No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Multi-storey wood-frame buildings in Germany, Sweden and the UK
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of regulations, perceptions, and promotions on the emergence of an innovation system for wood‐framed multi‐storey buildings in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK).
Design/methodology/approach
This descriptive paper made a qualitative analysis of information collected mainly from secondary sources such as reports, newspapers, journal publications, conference proceedings and general internet search.
Findings
Results showed that the conditions for market growth of multi‐storey construction seemed to be the most favourable in Sweden followed by the UK and Germany. The regulations are stringent in Germany, followed by the UK and Sweden. In all countries, the construction professionals seemed to have negative perceptions regarding engineering properties of wood. Similar negative perceptions exist among the general public in Germany and the UK, but not in Sweden. The wood construction promotional activities in Germany and the UK are directed to all types of houses, while in Sweden multi‐storey buildings are targeted.
Research limitations/implications
An important implication of this paper was that it highlighted the usefulness of cross‐country surveys at the European level, in order to better understand observed differences in the adoption of innovative systems. However, there might be shortcomings in the comparability of the information across the countries analysed because it was difficult to make an objective assessment of the claims made in some of the information sources. Also, there was varying and limited information about the survey methodologies used in some of the reviewed studies.
Practical implications
The study showed that market intervention is needed to promote radical or really new innovations such as wood construction. The variations in the promotional measures undertaken partly explained the variations in growth of wood construction system in the three countries.
Originality/value
The paper applied a theoretical framework on technology transition to analyse emergence of wood construction system in Germany, Sweden and the UK. The framework can be applied to analyse the development of wood construction system in other countries also.
... Regulations are undoubtedly the main perceived barrier to mass timber adoption according to several studies, which specify that they are closely linked to costs due in particular to overly restrictive fire safety legislation pertaining to, for example, height restrictions, sprinkler requirements, and cumulative safety measures, and to differing municipal interpretations of fire safety creating additional uncertainty for developers and construction companies (O'Connor et al. 2004;Roos et al. 2010;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Laguarda Mallo and Espinoza 2015;Gosselin et al. 2017;Franzini et al. 2018;Maniak-Huesser et al. 2021). ...
... The literature also indicates that the professionals surveyed found a) the regulations reflect a poor understanding of the fire resistance of mass timber (O'Connor et al. 2004;Roos et al. 2010;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Gosselin et al. 2017); b) there is a lack of knowledge about these regulations, including how to calculate lateral loads and connections (O'Connor et al. 2004;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Gosselin et al. 2017); and c) that building code interpretation and compliance are complex for mass timber construction (Gosselin et al. 2017). However, some recent studies have also highlighted that some professionals do not perceive building codes to be a major barrier (Marfella and Winson-Geideman 2021;Penfield et al. 2022). ...
... On the other hand, some of mass timber's technical aspects, such as its ease of assembly (Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hurmekoski et al. 2015), mechanical properties, and light weight, are considered advantages and make it an appropriate material for building on soil with low load-bearing capacity (Riala and Ilola 2014;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Laguarda Mallo and Espinoza 2015). ...
Despite their environmental benefits and technical viability, mass timber structures adoption remains limited. As an alternative to steel and concrete in non-residential and multi-storey construction, they represent only 10.2% of buildings four or fewer storeys high, 1% of those five or six storeys high and 4% of those seven to twelve storeys high in Quebec. Based on a purposive sample of 42 interviews with various construction industry professionals in Quebec (Canada), the representation of mass timber construction was highlighted. A thematic analysis approach enabled a study of the motivations and barriers to adopting mass timber and the specific reasons behind them, and to determine whether respondents’ perceptions differ significantly depending on their main professional activity. The results corroborate existing literature while offering deeper insights into motivations and barriers, revealing new viewpoints. Respondents cited construction costs, expertise, manufacturing capacity, regulatory limits, and material specifications as the most critical barriers, while environmental impact and aesthetics of wood as key motivators. The response profile analysis suggests that private developers and general contractors should be the primary targets of measures promoting mass timber adoption. This research will aid in refining policies and strategies to encourage the widespread adoption of mass timber in construction practices.
... In Japan, the Wood First law highlights a preference for wood in the development of public buildings [25]. Programs like Nationella träbyggnadsstrategin and Trästad in Sweden aimed to promote tall wood building construction and were responsible for the rapid increase in interest in the typology in the country [26]. In certain locations, strategic targets were set for vertical wood building construction to reach 50% by 2020 [27]. ...
... This successful approach is evident in examples such as the e3 building in Berlin It is evident that countries where the use of wood is traditionally widespread, such as Sweden, Canada, the United States, and Japan, adopt new technologies for tall building construction more rapidly due to their experience, confidence, and the availability of the material, along with the established organization of this market. In Sweden, a country with 69% of its territory covered by forests and approximately 90% of single-family homes built using wood as early as 1980, and where timber constructions above two stories were not allowed until 1994, the market share of wood in multi-story buildings increased from 1% in 2000 to 15% in 2012 [26]. In Finland, this increase went from 1% in 2010 to 10% by 2015 [27,31]. ...
... In Germany, in 2014, 16.2% of new buildings were built from wood [36]. The use of wood for multi-story buildings was permitted in the country in 2002, and since then, has represented approximately 2% of the multi-story building market [26]. ...
Modular timber construction embodies a pioneering and eco-friendly methodology within the building sector. With the notable progress made in manufacturing technologies and the advent of engineered wood products, timber has evolved into a promising substitute for conventional materials such as concrete, masonry, and steel. Beyond its structural attributes, timber brings environmental advantages, including its inherent capacity for carbon sequestration and a reduced carbon footprint compared to conventional materials. Timber’s lightweight nature, coupled with its versatility and efficiency in factory-based production, accelerates modular construction processes, providing a sustainable solution to the growing demands of the building industry. This work thoroughly explores contemporary modular construction using wood as the primary material. The investigation spans various aspects, from the fundamentals of modularity and the classification of modular timber solutions to considerations of layout design, structural systems, and stability at both the building and module levels. Moreover, inter-module joining techniques, MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) integration, and designs for disassembly are scrutinized. The investigation led to the conclusion that timber modular construction, drawing inspiration from the steel modular concept, consistently utilizes a structural approach based on linear members (timber frame, post-and-beam, etc.), incorporating stability configurations and diverse joint techniques. Despite the emphasis on modularization and prefabrication for adaptability, a significant portion of solutions still concentrate on the on-site linear assembly process of those linear members. Regarding modularity trends, the initial prevalence of 2D and 3D systems has given way to a recent surge in the utilization of post-and-beam structures, congruent with the ascending verticality of buildings. In contrast to avant-garde and bold trends, timber structures typically manifest as rectilinear, symmetric plans, characterized by regular and repetitive extrusions, demonstrating a proclivity for centrally located cores. This work aims to offer valuable insights into the current utilization of modular timber construction while identifying pivotal gaps for exploration. The delineation of these unexplored areas seeks to enable the advancement of modular timber projects and systems, fully leveraging the benefits provided by prefabrication and modularity.
