digiNEB Webinar: How can timber construction and digitalisation boost the New European Bauhaus? 

The digiNEB webinar delved into the current state of digitalisation in wood construction. The event emphasised the advancement of integration across design, planning, pre-fabrication, and construction. Companies leading the structural timber design and manufacturing in Europe highlighted wood construction’s potential to amplify the New European Bauhaus (NEB). The need of research, innovation, and education was underscored to strengthen wood’s competitiveness within the construction sector.  

The webinar was held on the 23^rd of May 2023 in the frame of the digiNEB.eu project (digital ecosystem for the New European Bauhaus), co-organised by InnovaWood’s Basajaun project and the Wood4Bauhaus Alliance. The webinar brough together three leading European companies in structural timber design and manufacturing. They showcased the advances and challenges in wood construction digitalisation that can contribute to the New European Bauhaus.  

InnovaWood (Belgium) opened the webinar by introducing the role of timber construction in the green transformation of cities, followed by two keynote presentations from the timber construction and production industry: XLam Dolimiti (Italy) focused on cross-laminated timber multistorey buildings and Simonin SAS (France) on long-spam structures with glued laminated timber. These two structural products are the most extensively utilised in Europe for timber construction.   

Cadwork Iberica and Latinoamerica (Spain) introduced the tools available for the design, production, and industrialisation of wooden buildings in Europe.  The webinar concluded with a roundtable discussion facilitated by Anetta Kepczynska-Walczak, Head of the Department of Digital Technologies in Architecture and Urban Planning at Lodz University of Technology (Poland), involving the keynote speakers and participation from the webinar attendees.  

The pivotal role of timber construction in fostering the green transformation of cities.  

Uwe Kies, General Secretary of InnovaWood, delivered an insightful overview of how the NEB values are relevant to both the forest-based sector and the timber construction industry. Emphasizing the sustainability and renewability of wood as a material, Uwe Kies underscored the importance of collaborative efforts and interactions among stakeholders across the entire value chain. Additionally, he highlighted the aesthetic appeal of wood buildings and interiors.  

“Wood construction can serve as a model for NEB, illustrating the integration of digital tools throughout the entire process, from design to construction.”  

Vanesa Baño, highlighted that timber construction has been a pioneer in adopting digital tools for building design due to the required precision demanded by the construction system. In contrast to concrete buildings, typically dimensioned in centimetres, wood projects are meticulously measured in millimetres, with only a few millimetres of tolerance between the wood elements during assembly.  

Enhancing the digitalization of cross-laminated timber buildings in design, production, and construction.  

Albino Angeli, CEO of XLam Dolomiti, underscored the pivotal role of digitalisation in the design, production, and construction of multistorey cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings. He argued the necessity for all stakeholders in the supply chain to use 3-dimensional building information models (BIM), highlighting a significant gap if contractors are unable to utilise this technology.  

“Wood construction companies like ours, have been pioneers in utlising BIM and numerical control machines for production over decades. We are prepared to drive the change by working closely within the construction chapter.”  

Albino Angeli also highlighted that the current European programmes, such as Next Generation, empower small companies to invest in digital tools for timber construction, ultimately saving time in both the design and construction processes.  

BIM software tailored for the design and production of timber structures  

Xurxo Ojea, the co-director of Cadwork Iberica and Latinoamerica, showcased the prevalent software utilised in Europe for designing and producing timber structures. He elaborated on its collaborative nature, demonstrating how it integrates with various tools and software involved in the entiere wood construction process.   

“BIM tools commonly used in architectural design often lack compatibility with numerical control machines used in production. Hence, the necessity for specialised BIM/CAD/CAM software tailored explicitly for wood construction, such as ours, becomes paramount”.  

He highlighted that a majority of Cadwork users consist of small to medium-sized companies, proficient in efficient design and construction. Even without numerical control machines, these companies subcontract wood machining while maintaining high productivity.  

Advancements in Glued Laminated Timber for Long-Span Structures and Mid-Rise Buildings  

Jannick Jahnke, structural timber engineer at Simonin SAS, presented different case studies highlighting the production and construction of long-span structures and mid-rise buildings using glued laminated timber (glulam). This technology, available for many years, enabled the roofing of structures with spans reaching up to 40 meters as early as the 1980´s.   

“The efficiency in material use significantly improves when designing with curved glulam beams forming arches (up to 80 meters)”.

While highlighting wood’s advantages in designing long-span structures, he also underscored the wood industry readiness in conceptualising multistorey buildings, potentially up to 10 floors.   

Jannick Jahnke emphasised the structural benefits of wood, particularly its advantageous performance in fire scenarios. He pointed out “firefighters favour timber in specific locations due to its extended resistance time in fires.”  

Needs and challenges in Advancing Wood Construction in the NEB Community   

The webinar culminated in a roundtable discussion, identifying needs and challenges in propelling wood construction within the NEB community.    

Albino Angeli focused on the necessity of utilising underused fast-growing wood species, distinct from spruce or pine, for CLT production. He emphasised the importance of research aimed at enhancing the low technical characteristics of these species through various technologies or treatments. Uwe Kies emphasised that the research and development of innovative products and solutions from diverse wood species and qualities are crucial steps forward in addressing the pressure on wood resources within the forest.  

According to Jannick, the advantages of wood for developing new shapes or manufacturing hybrid elements, combining different wood species or different materials, make that research and innovation becomes a key to provide the market with sustainable and competitive products for the green transformation of cities according to NEB.   

According to Jannick, taking advantage of wood as a sustainable material to provide the construction market with products competitive with traditional ones (concrete, steel), necessarily requires innovation. So, research activities become a key for the development of innovative wood products with new shapes, combining different wood species or even materials, among others.  

When discussing the need for development in the digital wood construction process, Xurxo identified a significant challenge in the transition from CAD/CAM/BIM models to the static ones for structural element dimensioning. This transfer point remains a weak link, highlighting the ongoing necessity for research to enhance the overall efficiency of the process.   

In the European year of the skills, Anneta concluded the webinar by shedding light on the existing skill gaps within the wood construction sector.  

“In many European countries, there is a deficiency in timber construction skills, notably evident during heritage building conservation periods, where  the absence of expert carpenters became apparent.”   

In the European year of the skills, Anneta concluded the webinar by shedding light on the existing skill gaps within the wood construction sector.  

“In many European countries, there is a deficiency in timber construction skills, notably evident during heritage building conservation periods, where  the absence of expert carpenters became apparent.”   

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Would you like to know more?  

• Download the summary of the webinar   
• Watch the webinar recording  
• Presentations by Uwe Kies and Vanesa Baño_InnovaWood  
• Albino Angeli_XLam Dolomiti  
• Xurxo Ojea_Cadwork  
• Jannick Jahnke_Simonin SAS  

More info: digineb.eu | linkedin | Zenodo.org