An open platform for knowledge sharing, co-creation and skills development
The European wood-based sector has launched the Wood Sector Alliance for the New European Bauhaus (Wood4Bauhaus) to establish an open platform that brings together its manifold stakeholders. Wood, an extremely versatile natural material being part of a multitude of products, is a circular material par excellence. Long-life products using wood can store carbon for decades or even centuries in buildings and living spaces. They can also be reused, remanufactured and recycled to further prolong the storage time. This new alliance aims to raise awareness for the transformative power of the Circular Economy, put a spotlight on the versatility of innovative wood products and building systems, and facilitate dedicated co-creation partnerships with the wood sector for the New European Bauhaus.
The European Commission’s New European Bauhaus calls for a creative, interdisciplinary, novel movement embedded in the society to imagine together a sustainable future and to engage on a transformative path towards affordable and beautiful living spaces in the urban and rural environment. A key step is the transformation of the building sector into a circular model that can also counteract the escalating climate crisis.
The vision of the New European Bauhaus
“When we started thinking about the project, I was sceptical about investing in wood as construction material! Today, I am a big fan of organic building materials. They are not only good for the climate, because they don’t need CO2 in the production process, but they even store it later in the buildings. They can also be beautiful! I was amazed to see the wooden skyscrapers in Helsinki, or the vertical gardens in Milan.It is possible to match sustainability with style. It is possible to link technology with culture. We just need to dare! And we need to make sure that these examples don’t remain one-ofs. They need to spread. We want to make them accessible for all.”
Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
DLD Conference, 02/22/2021
Wood4Bauhaus aims to contribute to shaping a better and sustainable future with beautiful, healthy and inclusive living spaces as part of a sustainable, low carbon-built environment. Our platform shall foster an open, long-term dialogue with all interested stakeholders and help sharing good practices about the Circular Economy and Green Buildings. Our goal is to inspire as many actors as possible to co-create in a bottom-up approach and develop contributions to the New European Bauhaus from European to regional and local level, all in the common interest to advance and exploit as much as possible nature-based materials, innovative building systems and smart solutions for the benefit of European citizens. The alliance will therefore:
- Encourage research and innovation for novel and innovative use of wood in the built environment,
- Foster new collaborations and cocreation of different stakeholders across disciplines, sectors, and society, and
- Facilitate knowledge sharing and skills development especially also towards future generations.
The alliance has been initiated by several umbrella organisations: the InnovaWood EU network for wood research, innovation and education, the European Panel Federation (EPF), the European Confederation of Woodworking Industries (CEI-Bois), the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW), the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS). It has also the support of the Horizon 2020 project consortia BASAJAUN and WoodCircus. The ambition is to grow the network of supporters and contribute to forming a major hub of the sector for the New European Bauhaus.
Wood, an extremely versatile natural material being part of a multitude of products, is a circular material par excellence. Long-life products using wood can store carbon for decades or even centuries in buildings and living spaces. They can also be reused, remanufactured and recycled to further prolong the storage time. This new alliance aims to raise awareness for the transformative power of the Circular Economy, put a spotlight on the versatility of innovative wood products and building systems, and facilitate dedicated co-creation partnerships with the wood sector for the New European Bauhaus. See here a selection of examples of sustainable wood products for building and interior.
Our long term goal is to consolidate the alliance as main platform and interlocutor for co-creation and dissemination reaching the whole wood-based innovation ecosystem, i.e., through member companies, national member associations, unions, research institutes, universities, vocational education partners, cluster organisations, press channels, among others.
- Grow the alliance and inspire the wood sector to organise more conferences, workshops and meetings to raise awareness and stimulate New European Bauhaus projects in co-operation with our members and networks. The alliance will especially reach out to involve architects, scientists, engineers, designers, planners, specifiers, regulators, citizens, academics, educators, students, artists and the wider cultural sector.
- Establishment of the online platform for discussions and exchange of good practices. Preparations for New EU Bauhaus related dialogues at national level inspired by the discussions of the initial conference
- Contributing to prize competitions and pilot projects foreseen in the New European Bauhaus as well as to related EU initiatives like the Renovation Wave Strategy, the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Recovery Plan and the 100 lighthouse renovation districts planned in the Affordable Housing Initiative.
- Support the New European Bauhaus by offering direct communication channels and dissemination support for spreading news, calls for action and results widely inside the wood sector.