... Other stakeholders Peters et al. 2020;Stern et al. 2018;Jones et al. 2018;Gosselin et al. 2018;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Vihemäki et al. 2020;Bysheim and Nyrud 2009;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hemström et al. 2017;Markström et al. 2019;Toppinen et al. 2019b Institutional changes ...
... Policy measures and institutional frameworks; Law and regulation changes (e.g., Fire regulations, building regulations); Changes in building codes; Governmental support programs Policymakers; Product manufacturers Hynynen 2016; Peters et al. 2020;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Hurmekoski et al. 2018;Vihemäki et al. 2019;Toppinen et al. 2018;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Tykkä et al. 2010;Lazarevic et al. 2020 Urban planning Improved transparency in the land allocation activity; Supporting local industries; Using locally sourced materials Building developers; Municipal decision makers Lindblad 2020; Franzini et al. 2018 Table 3. Categorization of the themes of barriers for WMC market development in production sphere within structures of housing provision. ...
... in effects: Path dependency (e.g., in concrete); Risk avoidance; High costs; Material availability; Lack of experience & education; Technical focus on construction Construction companies; ArchitectsJones et al. 2016: Mahapatra K., Gustavsson L. 2008Hemström et al. 2017;Lazarevic et al. 2020;Nordin et al. 2010;Riala and Ilola 2014;Hurmekoski et al. 2018;Bysheim and Nyrud 2009;Tykkä et al. 2010;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Riggio et al. 2020;Mallo and Espinoza 2015;Hemström et al. 2011;Roos et al. 2010;Gosselin et al. 2018;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Franzini et al. 2018;Hynynen 2016;Stehn et al. 2002 Innovations Inability to adapt changes; Recognition and tradition; Lack of requisites for efficient information management skillsWood element manufacturers; Developers Pelli and Lähtinen 2020;Lindgren and Emmitt 2017;Persson et al. 2009;Sandberg et al. 2008 Business collaborationCompetitiveness of WMC (especially technical infrastructure); Multi-party environment, loose-couplings (lack of stable partnerships & collaboration); Limited number of industry actors; Mismatch in influence and material preferences among stakeholders; Conflict of interest; Lack of collaboration / co-operation; Fierce competition Developers; Project actors; Other stakeholders Toppinen et al. 2019a; Riggio et al. 2020; Franzini et al. 2018; Markström et al. 2019; Toppinen et al. 2019b; Hynynen 2016 Stakeholder awarenessLack of knowledge & information; Negative perceptions of product features (e.g., Fire performance, water control, durability concerns); Inadequate information distribution; Negative experi-Ilola 2014;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Riggio et al. 2020;Mallo and Espinoza 2015;Roos et al. 2010;Markström et al. 2018;Franzini et al. 2018;Markström et al. 2019 Institutional changesInstitutional framework, lock-ins; Inefficient policy measures & processes; Building code compatibility Municipal civil servants; Architects; Wooden building material producersLazarevic et al. 2020;Mallo and Espinoza 2015;Hemström et al. 2011;Gosselin et al. 2018;Vihemäki et al. 2020;Vihemäki et al. 2019;Franzini et al. 2018 Urban planningDiscrepancies in perception of the land allocation process; Insufficient procurement processes for municipalities; Level of compe- ...
The ongoing climate change is closely related to greenhouse gas emissions from industries. One of the contributors to these sustainability challenges is the house construction industry. Although residential and commercial construction is needed, the production practices needs to be altered in order to meet sustainability objectives. This licentiate dissertation focuses on conditions for wooden multi-storey construction (WMC) in a Swedish context. It explores the conditions for market development for residential WMC. The dissertation focuses on corporate perspectives, but it also integrates the role of end-consumers. A systematic literature review served as an orientation before conducting empirical case studies analysis. With an understanding of the industrial norm, currently reflected in materials such as concrete and steel, the empirical studies focused on wooden multi-storey construction case studies and end-consumer’s perceptions. These case studies indicate that a transition to WMC is hindered by path dependence, strong market positions for the currently used materials, and dated understandings of wood as a construction material. In the production process of residential construction, wood or other material, the end-consumer, the resident of an apartment in the house to be, is relatively anonymous. This is a reflection of a product dominant logic of the value chain where the end-consumer is a buyer or renter of an apartment. Enabling factors for further WMC market development that were verbalised by the case study respondents are captured in four factors: the properties of wood in a pre-fabrication setting, shorter erection times on site, fewer transports, and awareness of legislative sustainability demands. The case study interviewees report focusing on efficiency and technical properties in their business models - and limited concern for marketing communication and co-creation with end-consumers. The new legislation was seen as an enabling factor for the WMC market development by the case interviewees. It is clear that a sustainability transition, such as a gradual change to renewable construction materials that have carbon capture capacity, will take time. Business models that foster co-creation of value in public private partnerships may enable a WMC market development. The development of new legislation and increased awareness of sustainability aspects in construction is seen as future research areas for sustainable development.
... By expanding the proportion of wood used in construction, particularly that of private homes, one could reduce the GHG emissions significantly (Spear et al., 2019;Monahan and Powell, 2011). An increased use of wood frames to replace concrete or steel frames in building construction can reduce net CO 2 emission (Mahapatra et al., 2012). Even though a reduction of embodied carbon within buildings could be achieved through various measures, an increase in stored sequestered carbon can only be achieved by a higher use of biomass-based material like timber (Monahan and Powell, 2011). ...
... On the one hand, the industrial revolution resulted in the higher usability of steel in construction and, additionally, enhanced the democratization of knowledge, especially regarding technical fundamentals (Urbaner Holzbau, 2013). On the other hand, large city fires resulted in the discouragement and prohibition of wooden frames in multi-story buildings in several European countries (Mahapatra et al., 2012). ...
... Both the arrival of more specialized wood construction firms and technical innovations in the timber construction sector enabled advancements related to costs, materials savings, fire prevention, and soundproofing (Krötsch, 2018;Drexler and El-khouli, 2012). In addition, changes in governmental and federal building regulations led to more opportunities for the wood construction sector, thus resulting in more building permits (Dangel, 2016;Mahapatra et al., 2012). ...
