Promoting global sustainable forestry and its role in climate change was the theme of the recent international forestry conference held in Dún Laoghaire. Organised by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the conference acknowledged the importance of forests in sequestering CO2 and mitigating climate change, but switched the focus to the role of wood in prolonging carbon storage.
This is in line with various international and Irish reports on climate change – including the Government’s Climate Action Plan – which have highlighted the benefits of timber use in construction, especially in displacing fossil-based materials.
“Buildings and their construction together account for 36% of global energy use and 39% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions annually,” according to The Global Status Report 2017.
“This is unsustainable, so the aim of the conference was to highlight the role that businesses can play in contributing to climate change mitigation, by using wood,” said William Merivale, national secretary, PEFC Ireland.
Dr Pablo van der Lugt, author and lecturer in bio-based building at Delft University, stressed the value of timber in construction and the circular economy in his keynote address to the conference.
He outlined how timber is now gaining momentum as the medium of choice in construction. At its simplest, his premise is “One tonne of softwood replaces one tonne of concrete or steel and saves 1.5t of CO2.”
Mass wood
He said building in “mass wood” is quicker than conventional non-renewable materials, but the main advantages are in climate change mitigation. Mass wood includes cross laminated timber (CLT) and glulam, which are composite engineered wood products that provide greater strength than solid wood. The products are also easier to specify, which allows architects to build higher and cost effectively.
Timber is prefabricated offsite, so installation is quick and efficient. Dr van der Lugt not only outlined the importance of mass wood in displacing fossil-based materials, but stressed its role in the circle economy, from its first life in construction – 60 to 100 years – which can continue to a second, third and even fourth life by recycling.
He showed examples of buildings such as the Circl Pavilion in Amsterdam, where previously used timber such as “rejected wooden window frames” have been cut into wooden floors. In addition, the timber support structure in the Circl “is made from fully dismountable locally sourced larch wood,” Dr van der Lugt said.
This is in accordance with the principles of a circular economy, whereby the materials are continually reused and waste is designed out.
He also advocated for a major timber house and apartment construction programme for Europe. In his book Tomorrow’s Timber: Towards the Next Timber Revolution, Dr van der Lugt maintained that “almost the full EU populations could be housed in mass timber in the future.”
This scale of wood construction would place unprecedented demand on wood supply, but he told the PEFC conference that there is sufficient timber in European forests to satisfy this market.
Conference keynote speaker Dr Pablo van der Lugt, author and lecturer in bio-based building at Delft University, with William Merivale, national secretary, PEFC Ireland and organiser of the conference "Mitigating Climate Change: Win with Wood".
He maintained that we are not optimising timber harvesting. “The annual increment in Europe’s forests is 800m m3, while we harvest 500m m3,” he said. “Apart from Sweden, no other country harvests its increment.”
Dr van der Lugt is not advocating harvesting all the 300m m3 balance, as some of it may be inaccessible or not of the desired quality, but he said “we could build a half million houses from the 70m m3 increment that is not being harvested at the moment.”
The conference heard how timber is now gaining momentum as the medium of choice in high rise construction. John Spittle, UK and Ireland representative with Wiehag, outlined a number of large scale projects carried out by the company. Founded in 1849, the Austrian company has embraced engineered wood as an inherent construction medium.
This includes CLT in its 45m tall “25 King” building in Brisbane – the largest timber office building in Australia. Wiehag also uses glulam, which allows it to build wide-span bearing systems up to 200m in length.
While engineered wood has been slow to take off in Ireland, this is changing, as Spittle outlined. Wiehag has been involved in a number of major wood-based buildings, including the 3,700m2 Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Operations and Maintenance Centre at Ballyogan, Co Dublin, built 10 years ago, and the more recent Center Parcs international-scale holiday resort near Ballymahon, Co Longford. Both projects were outright winners of Wood Awards Ireland in 2014 and 2020.
Lessons for Ireland
There are lessons for Ireland from the Dutch experience. Both Ireland and the Netherlands have the lowest forest cover in the EU, apart from Malta. Despite its low forest cover and little more than a 1m m3 annual wood harvest compared with Ireland’s 4m m3, the Netherlands is creating its own wood culture.
