BUILDING WITH WOOD:
MODERN SOLUTIONS FOR WOOD CONSTRUCTION

There is nothing new about using wood in building structures. Throughout the ages, in those places where forests grow, wood has commonly been used as a building material. The international trade in timber also means that countries with limited availability of forest resources can nowadays have access to wood for building purposes, wood that comes from sustainable and certified forests. Building with wood is energy-efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Wood has many benefits as a building material when compared with other materials. Above all it has a low weight in relation to its strength and load-bearing capacity. The material is 'flexible' and can be worked and crafted with simple tools. On top of this, it is a renewable, biological material that is part of the natural eco-cycle. In this way, the use of wood makes a vital contribution to the reduction of the earth's emissions of carbon dioxide. Wood constructions also have significant advantages in severe seismic zones.

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building on site and Off-site prefabrication

Single-Family Houses and Multi-storey buildings

Curtain walls/Infill walls and Partition walls/Inner walls

Insulation and Extensions

Case-studies

Building techniques

Several common techniques are available for constructing buildings with supporting frameworks made of wood. One way is to use structural wood members to form a frame which is covered with structural wood panels. Foundations are generally concrete.

This simple building technology is often used in the construction of single-family houses but also in the construction of multi-storey buildings. Another technique is to use solid timber for the supporting framework. Cross-laminated boards are glued together and used to build walls and joists. The walls may need to be insulated to give the building a high level of energy efficiency. The technique is well suited to the construction of multi-storey buildings.
Yet another technique is the system of columns and beams. In this case cross-laminated timber in different forms is used to a large extent for the load-bearing construction. All the framework systems mentioned satisfy modern criteria for fire safety, noise pollution and energy efficiency. Special consideration must be given to these functional criteria in the case of multi-storey buildings. Well tested technical solutions are now widely available.

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