clear that the UK is out of step with the approach being taken by leading economies in Europe. 

Swedish engineering company Modvion has been granted €6.5m in EU funding to support manufacturing of its wooden turbine towers. …Funding will be used to build a development factory in the Gothenburg area, which will make a 100-meter unit for Varberg Energi. The company, which installed a first 30-metre unit on the island of Bjorko in April, has also signed declarations of intent with Rabbalshede Kraft for 10 towers, each at least 150 metres high. “This support from the EU is clear proof of the enormous potential of wooden wind turbine towers… We are now one step closer to being able to offer commercial, climate-neutral wind turbine towers,” said chief executive Otto Lundman. “We are seeing an enormous demand for our wooden wind turbine towers. Laminated wood is stronger than steel at the same weight and by building modularly, wind turbines can be made both higher and cheaper.”

Latvijas Finieris has together with Stora Enso taken the next steps towards replacing phenol – in resins used in plywood – with lignin. This new lignin-based glue significantly reduces the carbon footprint of plywood products all the way from production to final end-use applications without compromising on technical performance. Months of co-development, trials, industrial tests and commitment from both companies eventually led to the development of a lignin-based resin ideal for plywood products. …“Results of industrial production trials show that all technical properties of RIGA Plywood remain unchanged when the environmentally friendly glue RIGA ECOlogical is applied, containing Stora Enso’s kraft lignin Lineo™. Of course, it’s only the beginning. Our aim is to develop completely fossil-free plywood glue in the future, although there is still a lot of research work ahead to achieve that,” Būmanis concludes.

As the spotlight falls on Forestry, as one of New Zealand’s biggest industries to help revive the economy post lockdown, the New Zealand Forest Sector Forum is asking the question – why isn’t NZ using more locally-sourced wood, and getting behind its zero-carbon construction properties? We’ve got to use more wood in NZ, reversing the reliance on concrete and steel in our construction. Only by doing this will we mitigate the effects of climate change, increase the use of a naturally renewable resource and strengthen regional economies. Not only is wood locally produced, supporting approximately 30,000 jobs, but wood is the best choice for the environment. …Using locally grown timber helps reduce its carbon footprint, as there are no emissions from transporting timber from offshore. …With such a reliance on concrete and steel in current construction, the NZ Forest Sector Forum is asking the question – why don’t New Zealanders use more wood?

You don’t have to be an expert in construction to know that wood burns. You might also recall that parts of London were destroyed in the Great Fire because they were made largely of wood, after which they were rebuilt in brick and stone. So it will seem a reasonable reaction to the Grenfell disaster that the government banned timber (along with other combustible materials) from the exterior of residential buildings more than 18 metres high.  …But there’s a cost to this caution, which is that it will impede one of the most promising recent innovations in building. …High-performing timber construction will continue to expand, in other words, in many parts of the world, but will be held back in England.  …Part of the problem is that the current ban doesn’t adequately distinguish between the cladding, or outer skin of a building, and its structure. 

TOKYO — Furniture prices in Japan have been on the rise recently, with industry watchers pointing to the growing popularity of domestically made whisky and its aging casks as contributing to a shortage of timber. Karimoku Furniture has hiked prices about 10% on almost all its products, starting with deliveries made last summer. Sharply higher costs for raw materials and shipping prompted the move. …White oak, favored for its strength and durability, is the material of choice for making whisky barrels. The barrels are fabricated from straight-grain lumber, which can come only from trees with straight annual rings. …Apart from white oak, teak, walnut and Japanese beech have been go-to varieties. White oak and walnut in particular have reportedly taken on larger profiles at the Milan furniture fair, one of the largest of its kind. 

Picking up fruit and veg at the supermarket is set to be a little different with supermarket Woolworths ditching plastic packaging for cardboard. To mark World Environment Day today, the supermarket giant has begun a trial where its Fresh Food Kids range of mini apples, pears and bananas will be packed in cardboard boxes rather than plastic bags. The see through plastic bags will be changed for coloured boxes which have a resemblance to McDonald’s Happy Meal packs. That follows on the heels of bananas, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, broccolini, sweet potatoes and organic apples which have seen the plastic used in packing them reduced or axed completely. … Earlier this week, Woolies stores began offering customers the option of a brown paper bag.

The Forest Owners Association says more exports of processed timber products from New Zealand looks a good prospect on paper, but Shane Jones’ current Log Bill is not going to achieve this and there are better options. Forest Owners is responding to statements from the New Zealand Wood Processors and Manufactures Association in favour of the Bill, which the WPMA expects will result in diversion of export logs to local sawmillers at cheaper prices. Forest Owners President Phil Taylor says any legislation which diverts income from one part of a sector to another is distortionary to the economy. …Phil Taylor says there are ways to grow processing in New Zealand which would work. “A timber preference policy for wood construction is one obvious and cost-free way the government could give substance to its ambitions for local processing.”

The French government is poised to pass a law that stipulates that new public buildings will have to be built from 50 per cent biobased materials from 2022. It’s a timely shot in the arm for evangelists of mass timber construction. Many have been frustrated by the slow uptake of such materials, despite their ability to significantly reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry, producer of upwards of 40 per cent of global carbon emissions according to some estimates. …The newly proposed legislation builds on commitments already in place for the development of Paris’s 2024 Olympic complex, which state that any building under eight storeys will primarily be constructed using timber. ‘There is no reason that what is possible for the Olympics should not also be possible for ordinary buildings,’ argued Julien Denormandie, the French Minister for Towns and Housing.

Critics predict that wind farms will produce more greenhouse gases in the production of concrete for their foundations and steel in their construction than they will produce electricity. The Swedish cleantech startup Modvion wants to change that.  The company has installed Sweden’s first wooden wind power tower on Björkö outside Gothenburg. The 30-meter wooden tower is intended for research purposes. The first commercial wooden wind turbines are to be built in Sweden as early as 2022.  “This is a major breakthrough that paves the way for the next generation of wind turbines. Laminated wood is stronger than steel at the same weight, and by building in modules, the wind turbines can be taller. By building in wood, we also reduce carbon dioxide emissions in manufacturing and instead store carbon dioxide in the design“, says Otto Lundman, CEO of Modvion AB.