Building A SustainAble Joint between rurAl and UrbaN Areas Through Circular And Innovative Wood Construction Value Chains

EU Horizon 2020 grant agreement no. 862942 | Oct 2019 – Sep 2023

BASAJAUN is a major European innovation project about sustainability of building with wood. Modernising our cities by building more in wood is a unique, strategic opportunity to achieve significant CO2 emission reductions and transform the built environment from a carbon source into a carbon sink. Wood is an extremely versatile and lightweight building material, and a circular material par excellence.

The main objective of the project is to demonstrate how wood construction chains can be optimized to foster both rural development and urban transformation whilst being connected with sustainable forest management in Europe. Two full-scale medium-sized demo buildings will be constructed in Finland and France using innovative architecture and a complete digitalization of the 'forest to building' chain. The title BASAJAUN is adopted from a creature of the Basque mythology and can be translated as ‘Protector of the forest’.

Coordinated by Tecnalia in Spain, the project comprises 29 partners from 12 countries including 8 leading research and technology organizations, 3 universities, 14 companies and 4 other public and sectoral organizations. InnovaWood is leading the project communciation.

Underpinning the vital role of the forest-based sector in the Circular Bio-Economy

Horizon 2020 grant agreement no. 820892 | Nov 2018 – Dec 2021

WoodCircus increases knowledge, raises awareness and improves conditions for an uptake of resource efficient processing and recycling in wood-based value chains, fostering increased competitiveness of the European woodworking sector. The project links the challenges and opportunities for resource efficiency and cascade use of wood and woodwaste with the aim to enhance the wood construction sector and improve environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The project identifies, evaluates and disseminates the outstanding good practices in process efficiency, wood waste collection, management and recycling in the woodworking value chains in Europe with a focus on wood construction.

The project is coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd in Finland, and includes as partners 7 Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs), 7 Industries in woodworking and waste management and 3 European networks and associations.

EcoReFibre – Upscaling end-of-life recycling and circular use of recovered wood in the European wood panel industry

The project is funded by Horizon Europe from May 2022- April 2027 with an EC grant of 12 million EUR for 20 partners in 7 countries and coordinated by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). The project explores smart technologies to recycle post-consumer waste wood back into fibreboards and into novel building products. Five highly promising pilots, involving leading panel manufacturers, are launched to demonstrate how Circular Economy approaches linked with innovative and digital-supported technologies will ensure the supply of secondary raw materials. These include sorting and extraction of wood fines and fibres and their conversion to valuable products, i.e. fibreboard and insulation products, particleboard and biocomposites. EcoReFibre, ultimately, aims to reduce the need for wood from European forests. The ambition is to substitute up to 25% of the virgin fibres currently used in the European fibreboard market. The project demonstrates how this upscaling of circular technologies can become possible.

ReducINg the footprint of consumer products through public dialoGUe and innovative bio-based MAterials

The use of bio-based materials is on the rise in European construction, playing a crucial role in enhancing the sector's sustainability. The EU-funded INGUMA project is dedicated to advancing sustainable bio-based materials and fostering their public acceptance based on three core values: sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics. The project aims to develop a range of materials, including functionalised fibres, mycelium-based and wood fibre-based insulation, as well as bio-based adhesives for plywood, among others. Rigorous testing will be conducted to ensure the sustainability and circularity of these materials. Through co-creation labs, the project will promote collaboration among stakeholders and optimise the acceptance of these innovative materials. Additionally, the project will involve the co-design and construction of a community house prototype on the rooftop of an experimental building in Spain and in test houses in Finland.

DigitAl and physical incrEmental renovation packaGes/systems enhancing envIronmental and energetic behaviour and use of Resources

Deep retrofitting is widely considered the most complete and effective approach to upgrading a building. A deep retrofit ensures a building operates in the most efficient way possible, using the least amount of energy. The EU-funded AEGIR project intends to demonstrate a renovation solution to increase the take-up of deep retrofitting that achieves nearly zero-energy buildings. To do so, it will use scalable, high-yielding, non-intrusive, multifunctional plug-and-play envelope solutions, a digital ecosystem of services, and a socio-economic model. They will be deployed in single- and multi-family buildings, educational buildings and offices in Denmark, Spain, France, and Romania.

New European Bauhaus Academy Alliance

The NEB Academy’s mission is to train, upskill, and reskill the construction ecosystem to achieve a carbon neutral, beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive transformation of the building sector. It is aimed to drive a first and most dynamic push for improving skills and education across all levels of the building sector and the society.

The New European Bauhaus Academy Alliance (NEBA Alliance) is co-funded by the European Commission Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking from 2024 to 2026 with a consortium of 14 partners from 11 EU countries. The main purpose is to create the conceptual and legal basis for the NEB Academy setup and to establish the initial network of Hubs of training providers and infrastructures, which will ensure high quality raining for higher education, VET, and life-long learning to be delivered to as many workers as possible across Europe and other world regions.

Digital Ecosystem for the New European Bauhaus

digiNEB fosters digital solutions that will boost the growing New European Bauhaus (NEB) movement. It bridges the digital and NEB communities and raises awareness around EU digital solutions for all NEB stakeholders, establishing a pan-European digital ecosystem. With its lean action plan, digiNEB enables Europe’s Green Deal ambition in designing & building greener and more inclusive living spaces for a better quality of life.