The country has geographical advantages over Ireland because of its close proximity to continental supply and its planners and architects have an enlightened attitude to mass timber building, unlike Ireland, where planning approval for timber buildings over three stories is virtually impossible at present.
Ireland has even been slow to adopt timber frame housing, but this is changing. Plans are in place “to increase the level of timber frame homes from 20% to 80% by 2050,” said Clodagh O’Reilly, Coillte’s director of sales and supply chain management.
A sustainable supply of at least 200,000m3 would be required with an output of over 100,000m3 of sawn material
This should provide an increased domestic market share for homegrown timber. Conor Fahy, general manager, ECC Timber Products, Coillte’s “largest customer”, outlined his role in gaining PEFC chain of custody for ECC. Referring to the ongoing felling licence debacle, he asked whether achieving certification “should be included as a positive environmental benefit in speeding up felling licence approvals by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.”
After his presentation, Dr van der Lugt, told the Irish Farmers Journal that construction in the Netherlands was very much oriented towards concrete and steel up until recently.
“We have only changed to wood construction in recent years and this was influenced by a major television documentary on mass timber building,” he said.
“There is greater acceptance now of wood, but it must satisfy building performance to get a permit. This is now possible as CLT and glulam manufacturers are providing good data, so that calculations for mass timber buildings up to 100m high are possible.”
CLT for Ireland?
When asked about the potential for future expansion of CLT manufacturing for countries like Ireland and the Netherlands, he said this would require a sustainable supply of timber, which is not possible in the Netherlands because of its low productive forest cover.
“Investment in CLT manufacture is high, especially in grading lines and glueing technology, while a sustainable supply of at least 200,000m3 would be required with an output of over 100,000m3 of sawn material.”
The results of research carried out by NUI Galway demonstrate that Sitka spruce is suitable for CLT production. With Ireland’s timber production forecast to increase to 7.5m m3 – mainly spruce – within 10 years on the island, the establishment of a CLT plant may be the next strategic move by the Irish timber processing sector.
Promoting global sustainable forestry and its role in climate change was the theme of the recent international forestry conference held in Dún Laoghaire. Organised by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the conference acknowledged the importance of forests in sequestering CO2 and mitigating climate change, but switched the focus to the role of wood in prolonging carbon storage.
This is in line with various international and Irish reports on climate change – including the Government’s Climate Action Plan – which have highlighted the benefits of timber use in construction, especially in displacing fossil-based materials.
“Buildings and their construction together account for 36% of global energy use and 39% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions annually,” according to The Global Status Report 2017.
“This is unsustainable, so the aim of the conference was to highlight the role that businesses can play in contributing to climate change mitigation, by using wood,” said William Merivale, national secretary, PEFC Ireland.
Dr Pablo van der Lugt, author and lecturer in bio-based building at Delft University, stressed the value of timber in construction and the circular economy in his keynote address to the conference.
He outlined how timber is now gaining momentum as the medium of choice in construction. At its simplest, his premise is “One tonne of softwood replaces one tonne of concrete or steel and saves 1.5t of CO2.”
Mass wood
He said building in “mass wood” is quicker than conventional non-renewable materials, but the main advantages are in climate change mitigation. Mass wood includes cross laminated timber (CLT) and glulam, which are composite engineered wood products that provide greater strength than solid wood. The products are also easier to specify, which allows architects to build higher and cost effectively.
Timber is prefabricated offsite, so installation is quick and efficient. Dr van der Lugt not only outlined the importance of mass wood in displacing fossil-based materials, but stressed its role in the circle economy, from its first life in construction – 60 to 100 years – which can continue to a second, third and even fourth life by recycling.
He showed examples of buildings such as the Circl Pavilion in Amsterdam, where previously used timber such as “rejected wooden window frames” have been cut into wooden floors. In addition, the timber support structure in the Circl “is made from fully dismountable locally sourced larch wood,” Dr van der Lugt said.
This is in accordance with the principles of a circular economy, whereby the materials are continually reused and waste is designed out.