The European construction sector has experienced continuous growth in recent years, and so have the associated environmental concerns about CO2 emissions and construction waste. As a result, studies are suggesting a higher use of biomass-based material such as wood. However, the share of wooden residential buildings in Germany is quite low in comparison to Nordic countries and features immense regional differences, with the proportion varying from zero to over 50%. The goal of this study was to find the key factors behind regional differences in wooden residential buildings in Germany. We therefore collected the proportion of wooden residential building permits from all 401 German districts for 2015 – 2019, as well as 16 possible factors which the reviewed literature suggests as being possibly influential. With the help of descriptive and bivariate analysis as well as multiple linear regression models, we identified four key factors behind the regional differences: Germany’s state regulations have an influence on the outcome; the share of woodland is positively correlated with wooden residential buildings and, lastly, urban areas and economically weak regions both have a strong negative influence on the share of wooden residential building permits.
... The caveat is that the diffusion of wooden multistory construction 2 is met with inertia and low rates of adoption, as it relies on a relatively novel set of construction technologies and practices refined over the last 30 years (see : Dangel, 2016: pg. 75-127;Hemström et al., 2017a;Hurmekoski et al., 2015;Lindgren and Emmitt, 2017;Mahapatra and Gustavsson, 2008;Mahapatra et al., 2012;Ramage et al., 2017;Salvadori, 2021). The differences between wooden-and concrete-multistory construction technologies are sufficient to label wooden multistory construction as a novel innovation (see: Mahapatra et al., 2012). ...
... 75-127;Hemström et al., 2017a;Hurmekoski et al., 2015;Lindgren and Emmitt, 2017;Mahapatra and Gustavsson, 2008;Mahapatra et al., 2012;Ramage et al., 2017;Salvadori, 2021). The differences between wooden-and concrete-multistory construction technologies are sufficient to label wooden multistory construction as a novel innovation (see: Mahapatra et al., 2012). ...
... The slow diffusion of wooden multistory construction is predominantly framed around the path-dependency of the construction industry (e.g., Mahapatra and Gustavsson, 2008;Mahapatra et al., 2012;Hurmekoski et al., 2015;Hemström et al., 2017aHemström et al., , 2017bLazarevic et al., 2020). They are locked-in to using technologies and practices associated with concrete multistory construction To give some examples of observed lock-ins, in Sweden, incumbent construction industry actors are constrained by formal industry rules (e.g., "standard practices," views towards development cost and riskiness) that result in a reiterative behavior to elect concrete multistory construction (see: Bysheim and Nyrud, 2009;Roos et al., 2010;Hemström et al., 2017aHemström et al., , 2017bMarkström et al., 2019). ...
For the past 25 years, the Finnish state has supported the diffusion of wooden multistory construction into the construction sector. Given the socio-cultural and economic value of Finland’s forest sector, there is precedent to do so. Nonetheless, wooden multistory construction remains a niche construction practice in its formative phase. This dissertation researches the diffusion of wooden multistory construction by analyzing perceptions from municipal civil servants tasked with overseeing land use planning in Finland. Despite being gatekeepers of local construction activities, their perceptions towards wooden multistory construction are understudied. To access these perceptions, this research applies the theory of planned behavior. At the root of this theory lies the notion that beliefs underpin human action. Specifically, this dissertation research identifies (Article I) and operationalizes (Article II-III) the attitudes and beliefs that municipal civil servants hold towards wooden multistory construction. The results are distilled into three empirical accounts. Why not wood? (Article I) reframes elicited beliefs as barriers and benefits to wooden multistory construction. Benefits include a variety of holistic topics ranging from improving the lifestyles of citizens and supporting local wood-based businesses, to facilitating aspects of building construction. On the other hand, multiple barriers coalesce to form a risky and costly environment that results in project aversion. Wood versus concrete (Article II) analyzes how outcomes of implementing wooden multistory buildings are relativized against concrete multistory buildings. In large part, wooden multistory buildings are believed to possess several superior qualities (e.g., environmental performance, economic development outcomes). Nevertheless, apprehensions persist (e.g., they are more expensive to build and maintain, they are more susceptible to fire). Background experiences, especially occupational profession, play a key role in shaping several beliefs. Planning for wood (Article III) studies the relationship between how beliefs (i.e., environmental performance, economic development, cost-related attributes, technical qualities) form attitudes towards wooden multistory buildings. The prioritizations of beliefs vary according to occupational profession. Planning practitioners form attitudes holistically, based on the building’s environmental performance, technical qualities, and economic development outcomes. Other administrators form attitudes primarily based on the project’s economic development outcomes and technical qualities. Ultimately, municipal civil servants appear receptive towards implementing wooden multistory buildings in their municipalities, but this receptiveness hinges on project outcomes and the “societal goods” prioritized by the individual respondent. Even if wooden multistory buildings are perceived to possess superior qualities (e.g., environmental performance), these qualities may not strongly impact an individual’s attitude towards favoring the project. Different prioritizations among municipal civil servants might lead to planning tensions within the municipal administration, but it remains to be seen how these tensions enable (or hinder) wooden multistory construction diffusion.
... Other stakeholders Peters et al. 2020;Stern et al. 2018;Jones et al. 2018;Gosselin et al. 2018;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Vihemäki et al. 2020;Bysheim and Nyrud 2009;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hemström et al. 2017;Markström et al. 2019;Toppinen et al. 2019b Institutional changes ...
... Policy measures and institutional frameworks; Law and regulation changes (e.g., Fire regulations, building regulations); Changes in building codes; Governmental support programs Policymakers; Product manufacturers Hynynen 2016; Peters et al. 2020;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Hurmekoski et al. 2018;Vihemäki et al. 2019;Toppinen et al. 2018;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Tykkä et al. 2010;Lazarevic et al. 2020 Urban planning Improved transparency in the land allocation activity; Supporting local industries; Using locally sourced materials Building developers; Municipal decision makers Lindblad 2020; Franzini et al. 2018 Jones et al. 2016: Mahapatra K., Gustavsson L. 2008Hemström et al. 2017;Lazarevic et al. 2020;Nordin et al. 2010;Riala and Ilola 2014;Hurmekoski et al. 2018;Bysheim and Nyrud 2009;Tykkä et al. 2010;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Riggio et al. 2020;Mallo and Espinoza 2015;Hemström et al. 2011;Roos et al. 2010;Gosselin et al. 2018;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Franzini et al. 2018;Hynynen 2016;Stehn et al. 2002 Innovations Inability to adapt changes; Recognition and tradition; Lack of requisites for efficient information management skills ...
