Standards are not adequate for timber market development

  • The growing interest in glulam construction is not associated with a rapid update of the existing legal norms and their adaptation to the current market development and its needs, notes Tomasz Rospędek. – I am referring, among other things, to the current fire protection regulations. They allow, in theory, the construction of buildings with several storeys.- In Finland, the limit is 40 storeys, and in the United States and Canada it is even higher. The topic of glulam projects is new in Poland and knowledge related to it is not yet common.
    That is why the Holzbau Forum Poland is organised every year, which allows the transfer of knowledge and experience between people operating in different European markets, as well as those who design and build in Poland and can educate people and companies just entering this market.

We wish there were more building inspectors and officials among the audience of the Holzbau Polska Forum, especially members of the Polish Committee for Standardisation. Perhaps they would have benefited from the excellent atmosphere of the event, motivating them to develop and implement the standards faster.

In Poland, the ISO standard for BIM level two has still not been translated. Of course, we cope by relying on English-language versions, as illustrated by interesting realisations by our #forumholzbaupolska speakers.

Along with people’s environmental awareness, engineers’ knowledge of modern glulam technology is also increasing. Research on fire protection, acoustic insulation, software used for designing, new production methods have opened up new possibilities of using technology based on the wood industry,’ notes Tomasz Rospędek of RR Architekci, who will be one of the speakers at the 7th edition of Forum Holzbau Polska.
He cites an interesting comparison: the leader in timber construction in Europe is Sweden, which, with a forest cover ratio of 74%, builds 80% of its residential buildings using timber technology. Second place goes to Austria, which, with a forest cover ratio of 50%, realises 33% of wooden buildings. Our western neighbour, Germany, with a forest cover of 30%, builds almost 30% of buildings using wood technology. By comparison, in Poland, the forest cover ratio is 30% and the share of wooden buildings is only 2%.

In Poland, we already have excellent architects, access to engineered wood, factories equipped with the latest prefabrication technologies. We can and do build with wood, mainly abroad. Poles also want modern wooden houses, but formal issues are still a big barrier.

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