Buildings and Education in Wood Ecosystem for the New European Bauhaus

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

The transition to a sustainable and inclusive society requires changes in habits, innovation, investments and many other areas, including the building industry. Construction consumes a large quantity of finite resources and generates about 33% of global carbon emissions. In the EU, buildings consume approximately 40% of all energy and total construction output is predicted to grow by 85% by 2030. 

Despite better energy efficiency, embodied carbon accounts for more than 50% of the whole life carbon footprint of a new building. Shifting to timber construction would significantly reduce the environmental impact of buildings over their life cycle.

The use of timber for construction has grown in recent years but in Europe is still on a relatively small scale due to a combination of technological, economic, social and policy barriers. Challenges include high risks from fire and rain, a lack of confidence in the durability of wooden construction, a shortage of trained professionals, low public awareness, weak incentives for sourcing local timber supplies, and limited promotion of wood as a viable and sustainable construction material.

Equally challenging is the need to ensure that construction timber comes from sustainable local forest resources. There are few opportunities for training, knowledge-sharing and cooperation between the research, forestry and building sectors, and this lack of collaboration can lead to fragmented local supply chains. 

The potential for timber construction and refurbishment in social housing is huge, given that some 25 million apartments in Europe are managed through social housing operators. In Italy alone, social housing cooperatives manage about 758 000 buildings which are home to some 1.2 million households.

OBJECTIVES

The LIFE BE-WoodEN preparatory project’s overall aim is to encourage low carbon buildings, improve circularity, promote innovative solutions for both large and small buildings, and overcome barriers currently restricting the use of timber. This in turn will support the New European Bauhaus (NEB)’s values of beauty, sustainability and inclusiveness through multi-discipline participation and engagement, and boost local sustainable economies and timber supply chains. 

The project will create a diverse European network of:

• Italian and European universities to provide training, (the Bauhaus Academy)
• local authorities and local development companies
• the Italian Federation of Wood Producers
• furniture designers and craftsmen
• European social housing associations

The project consortium will support all actors involved in the design, production, construction, building management, renovation, dismantling and demolition sectors to overcome barriers to the wider use of timber. It will do this through training, raising awareness and building partnerships within the framework of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) — specifically under flagship initiatives 2 (Supporting urban zero pollution action) and 6 (Showcasing zero pollution solutions for buildings) of the Zero Pollution Action Plan.

The project’s specific objectives are to:

• increase knowledge about the entire life cycle of timber construction
• enhance expertise in the design and construction of buildings, furniture and public spaces
• promote innovative, experimental and multidisciplinary training
• develop 2 pilot local timber supply chains with the active cooperation of local administrations, technicians, end users and others
• communicate the resulting training sessions and guidelines through a newly established pioneer NEB hub in Italy

RESULTS

The LIFE BE-WoodEN project’s expected results are: 

• 2 000 professionals trained
• 500 organisations reached through podcasts
• 30 000 contacts engaged by social media
• 50 public officials trained
• 40 companies trained
• 30 experts actively engaged in innovation labs
• 18 artists, craftspeople and social inclusion experts actively participating in innovation labs
• 20 organisations engaged in summer/autumn schools
• 48 organisations involved in the NEB challenge
• 6 organisations actively involved in the Imperia social house building installation
• 40 organisations taking part in study visits
• 50 supply chain actors and local stakeholders involved in pilot activities
• 30 organisations involved in the NEB community of the NEB Academy Pioneer Hubs