... Policy measures and institutional frameworks; Law and regulation changes (e.g., Fire regulations, building regulations); Changes in building codes; Governmental support programs Policymakers; Product manufacturers Hynynen 2016; Peters et al. 2020;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Hurmekoski et al. 2018;Vihemäki et al. 2019;Toppinen et al. 2018;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Tykkä et al. 2010;Lazarevic et al. 2020 Urban planning Improved transparency in the land allocation activity; Supporting local industries; Using locally sourced materials Building developers; Municipal decision makers Lindblad 2020; Franzini et al. 2018 Jones et al. 2016: Mahapatra K., Gustavsson L. 2008Hemström et al. 2017;Lazarevic et al. 2020;Nordin et al. 2010;Riala and Ilola 2014;Hurmekoski et al. 2018;Bysheim and Nyrud 2009;Tykkä et al. 2010;Mahapatra et al. 2012;Riggio et al. 2020;Mallo and Espinoza 2015;Hemström et al. 2011;Roos et al. 2010;Gosselin et al. 2018;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Franzini et al. 2018;Hynynen 2016;Stehn et al. 2002 Innovations Inability to adapt changes; Recognition and tradition; Lack of requisites for efficient information management skills ...
Climate change sets high pressures on the construction industry to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the carbon storage properties and potential to use renewable resources efficiently, wooden multi-storey construction (WMC) is an interesting alternative for the construction industry to enhance sustainable development combined with the aesthetic and well-being benefits of wood perceived among many consumers. For forest industry firms, industrial wood construction is a possibility to seek for business opportunities and bring socio-economic benefits for local economies. Despite positive drivers, WMC still remains a niche even in the forest-rich countries.The purpose of our study is to add understanding on the WMC market development by conducting a systematic literature analysis on international peer-reviewed studies from the past 20 years. Our special focus is on the role of WMC in the housing markets studied from the perspectives of the demand, supply and local governance factors. As specific aims, we 1) synthesize the key barriers and enabling factors for the WMC market growth; 2) identify the actors addressed in the existing studies connected to the WMC market development, and 3) summarize research methods and analytical approaches used in the previous studies. As a systematic method to make literature searches in Web of Science and Scopus for years 2000â2020, we employed PRISMA guidelines. By using pre-determined keywords, our searches resulted in a sample of 696 articles, of which 42 full articles were after selection procedure included in-depth content analysis. Our results showed cost-efficiency gains from industrialized prefabrication and perceived sustainability benefits by consumers and architects enabled a WMC market diffusion. The lack of experiences on the WMC, and path dependencies to use concrete and steel continue to be key barriers for increased WMC. Although our research scope was the global WMC market development, most of the literature concerned the Nordic region. The key actors covered in the literature were businesses (e.g., contractors, manufacturers and architects) involved in the wood construction value-chains, while residents and actors in the local governance were seldomly addressed. Currently, case studies, the use of qualitative data sets and focus on the Nordic region dominate the literature. This hinders the generalizability of findings in different regional contexts. In the future, more research is needed on how sustainability-driven wood construction value-chains are successfully shaping up in different geographical regions, and how they could challenge the dominant concrete-based construction regime.
... No Japão também há iniciativas que vêm debatendo a ampliação do uso da madeira novamente em decorrência da necessidade de redução de emissão dos gases de efeito estufa e construções mais sustentáveis utilizando materiais renováveis (JA, 2013). Na Suécia, a construção de edifícios em madeira com mais de dois pavimentos foi permitida a partir de 1994, após mais de um século de restrição, com a lei datada de 1874(MAHAPATRA et al., 2012). Na Finlândia, desde 1990 o governo tem promovido o uso da madeira em construções de grande porte, em especial edifícios de múltiplos pavimentos, de modo a principais: transporte e construção civil. ...
... Sendo assim, o seu uso está associado ao risco de incêndio. Conforme apresentado no capítulo anterior, mesmo em países com tradição no uso da madeira para a construção de edificações residenciais, até pouco tempo atrás ainda havia códigos de regulamentação das construções que proibiam o uso da madeira em edificações de múltiplos pavimentos como medida de segurança devido ao risco de incêndio(BO XIA et al., 2014; CASCO, 2017;CHARLESON;CALDER, 1997;HURMEKOSKI et al., 2015;MAHAPATRA et al., 2012;RIALA, ILOLA, 2014).Por fim, somente pelo fato de ser um material natural, a madeira é associada à rusticidade, e é comum a ideia de que, por ser natural, seja inferior em termos de resistência mecânica, do que outros materiais como o concreto e o aço.Os preconceitos apontados em relação à madeira são resultado da utilização inadequada do material, além de falta de tecnologia apropriada no contexto em que tais preconceitos foram gerados. No entanto, cada uma das fragilidades do material já pode ser sanada através de soluções de projeto que não expõem o material a situações desfavoráveis e de tecnologias que aumentam a durabilidade e resistência do material. ...
... Apesar disso, em países sem tradição como o Brasil também há um potencial latente para a implantação deste tipo de tecnologia justamente pelo seu distanciamento com a matéria-prima, o que pode facilitar a sua aceitação no mercado.Em relação ao custo, nos países levantados na literatura existe a percepção de que as construções em madeira são mais caras devido à exigência de constante manutenção, o que eleva os custos da edificação ao longo de sua vida útil. Inclusive este é um dos fatores que tornam o valor de revenda de uma habitação em madeira inferior ao de uma em alvenaria e concreto na Alemanha(MAHAPATRA et al., 2012). A percepção de aumento de custo também foi apontada em alguns casos em relação à utilização do CLT, embora não haja uma unanimidade em relação à isso. ...
Over the last decade the debate about the rise of use of wood, specially in the construction sector, is growing because of two main reasons: the potential to stock CO2 and consequently to contribute to a low carbon economy and the development of industrialized technologies, predominantly those known as “mass timber”. Even though roughly 60% of the Brazilian territory is covered by forests and the potential of the forestry sector the use of wood as a construction material is incipient. Nevertheless in consonance with a global trend, there are evidences indicating the development of the timber construction industry in Brazil. This research aimed to characterise this trend through the identification of the main stakeholders, the initiatives to promote wood and the available products on the market. Also, matters related to obstacles, motivations and future perspectives were also analysed. It is important to highlight that the research focused on the private sector with the use of wood predominantly on buildings as structure and/or sealing. To accomplish it two methods were used: systemic mapping and study case. The systemic mapping consisted on both the research through the scientific literature and documents (i. e. catalogs, data available on websites) which identified 42 institutions, 66 companies, 24 different products among construction systems and components, and also 20 wood promotion actions (i. e. conferences, programs, media). Afterwards 22 stakeholders among companies and institutions were selected based on the relevance of their activities. Then semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data about the difficulties, motivations and perspectives of the timber construction sector. As a result it was identified a rise on the quantity of companies, variety of products available on the market (specially engineered wood products) and wood promotions initiatives, particularly on the year of 2017. The study revealed that the development is not about the use of wood itself, but instead highly industrialized products. There is also the approximation between the forest and civil construction sector, which is essential for the full development of the production chain. Besides, despite the many obstacles found, it is expected for the next years a consistent growth of engineered wood products in Brazilian civil construction sector.
