Timber construction offers the civil engineering sector effective ways to reduce climate impact, with wood enabling flexible building systems and improving circularity.
The Swedish wood industry is technologically advanced compared to its international competitors and opportunities for exporting wood products and expertise are considerable.
The civil engineering sector accounts for approximately 40 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. An effective way of reducing emissions is to replace finite and fossil-based building materials and building systems with circular and flexible methods associated with renewable materials.
The entire supply chain – from the selection of raw materials to production and transport to finished buildings, use, final stage and recycling – affects emissions and the sustainability profile of buildings. The wood building sector needs to continue developing construction systems that reduce the climate footprint of the construction sector. This entails increased modularisation, new types of collaborative construction, more efficient joining technologies and optimising moisture, fire, sound and strength characteristics.
Industrialised wood construction
Industrialised wood construction is a primary driver in the construction sector’s transition to more sustainable construction methods. Suppliers of wood-based building systems for the construction of larger structures and apartment buildings already exist today. This has been made possible by industrial wood house builders that construct apartment buildings using highly industrialised manufacturing processes. This type of construction process is currently under rapid development with automation of information management and production processes. Further research and standardisation will support this trend.
Customised wood-based and resource-efficient processes
The construction and housing sector accounts for the largest proportion of wood product use in Sweden. The extent to which wood is refined may differ considerably between different segments and applications. In the furniture and carpentry industry, products have approximately 20 times the added value of wood products for the construction industry. Overall, value added and volumes can be increased significantly. Research plays an important role in this respect.
Increased knowledge about resource-efficient processes for splitting logs as well as drying and sorting sawn timber will be crucial to enable adaptation to specific customer requirements. This, in turn, is necessary for sustainable industrial processes.
Using a higher proportion of Swedish forest raw materials in long-lasting bio-based products is an effective way to contribute to Sweden’s goal of freedom from fossil fuels. A key aspect of these efforts is to develop more resource-efficient processes to enable production processes that can be more easily adapted to customer orders. For sawmills, this may also entail adapting to a changed raw material base.
Wood-based products in circular systems
Sustainable development requires wood-based materials and products to be repaired, upgraded and ultimately recycled to a greater extent. There is considerable potential in wood and wood construction for increased circularity. It is important to facilitate the reuse and recycling of components in products and buildings already in the design stage. Densification and extended lifespan of our existing buildings with the help of reconstruction as well as additions and extensions are other interesting development tracks. Research will provide increased knowledge and opportunities in this respect.
