Wooden buildings on the rise
New innovative solutions in wooden building components have allowed wood to enter into new construction end-uses traditionally dominated by concrete and steel. Massive wood elements open the way for taller wooden high-rise buildings than ever before.
Part of the bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wooden constructions, and paper globally. Our materials are renewable, reusable, and recyclable, and form the building blocks for a range of innovative solutions that can help replace products based on fossil fuels and other non-renewable materials.
Stora Enso’s Wood Products division provides versatile wood-based solutions for building and housing. Our product range covers all areas of construction, including massive wood elements and wood components. We also offer sawn timber goods, biocomposites and pellets for sustainable heating.
Building blocks of the future
Massive wooden materials like cross-laminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) play an essential role in building sustainable urban areas for the future. As an alternative to steel and concrete, wooden buildings and components store carbon during their lifetime. By using wood we can help cut carbon emissions up to 75%.
Building with high-performance, precision engineered wood materials or pre-fabricated elements allow you to push beyond wood’s perceived boundaries: achieve longer spans and new building heights while also reducing construction time, site waste and noise.
CLT, consisting of bonded single-layer panels arranged at right angles to one another, is produced in two Austrian factories with dimensions of up to 2.95 × 16 m. Stora Enso is also investing EUR 45 million in a new CLT production unit in Sweden. The investment will further enhance Stora Enso’s position as a global provider of high-quality engineered wooden elements and as a market leader in CLT.
LVL, produced in Finland, is engineered to be relatively stronger than steel, yet lighter than concrete. Consisting of 3 mm veneers glued together, this homogeneous massive wood product harnesses the power of Nordic spruce. LVL panels can measure up to 2.5 m x 24 m.
Taller wooden high-rise buildings
Meeting the demand for affordable multi-storey housing can now be done in a sustainable way, using massive wood components and elements, forming taller structures than ever be before.
For example, Stora Enso provides the solid wood products for the frame of the residential building Light House Joensuu, which will be almost 50 metres high. The main part of the massive wooden elements will be laminated veneer lumber (LVL) used for wall structures, whereas the floors will be made from cross-laminated timber (CLT).
“Light House Joensuu is an excellent example of how high-rising construction can be sustainable and quickly implemented. In addition, it combines our products and the best features of both LVL and CLT”, says Jari Suominen, EVP, Stora Enso, Division Wood Products.
Light House Joensuu will have some 120 student apartments. Construction work on the site began in early 2018, and is scheduled for completion in autumn 2019.
Moholt 50|50, comprising five CLT buildings and meeting the passive house standards, was selected the wooden construction of the year 2016 in Norway. The student accommodation is one of Europe’s largest cross-laminated timber structures, and the five towers are all 9 storeys high with a height of 28 metres.
In 2017 Stora Enso delivered 6 300 m3 of CLT to a wooden building project in Växjö, Sweden. The project includes 150 exclusive apartments and a pre-school. The tallest buildings will be 8 stories high and the project is one of the largest wooden building projects in the Nordic countries.
Are high-rise buildings in wood a solution?
Can high-rise buildings be built on a large scale? Listen to the podcast where Anssi Lassila, award-winning Finnish architect, Nils Lindstrand, Editor in Chief at Nordisk träteknik, and Gernot Weiss, Head of Business Line CLT at Stora Enso discuss the topic. Listen at Soundcloud.
Building concepts and BIM simplifying building in wood
Stora Enso is initiating a better network in the industry, creating an ecosystem that includes architects, designers, construction companies, city government officials and engineers, to mention a few.
On top of promoting the use of wood, Stora Enso is developing digital tools that help building professionals to increase the usage of wooden pre-fabricated building components. Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital component library will be essential for the development.
So, from schools to offices and high-rise buildings to family homes that lock in, not just release, carbon. Stora Enso can provide you the right products and building concepts - a sustainable way of unleashing your creativity today.
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