... For small houses, the market situation is the other way around, with timber dominating the market (TMF, 2016;SCB, 2016). When overviewing TMHS, many types exist, for example prefabricated surface elements with or without insulation and sealing coat or as three-dimensional volume-elements completed with plumbing, electrical installations, finishing, etc. (Mahapatra et al., 2012). TMHS can be open, allowing different complementary solutions (Ågren and Wing, 2014) in the timber frame, or closed, i.e. a total solution for the complete building is set and the solution is closed (Lessing et al., 2015). ...
... Hemström et al. (2011) also report that Swedish architects perceive concrete as superior to steel and wood frames with regard to engineering aspects, influencing adoption decisions. For diffusion of timber construction, breaking path dependency of existing and established innovation systems, such as concrete, is needed (Mahapatra et al., 2012). However, there are well-defined systems in timber available on the market. ...
... Their immediate competitors also produce well-working examples. Collectively this helps to improve recognition over time and helps to break the path dependency of the established material (concrete), as highlighted by Mahapatra et al. (2012). Thus, competitors both depend on and "help" each other regarding adoption and diffusion of the systemic innovation. ...
... Wood-based construction presents a potential low-carbon alternative to conventional materials like concrete and steel (Churkina et al., 2020;Pomponi et al., 2020;Hingorani et al., 2023). It has been shown to be feasible even for multi-story buildings that use wood as the primary structural material (Mahapatra et al., 2012;Wimmers, 2017). However, the adoption of wood as a construction material faces several challenges in Germany. ...
... However, the adoption of wood as a construction material faces several challenges in Germany. Administrative barriers, such as building permits and standards, as well as cultural barriers such as negative public perception, have limited its widespread use compared to other countries such as those in Scandinavia (Mahapatra et al., 2012). Moreover, the scalability of timber production for large-scale adoption is constrained by ecological barriers. ...
Germany is trying to solve the housing crisis in many of its cities with new construction. At the same time it is trying to meet its greenhouse gas emissions commitments under the Paris Agreement. This study examines how measures to tackle the housing crisis affect the climate crisis by looking at whether material emissions from the construction sector are in line with Germany’s decarbonization targets. We project material demand and associated emissions from 2024 to 2050 using dynamic material flow analysis of a novel high-resolution building stock model based on synthetic population microdata. The model incorporates technological improvements in building design and material efficiency, finding that these fall short of carbon neutrality targets in 2045 and beyond. A reduction in per capita floor area is required to meet the targets. The high spatial resolution of this study allows the identification of reduction hotspots within Germany’s 400 cities and counties, emphasizing the need for location-specific policy for national goals.
... The ascent of special-ized wood construction firms and technological innovations within the timber construction sector has driven improvements in cost-effectiveness, material conservation, fire safety, and sound insulation (Drexler and El-khouli 2012;Krötsch 2018). Additionally, revisions in governmental and federal building regulations have expanded opportunities for the timber construction industry, resulting in a surge in building permits (Mahapatra et al. 2012;Dangel 2016). ...
... This contradicts the notion that fire protection is a crucial factor in the purchasing decisions of houses (Gold and Rubik 2009). German building codes are among the strictest in the world (Mahapatra et al. 2012). The lack of significance of fire safety in our findings suggests that the population trusts these regulations, assuming any legally built wooden house meets high safety standards. ...
Construction and use of buildings is one of the highest users of global energy (34%) and one of the highest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions (37%). Using wood instead of carbon-intensive materials such as bricks reduces a building's embodied energy and is a more eco-friendly alternative. Since the quota of newly built wooden houses in Germany is still relatively low, gaining insights into the perspective of consumers is crucial. This study aims to investigate factors from a consumer perspective that influence the selection of wood as the primary building material for residential houses. Therefore, an online survey was conducted in Germany to gather data from individuals (N = 510) who either bought or built a house in the last 5 years. By conducting a logistic regression, we have identified six influencing factors for the selection of wood. Positive views on wood's eco-friendliness and emphasis on renewable materials are key factors in choosing wood. Higher age and living in rural areas also increase the likelihood of selecting wood, while concerns about value stability and durability have negative effects. We conclude that increasing information activities, raising awareness about wood's ecological benefits, and dispelling prejudices can significantly impact its selection as a preferred building material.
... Enquanto em países da Oceania e da Europa, grande parte das construções são feitas usando derivados do LWF [2] , no Brasil esta técnica ainda é pouco utilizada. O LWF é uma opção para minimizar os impactos negativos da produção artesanal (excesso de retrabalho, desperdícios, baixa produtividade, dentre outros) pois pode-se obter um processo de fabricação mais eficiente e sustentável [3]. A fim de garantir a qualidade deste processo é importante avaliar o desempenho da edificação em LWF durante a pré e pós ocupação para se obter dados quantitativos e qualitativos relativos à qualidade do produto entregue ao cliente final. ...
... Revisão da literatura[3] A medição de cada subcritério foi realizada com equipamentos calibrados e cedidos pela Universidade Federal do Paraná. O detalhamento de cada equipamento está detalhado na Tabela 2.No dia combinado com a construtora Y uma equipe formada por 3 alunos (incluindo o autor deste relatório) foi até o condomínio X para realizar os testes. ...
... For many policy-makers, multi-storey wooden buildings are an appealing pathway to simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and advance circular bioeconomy goals (e.g., Vihemäki et al., 2019;Toivonen et al., 2021). A challenge to this pathway is that multi-storey wooden buildings remain a niche technological innovation that competes against other well-established construction practices, chiefly concrete multistorey building production (Mahapatra et al., 2012). To date, there are a limited number of multi-storey wooden buildings finalized across the globe (e.g., see : Franzini, 2022: Appendix A;Salvadori, 2021). ...
... To date, there are a limited number of multi-storey wooden buildings finalized across the globe (e.g., see : Franzini, 2022: Appendix A;Salvadori, 2021). The wider uptake of multi-storey wooden buildings requires policymakers to institute regulatory and market-based interventions and promote societal acceptance (Mahapatra and Gustavsson, 2008;Mahapatra et al., 2012;Wimmers, 2017). ...