He also advocated for a major timber house and apartment construction programme for Europe. In his book Tomorrow’s Timber: Towards the Next Timber Revolution, Dr van der Lugt maintained that “almost the full EU populations could be housed in mass timber in the future.”
This scale of wood construction would place unprecedented demand on wood supply, but he told the PEFC conference that there is sufficient timber in European forests to satisfy this market.
Conference keynote speaker Dr Pablo van der Lugt, author and lecturer in bio-based building at Delft University, with William Merivale, national secretary, PEFC Ireland and organiser of the conference "Mitigating Climate Change: Win with Wood".
He maintained that we are not optimising timber harvesting. “The annual increment in Europe’s forests is 800m m3, while we harvest 500m m3,” he said. “Apart from Sweden, no other country harvests its increment.”
Dr van der Lugt is not advocating harvesting all the 300m m3 balance, as some of it may be inaccessible or not of the desired quality, but he said “we could build a half million houses from the 70m m3 increment that is not being harvested at the moment.”
The conference heard how timber is now gaining momentum as the medium of choice in high rise construction. John Spittle, UK and Ireland representative with Wiehag, outlined a number of large scale projects carried out by the company. Founded in 1849, the Austrian company has embraced engineered wood as an inherent construction medium.
This includes CLT in its 45m tall “25 King” building in Brisbane – the largest timber office building in Australia. Wiehag also uses glulam, which allows it to build wide-span bearing systems up to 200m in length.
While engineered wood has been slow to take off in Ireland, this is changing, as Spittle outlined. Wiehag has been involved in a number of major wood-based buildings, including the 3,700m2 Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Operations and Maintenance Centre at Ballyogan, Co Dublin, built 10 years ago, and the more recent Center Parcs international-scale holiday resort near Ballymahon, Co Longford. Both projects were outright winners of Wood Awards Ireland in 2014 and 2020.
Lessons for Ireland
There are lessons for Ireland from the Dutch experience. Both Ireland and the Netherlands have the lowest forest cover in the EU, apart from Malta. Despite its low forest cover and little more than a 1m m3 annual wood harvest compared with Ireland’s 4m m3, the Netherlands is creating its own wood culture.
The country has geographical advantages over Ireland because of its close proximity to continental supply and its planners and architects have an enlightened attitude to mass timber building, unlike Ireland, where planning approval for timber buildings over three stories is virtually impossible at present.
Ireland has even been slow to adopt timber frame housing, but this is changing. Plans are in place “to increase the level of timber frame homes from 20% to 80% by 2050,” said Clodagh O’Reilly, Coillte’s director of sales and supply chain management.
A sustainable supply of at least 200,000m3 would be required with an output of over 100,000m3 of sawn material
This should provide an increased domestic market share for homegrown timber. Conor Fahy, general manager, ECC Timber Products, Coillte’s “largest customer”, outlined his role in gaining PEFC chain of custody for ECC. Referring to the ongoing felling licence debacle, he asked whether achieving certification “should be included as a positive environmental benefit in speeding up felling licence approvals by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.”
After his presentation, Dr van der Lugt, told the Irish Farmers Journal that construction in the Netherlands was very much oriented towards concrete and steel up until recently.
“We have only changed to wood construction in recent years and this was influenced by a major television documentary on mass timber building,” he said.
“There is greater acceptance now of wood, but it must satisfy building performance to get a permit. This is now possible as CLT and glulam manufacturers are providing good data, so that calculations for mass timber buildings up to 100m high are possible.”
CLT for Ireland?
When asked about the potential for future expansion of CLT manufacturing for countries like Ireland and the Netherlands, he said this would require a sustainable supply of timber, which is not possible in the Netherlands because of its low productive forest cover.
“Investment in CLT manufacture is high, especially in grading lines and glueing technology, while a sustainable supply of at least 200,000m3 would be required with an output of over 100,000m3 of sawn material.”
The results of research carried out by NUI Galway demonstrate that Sitka spruce is suitable for CLT production. With Ireland’s timber production forecast to increase to 7.5m m3 – mainly spruce – within 10 years on the island, the establishment of a CLT plant may be the next strategic move by the Irish timber processing sector.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: