Wood Sector Alliance for the New European Bauhaus

contact

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

Main objectives

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 members

Wood and wood-based panel products are natural, sustainable and climate positive. They offer multiple benefits including energy efficient construction and innovative furniture materials and are therefore a perfect fit for the objectives of the New European Bauhaus.”

Clive Pinnington

Managing Director

European Panel Federation (EPF)

We are delighted that Professor Schellnhuber, one of the brains behind the new Bauhaus, has agreed to address our conference which will highlight the key role wood can play in tackling climate change, providing affordable housing and bringing beauty into our built environment.”

Paul Brannen

Head of Public Affairs

Director of Public Affairs

It is well known that using wood helps keep carbon out of the atmosphere and mitigate climate change. But it is far lesser known that wood has also positive psychological effects on people, similar to the reduction of stress when being in nature. Wooden built environments reduce anxiety and lower the blood pressure while favouring positive social interactions. These benefits are particularly important if we consider that modern society spend approximately 90% of their time indoors.”

Silvia Melegari

Secretary General

European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS)

The New European Bauhaus is a great opportunity for companies, researchers and students in the wood sector to become part of this transformative movement. Joining our forces and knowledge we can co-create climate-friendly solutions and literally build a more sustainable future for our cities and rural areas. We welcome all who wish to take this first step with us.”

Uwe Kies

Secretary General

InnovaWood

The alliance will demonstrate that more building and renovation with wood will contribute to the EU’s ambition to turn the building sector into a carbon sink. It will also be demonstrated with plenty of examples that climate friendly and energy-efficient buildings can be attractive and comfortable and, the sector can also be a driver for quality jobs in rural areas.”

Tom Deleu

General Secretary

Secretary General European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW)

Wood construction industries connect buildings with sustainable forest management in Europe. Bringing together innovative architecture, biobased products and a digitalization of the 'forest to building' chain will allow to have real impacts and boost both rural development and urban transformation. That is why we need a New European Bauhaus movement to connect all involved players.”

Javier García Jaca

Coordinator BASAJAUN Horizon 2020

Tecnalia Research and Innovation

Wood-based construction, as a method to capture and store carbon safely for decades, is finally receiving the highest level of recognition. Our Wood4Bauhaus Alliance is ready to engage in transforming the built environment through more research, co-creation and open science to accelerate innovation and inspire people. The business-as-usual approach centred on concrete and steel must be replaced by the New European Bauhaus’s quest for a sustainable, beautiful, and affordable future for us all.”

Prof Andreja Kutnar

Director of InnoRenew CoE

The Bauhaus Earth construct is that possibly forests working in synergy rather than in antagonism with cities could be a way to solve the planet’s problems. We can create durable carbon storage banks, thinking not about only one, but multiple lifecycles of buildings.”

Alan Organschi

Bauhaus der Erde

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.

Good practices

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.

OSB boards for load-bearing and bracing purposes in construction and renovation

Climacustic – innovative radiant and sound-deadening system from wood-based panels

Timber frame construction with STEICO I-joists and STEICO wood fibre insulation boards

G-brick insulating structural panels in prefab housing elements

Residential area with high-rise buildings with wooden frames in Skövde, Sweden

Main foreseen activities

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.