Climate policies aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions embodied in the built environment support the wider implementation of multi-storey wooden buildings. A body of research on public perceptions toward wood as a structural building material is emerging, but close examination of behavioral factors underpinning prospective dwelling is scarce. We used contextualized constructs from the theory of planned behavior to quantify and compare the roles of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on intentions to dwell in multi-storey wooden buildings. Structural equation models were fitted to survey data from seven European countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom; n = 7056). We found that attitudes consistently explain intention to dwell in multi-storey wooden buildings. We also found a varied pattern of relationships between factors underpinning intention across countries. An implication of our results is that national-level policies aimed at promoting social acceptability of dwelling in multi-storey wooden buildings should universally address attitudes toward such novel buildings. But in some countries policies might in addition be tailored to emphasize citizens' subjective norms or perceived behavioral controls.
... Timber, as a building material, has been increasingly used and has become more visible around the world. [12][13][14][15][16][17]. The prefabrication of wood-based building construction materials, including laminated veneer lumber, GLT, and cross laminated timber, allowed the increased use of timber in the construction sector [18][19][20][21][22][23]. ...
... The prefabrication of wood-based building construction materials, including laminated veneer lumber, GLT, and cross laminated timber, allowed the increased use of timber in the construction sector [18][19][20][21][22][23]. The use of engineered wood products in construction enables the sector to build multi-storey public and commercial buildings, industrial and agricultural halls, bridges, sport centres etc. [12,18,21]. Still, the market share of wood-based constructions in Europe is below 10%; therefore, these materials possess great potential for substituting non-wood building constructions for wood alternatives, and thereby making the construction sector more sustainable [24]. ...
The European Commission adopted a long-term strategic vision aiming for climate neutrality by 2050. Lithuania ratified the Paris agreement, making a binding commitment to cut its 1990 baseline GHG emissions by 40% in all sectors of its economy by 2030. In Lithuania, the main construction material is cement, even though Lithuania has a strong wood-based industry and abundant timber resources. Despite this, approximately twenty percent of the annual roundwood production from Lithuanian forests is exported, as well as other final wood products that could be used in the local construction sector. To highlight the potential that timber frame construction holds for carbon sequestration efforts, timber and concrete buildings were directly compared and quantified in terms of sustainability across their production value chains. Here the concept of “exemplary buildings” was avoided, instead a “traditional building” design was opted for, and two- and five-floor public buildings were selected. In this study, eleven indicators were selected to compare the sustainability impacts of wood-based and concrete-based construction materials, using a decision support tool ToSIA (a tool for sustainability impact assessment). Findings revealed the potential of glue-laminated timber (GLT) frames as a more sustainable alternative to precast reinforced concrete (PRC) in the construction of public low-rise buildings in Lithuania, and they showed great promise in reducing emissions and increasing the sequestration of CO2. An analysis of environmental and social indicators shows that the replacement of PRC frames with GLT frames in the construction of low-rise public buildings would lead to reduced environmental impacts, alongside a range of positive social impacts.
... The reasons for this will be explained in subsequent chapters. (Lattke and Lehmann, 2007) (Mahapatra and Gustavsson, 2008) (Lehmann, 2012) (Riala and Ilola, 2014) (Gosselin et al., 2015) (Ruuska and Häkkinen, 2016) (Zumbrunnen, 2017) (Kuzman and Sandberg, 2017) (Markström et al., 2019) Multi-storey timber-frame construction (Kairi, 2005) (Nord et al., 2011) (Xia et al., 2014) Wooden (or Wood-based) multistory building (or construction) (Mahapatra and Gustavsson, 2009) (Eliasson and Thörnqvist, 2010) (Östman and Källsner, 2011) (Mikkola, 2014) (Anttonen, 2015) (Federation of the Finnish Woodworking Industries, 2019) Wood-frame multi-story construction (WMC) (Gustavsson et al., 2006) (Mahapatra et al., 2012) (Hurmekoski et al., 2015) (Hurmekoski et al., 2018) (Vihemäki et al., 2019) (Lazarevic et al., 2020) Tall Wood (-en) (Green and Karsh, 2012) (Salvadori, 2017) ( Green and Taggart, 2017) (Wiegand, 2019) Tall Timber (Foster et al., 2017) (Kuzmanovska et al., 2018) (Landel, 2018) ...
... Berlin was changed, allowing buildings up to five-storey under specific requirements (Lattke and Lehmann, 2007) (Mahapatra et al., 2012). However, in all of Germany, all building approvals need to be discussed with the local authority (Mayo, 2015). ...
Since the early 2000s, there has been a steady and heterogeneous proliferation throughout several western countries of multi-story timber-based buildings. This thesis confirms that since the first five-storey building was realised in 2004, at least 196 others were built until 2019. With many of these case-studies having been researched for the first time, the goal of this dissertation is to categorize the different international approaches and to define what are the drivers which had an effect on the design.
Because the research topic is a recent development in academia, this thesis defines what multi-storey timber-based buildings actually are, and, after the discussion of existing literature, proceeds with the selection of the case-studies according to defined height and structural criteria. With the complete list of the buildings, the thesis first analyses the design characteristics of all case-studies, in order to research how these projects were built. The analysis includes thirty-two structural categories in which each case-study is classified and described. The analysis was able to show that there are many design differences between the countries involved. Some clusters of solutions can also be identified.
The purpose of the second step was to understand by who and why these buildings have been built. In order to answer these questions, the thesis proceeds with each country's contextual analysis. Regulatory framework in place at the time of the project are described, but the focus is given on the stakeholders and R&D concepts involved in the realisation of the selected case-studies. Furthermore, the declared reasons for choosing a timber structure, along with the public and private typology of the commission were also researched. The contextual analysis shows, as the literature confirms, that the legal framework often sets the necessary rules for building multi-story timber-based buildings. However, the role played by the stakeholders is not secondary, and there are clear patterns of interdependence between many case-studies and the professionals involved in their construction. While private clients are often the actual drivers behind the majority of the cases, there are several countries in which the leading role is played by public initiatives. In some cases, the intrinsic properties of timber played a decisive role in the choice of the clients.
This dissertation adds further valuable information regarding the constructive and contextual characteristics of multi-story timber-based buildings built over the last fifteen years, in order to show the differences and commonalities between each country involved.
Multi-storey timber-based buildings are a complex phenomenon, which really depend on the nation in which they were built. At the same time, it was possible to identify international trends in their design, and major players which considerably influenced the design solutions and realisations of these buildings.
... A wooden multi-story building (WMB) is a building with more than two storeys and a mainly wooden frame. Building multi-story buildings with wood is a relatively new technique, serving as an alternative to the dominant steel and concrete techniques [19]. ...
