Building the good city
Investment in modern, industrial building in wood for a sustainable environment, attractive town planning and an economy which provides benefit for municipalities, principals, builders, owners, managers and inhabitants.
Modern building, in which climate considerations and urban development go hand in hand, makes it possible to care for imploded city centres, segregated housing areas, neglected environmental programme city areas, an acute shortage of housing for young people and alternative forms of living for the 55+ generation.
This is not a matter of choosing between wood or concrete, it is about building in a completely new way. If we can build multi-storey buildings in an industrial process at lower cost, with greater precision, radically shorter construction times and quality controls, of course we should do that. It benefits everyone who is to live in the buildings and manage them. We establish a building industry worthy of the name for the first time in modern history.
The creative Trästad 2012 project makes possible the vision of The Good City. Here, living is attractive, and citizens enjoy security. A way of living which makes possible active, varying lifestyles, with sustainable social solutions as regards transport, municipal services and social functions. The Good City requires a new way of thinking – on urban development, building, and the formulation of important public functions.
Climate-smart construction
Trästad 2012 comprises a number of measures and activities aimed at improving climate-smart building:
• Participating municipalities choose to incorporate wood building in the concept, which can be climate-efficient, and energy-efficient building, new developments in wood architecture or other development areas of immediate interest.
• Those who work in the building industry are offered advanced training in wood building technology, and principals are given the opportunity of learning from wood building projects around the country through study visits or Wood City Days.
The assignment for Trästad 2012 involves giving wood-building technology a natural place within building as a whole.
Fewer faults thanks to industrial building techniques
The frequency of faults and damage declines with industrial work methods. New materials and methods allow developments within architecture and design. The climate benefits from modern building in wood.
The environmental aspect is, of course, important as regards building in the future. Wood is a renewable resource and processing it uses little energy. Did you know that every 30 seconds, the Swedish forests produce enough timber for a five-storey building with a supporting wood structure! “Living forests”. With wood as a construction material, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by almost 90 percent compared with traditional building techniques using concrete.
The forest – a living asset for building
Previously, restrictions on large scale building construction in wood have restricted the natural development of wood building technology to an unjustifiably low proportion of wood construction. The fact that extraction from Swedish forests is less than new growth, the unique environmental advantages of the wood building system, and cost effectiveness are some of the reasons for the present implementation of Trästad 2012.
Sveriges Träbyggnadskansli is a resource for all wood building initiatives, and offers knowledge support for principals, architects, designers and other decision-makers. We have especial focus on multi-storey buildings, public buildings and large bridges for road traffic. The secretariat is active within the framework of cooperation between the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, the Swedish Federation of Wood and Furniture Industry, and the Swedish Forest and Woodworkers’ Union.
Trästad 2012 is a cooperative project between 16 municipalities, the county administrative boards of Västerbotten, Dalarna and Kronoberg, the Western Götaland region and Sveriges Träbyggnadskansli. The project is aimed at improving competence and insight into ways in which modern wood building systems can renew city environments and create attractive, sustainable cities with low climate effect. The project is being financed by the participating parties and EU Goal 2.