Project
Development of industrial wood construction in Central Finland
Project sponsors
Project type
Focus area
Implementation time
1.1.2023
-
31.12.2025
Project unit
Financing program
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2021-2027
Primary home page
UN Sustainable development goals
Project description
Developing industrial wood construction in Central Finland
The aim of the project is to increase the growth of industrial wood construction in Central Finland by developing construction processes and skills. The project will provide the necessary information on alternative cost- and energy-efficient operation and production models for companies, municipalities, cities and other actors in the construction sector.
The project aims to improve
- improve the procurement skills of municipalities and cities by raising awareness of the alternatives and costs of industrial wood construction
- cooperation between the public and private sectors by identifying suitable cooperation models for wood construction
- educational skills by using new approaches to developing education
- the capacity of construction companies:
- find new business opportunities through networking
- to participate in order-supply chains
- generating product and process innovations
Backgroud of the project
The target for new public construction is to increase the share of wood construction to 45% by 2025. The climate statement under the new Building Act will also require new design and encourage the use of low-carbon and renewable materials.
The uptake of wood as an industrial building material will require a change in mindset and culture as the processes are not yet well established. There are growth prospects in areas such as large-scale new construction and construction-related services. However, there is room for improvement and a lack of knowledge and actors at all stages of the building project life cycle - procurement, design, production and construction.
Industrial wood construction in Central Finland
In the strategy for Central Finland, wood construction is an important part of the bio- and circular economy, which is one of the main drivers of growth and innovation. Central Finland has been a pioneer in industrial wood construction in the past, but is now lagging behind in terms of volume and specialised production activities. However, the conditions for the development of a business ecosystem around industrial wood construction are good, as the region's large forest resources and significant forest and wood product industries provide a good environment for it.
The project promotes the development of industrial wood construction and the expansion of public wood construction in Central Finland.
The project will be implemented between 2023 and 2025
The project will be implemented by Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. The co-implementers are Jyväskylä Education and Training Group Gradia and the Finnish Forestry Centre.
More informations:
Heidi Hämäläinen-Laitinen
Project Manager
firstname.lastname@jamk.fi
+358504721623
Project results
Development of industrial wood construction in Central Finland
The aim of the TeopuuKS project was to increase the growth of wood construction in Central Finland by developing construction processes and expertise. The project produced information and networking opportunities on wood construction for construction industry operators, manufacturers of construction wood products, municipalities, and cities.
The project was prepared at a time when the growth prospects for large-scale new construction encouraged the development of unstable processes in wood construction in collaboration with construction companies, among others. However, during the implementation phase, the entire construction industry faced a historically deep recession, construction slowed down, and instead of cooperating with construction companies, the project had to focus more on producing information and creating networks and an encouraging vision of the future. In addition, the scope of the project was expanded to include smaller-scale initiatives, such as promoting the industrialization of component manufacturing.
The future prospects for wood construction are supported by the new Building Act of 2025, which will provide stronger incentives for the built environment to transition to the use of low-carbon materials and increased digitalization (e.g., BIM = Building Information Modeling). The requirements for climate reports and the use of information models introduced by the Act were anticipated to be a turning point in the promotion of industrial wood construction. The project monitored the development of the Construction Act, disseminated information on its various stages, and produced information on preparing for the changes brought about by its entry into force.
Network cooperation was boosted by offering the target group networking events in Central Finland, study and trade fair trips abroad, and site visits in Finland. During the project, visits were made to exemplary wood construction sites, and the knowledge gained was utilized for the network. A mapping webinar was organized for municipal actors, and based on the discussions, networking among business actors was also promoted by directly pointing out potential new partners.
Examples of component manufacturing for industrialization were presented through the joint and material bank produced in the project, and larger-scale development ideas were also sought by involving students through the Future Factory method. With the help of the project, numerous theses were completed, including:
- Industrial wood construction expertise in Central Finland
- Carbon footprint calculation for a CLT school building – Case: Satavuo School
- Moisture control in wood apartment building construction
- Challenges in wood frame apartment building projects
- Automatically fastening connectors in modular wood construction
- Environmental impacts of construction – effects of the new Construction Act from the perspective of wood construction
The project was implemented in 2023–2025. The main implementer was Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, with Gradia and the Finnish Forest Centre as co-implementers.