... In this particular empirical context, the development of WMBs is determined by a number of other actors [22][23][24][25]. Decisions that are based on previous decisions or experience (path dependency) and strong interconnectedness within the current socio-technical regime can impede transition to a bioeconomy [19,[22][23][24]55]. ...
The concept of the bioeconomy is associated with sustainable development changes and involves transitions in both production and consumption within systems. Many of these transitions relate to using renewable resources, like forest biomass, to meet basic needs, such as food, energy and housing. However, consumers must become aware of the forest-based bioeconomy so that they can contribute to the transition. This study aims to contribute to an understanding of this matter that may lead to social acceptance of the forest-based bioeconomy and, in particular, to Swedish consumer awareness of the concept and of a particular product (wooden multi-story buildings) representing the forest-based bioeconomy. The results show consumer awareness of forest sequestration capacity but less awareness of the connection to the forest-based bioeconomy and the role of wooden multi-story buildings. The results indicate a slow transition that is hindered by path dependence and limited comprehension among consumers of the effects of their choices for a forest-based bioeconomy. This study provides valuable insights for future studies of how consumer awareness and social acceptance of the forest-based bioeconomy are interconnected.
... Among them, SDG 11 is related to more sustainable cities and communities and SDG 9 is related to the construction of reliable, sustainable and resilient quality infrastructures (NATION…, 2020). These data show that the concern for the search for more efficient and sustainable building systems is eminent (MAHAPATRA; GUSTAVSSON;HEMSTROM, 2012). ...
... Among them, SDG 11 is related to more sustainable cities and communities and SDG 9 is related to the construction of reliable, sustainable and resilient quality infrastructures (NATION…, 2020). These data show that the concern for the search for more efficient and sustainable building systems is eminent (MAHAPATRA; GUSTAVSSON;HEMSTROM, 2012). ...
One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set out in this agenda, objective 11 is related to the search for more sustainable cities and communities. This study wishes to contribute in this effort, presenting a method application to evaluate the performance of light wood frame buildings in Brazil. The structure of the method used, named MEPLWF, is based on five dimensions, which involve criteria and sub-criteria that analyse technical, social, environmental and economic requirements to evaluate buildings. It allows the examination of the operating results of buildings and the discovery of performance-related problems. The proposed method was applied in a real case study in southern Brazil, during the pre-occupation phase of the building. As a result, the performance identified in the building was 94%, which is a high performance. The application of the method in this case study diagnosed points that should be reviewed by the construction company, such as items related to fire protection and safety, flexibility and adaptability of the building system, environmental plan, energy efficiency and Costs.
... The megatrends of globalization, urbanization, depletion of natural resources, and climate change are contributing to growing societal pressures to identify and scale up building solutions which are environmentally, economically and socially 'smarter' than the prevailing ones. Wooden multi-storey buildings can be conceived as an innovation in the building sector in the European setting (Mahapatra et al. 2012), challenging well-established material and technological choices in industrial construction. The Wooden Multi-storey Construction (WMC) concepts range from 'traditional' on-site construction to on-site assembly of elements and components produced off-site, with varying rates of wood usage (Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hurmekoski et al. 2015). ...
... Wooden multi-storey buildings can be conceived as an innovation in the building sector in the European setting (Mahapatra et al. 2012), challenging well-established material and technological choices in industrial construction. The Wooden Multi-storey Construction (WMC) concepts range from 'traditional' on-site construction to on-site assembly of elements and components produced off-site, with varying rates of wood usage (Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hurmekoski et al. 2015). It is argued that the mix of material and technological choices labelled as WMC offer more sustainable building solutions compared with the prevailing ones (Wang et al. 2014). ...
The development and acceleration of Wooden Multi-storey Construction (WMC) as a set of innovative building technologies has gained political support and attracted public interest in Finland, as in some other forest-rich European countries. The market share of WMC, however, remains low. The technological innovation system (TIS) around WMC in Finland has been assessed as being in its formative stages, but its governance remain poorly understood. This paper analyses policy narratives on WMC in Finland and reflects these against the governance of TIS. Thematic interviews with 17 experts were conducted in 2018–2019 and complemented with a review of secondary materials and observation in wood construction-related events. Four policy narratives were identified, out of which three were “pro-WMC”: (1) the bioeconomy narrative, which sees WMC as a means to advance a more sustainable bioeconomy (2) the climate change narrative, WMC as way to enhance low-carbon cities and building, and (3) the wood industry narrative, seeing WMC as a means to create demand for high-value wood-based products, and/or to reform the construction sector, whereas (4) the counter WMC narrative questioned the public sector's role in supporting WMC and the environmental benefits of WMC. The policy measures highlighted in these narratives to accelerate WMC varied highly, which demonstrates the contestations regarding goals and means of supporting the WMC niche. The absence of a common vision among the actors in the TIS does not result in an optimal and efficient platform for accelerating WMC market diffusion. Accordingly, the findings indicate the need for more coordinated efforts among the “pro-WMC” key players to empower the WMC niche effectively.
... Despite the widespread support, research notes that the market share of multi-storey WBC has only increased from 1% in 2010 to approximately 5-7% in 2022 [33,38,39]. Compared to the state of WBC in countries like Sweden or the UK which share similar bioeconomy goals [40], Finland's progress has been limited. ...
Wood-based construction (WBC) has gained prominence as a sustainable alternative to traditional construction, offering significant environmental benefits such as carbon storage and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Its importance lies in its potential to contribute to climate change mitigation while supporting economic growth and innovation in the construction industry. Therefore, understanding the drivers and challenges of WBC is essential for its future development. This study, at the first stage, conducted a literature review to identify the key drivers and challenges associated with WBC, categorizing them into environmental, technical, economic, and perception and policy aspects. Then, based on these findings, we conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with WBC experts from Finland in the construction industry, public administration and academia to compare theoretical perspectives with practical insights. Results revealed that literature often focuses on matters such as life-cycle assessments, policy development, and renewable resource management. On the other hand, interviewees emphasize practical concerns like technical feasibility, economic viability, and client perceptions. Climate considerations are acknowledged by interview participants as important but are often viewed as external expectations rather than core business drivers. This study highlights the gap between academic research and industry practice.
... Pérez-García et al. (2005) have revealed important findings on the life cycle analysis of wood materials, stating that wood materials offer lower carbon footprint and energy requirements compared to other construction materials. In addition, Mahapatra et al. (2012) stated that wood structures offer long-term cost advantages by increasing energy efficiency in buildings. Harte (2017) examined the environmental impacts and energy performance of the use of wood structures in green buildings and showed that these structures provide high performance with low energy consumption. ...
