The second series of Forestry Speed Dating events organised by EFI Bioregions Facility is going ahead with new meetings. These events focus on the topic of biobased solutions for sustainable construction and are designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas among experts and practitioners.
Wood construction is seen as a prominent solution to reduce and reverse climate change as it is a way to capture and store carbon emissions long-term. But wood construction also faces many challenges. During the third event of the second Forestry Speed Dating series, two research projects will show their advances and results on sustainable innovations for Circular Design of Wooden Building materials.
Infuture Wood project – Design of timber buildings for deconstruction and reuse
The Infuture Wood project aims to identify the key problem areas regarding the reuse of wood from current buildings especially as structural material, and to propose technical and methodological solutions to address them. The project’s work on Design of timber building for deconstruction and reuse focuses on the primary design of buildings and ways to facilitate deconstruction rather than demolition. The project investigates what is to be optimised, encouraged and avoided in design – to be described by a “rebuilding factor”. Special attention is directed towards the design of connections, as this greatly affects the possibility to disassemble building components.
MODCONS project – Development of a circular economy in construction with added-value engineered wood products and modular construction
The MODCONS project investigates the design, development and experimental testing of a sustainable modular timber building solution to support national needs while also creating export opportunities in the sector. Underlying all aspects of the design is ensuring the modules are optimised for future deconstruction and reuse. The potential for use of Cross Laminated Timber panels fabricated using recovered material sourced from demolition sites is also outlined, considering quality and technical performance.