This study aims to analyze the integration of wooden structures into green building designs and the effects of this integration on sustainable architecture. Wood, as a renewable building material, offers advantages such as low carbon footprint, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. The study examines the thermal performance, energy efficiency and acoustic properties of wooden structures and evaluates the potential of these structures as a sustainable solution in future green building projects. In the study, select wooden structures such as Brock Commons Tallwood House (Canada), Mjøstårnet (Norway), Treet (Norway), Forté Building (Australia) and The Edge (Netherlands) were analyzed. Artificial intelligence-supported simulations were performed on these structures and evaluations were made in terms of thermal performance, energy efficiency and carbon storage capacity. Artificial intelligence methods were used to optimize energy efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. For example, EnergyPlus software and artificial intelligence techniques such as genetic algorithms were used for energy modeling to optimize the performance of buildings in different climatic conditions. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has determined that the carbon storage capacity of wooden structures is superior to traditional materials such as steel and concrete. The results show that wooden structures reduce energy consumption, minimize heating and cooling needs, increase acoustic comfort and contribute to environmental sustainability. In particular, structures such as Mjøstårnet and The Edge are exemplary in both reducing carbon emissions and saving energy.
... Com isso, a madeira tem sido cada vez mais utilizada em construções civis em torno do mundo. Em países como Japão, Escócia e Nova Zelândia, construções em madeira representam, respectivamente, 45%, 83% e 85% das edificações unifamiliares (Mahapatra et al., 2012;De Araujo et al., 2018). ...
Nos últimos anos, a madeira tem se tornado um dos três materiais mais utilizados na construção civil, juntamente com o concreto armado e o aço, para obras de grandes estruturas. Todavia, para o correto dimensionamento das estruturas em madeira, e para garantir o uso racional das espécies nativas, é necessário o conhecimento a respeito das propriedades físico-mecânicas do material. Dentre tais propriedades, destaca-se a determinação da resistência (FM) e o módulo (EM) convencional na flexão. No Brasil, o documento normativo ABNT NBR 7190-3 (2022) estabelece os métodos de ensaio para obtenção de tais propriedades a partir de corpos de provas com dimensões de 5 cm × 5 cm × 115 cm, no entanto, para realizar esses procedimentos são necessários laboratórios especializados e de alto custo. Nesse contexto, esse estudo buscou verificar a influência das dimensões amostrais na determinação de FM e EM, empregando quatro espécies do grupo das folhosas e respeitando a relação L/h ≥ 21. Para as quatro espécies estudadas, observou-se equivalência estatística nos valores de FM e EM nos corpos de prova com dimensões distintas. Esses resultados evidenciam que, mantida a relação L/h ≥ 21, as dimensões amostrais não influenciam na determinação destas propriedades.
... Numerous timber buildings are currently being planned and erected in European and North American countries to meet the escalating demand for sustainable and environment-friendly housing [1]. While the timber frame structure has a history spanning decades, it was traditionally confined to smaller two-storey houses until the mid-90s when the building regulations were changed in some of these countries [2][3][4]. Nowadays self-bearing, prefabricated and timber-based modules have gained significant traction as favored structural components for constructing highly efficient multi-storey residential complexes, at times reaching up to six stories in height. The trend is particularly pronounced in the Nordic countries where highly automated industrial production and effective on-site installation have made such buildings attractive [5]. ...
Prefabricated timber modules are being increasingly used in the load-bearing structure of entire residential buildings reaching heights up to six stories. The development is driven by the demand of high-quality housing that remains affordable while fulfilling tough environmental requirements imposed on modern construction. To enable further development of this type of buildings additional research is needed despite the considerable number of studies previously performed. This study provides an extensive experimental investigation by subjecting three modules to three different load cases. In each load case, the modules were initially loaded with dead-load placed atop of the module. Thereafter the modules were laterally loaded at the top using a servo hydraulic piston in displacement control. The main aim of the study was to assess the structural behavior of these modules under combined lateral and vertical loading, and also to generate experimental data suitable for verification of finite element models. Results from the test series reveal significant variation in racking stiffness and racking strength depending on the module’s design. Furthermore, in some cases more stiff and stronger mechanical inter-module connections are needed to enhance their global structural performance. Finally, the experimental results reveal that the modules are relatively ductile in their shear response when subjected to horizontal load.
... Expressive uses of wood are being confirmed. While wood is the main material in 80% of houses in Scotland and New Zealand, it is also applied for nearly 7% of the Brazilian residences (Mahapatra et al., 2012;Araujo et al., 2018Araujo et al., , 2020. ...
To simplify the characterization of wood species, the Brazilian standard document ABNT NBR 7190-1 (2022) establishes the determination of mechanical properties employing the characteristic strength in the compression parallel to grain (fc0,k). This mechanical property is estimated using the linear relation given by the following expression fv0,k = 0.12·fc0,k Brazilian and European standard documents support the estimation of fv0,k using relations among properties. However, the European guidelines in the EN 384 (2019) have used the conventional characteristic strength in the static bending test (fM,k). Thus, this study aimed to investigate the efficiency of the ratio fv0,k = 0.12·fc0,k for adopting 30 hardwoods. The variance analysis results demonstrate the divergence among the experimental outcomes and those values estimated using the relation cited. Therefore, regression models at two parameters were considered to obtain more accurate estimates of fv0,k by adopting fc0,k, and fM,k as independent variables. Regarding the results, the geometric (R² = 80.80%) and linear (R² = 74.19%) models were the most accurate for the estimates of fv0,k in terms of fc0,k, and fM,k, respectively. This fact evinces the good accuracy of the models under consideration, which may provide a more rigorous structural design compared to the correlation currently prescribed by the ABNT NBR 7190-1 (2022).
Keywords:
Brazilian hardwood; characteristic strengths; Shear strength estimates
... The second scenario, Growth 40, estimates a slight increase in demand for wooden buildings. Growth40 uses reference values from Sweden where the market share has been roughly 10% for wooden attached buildings and 90% for detached buildings [43,44]. The third scenario, Growth50, estimates a significant increase in demand where half of the projected residential building stock will be wooden. ...
Urban areas have experienced exponential growth since the industrial revolution and by virtue, the urban population has followed. Current projections suggest that this growth has yet to reach its peak implying that urban developments will continue to sprawl into untouched territories. This growth and subsequent sprawl will undoubtedly come at the expense of forested areas. This study presents a Carbon Storage Factor indicator for new urban developments. It is a novel concept which integrates urban planning, land use changes and wooden construction. The factor sets a carbon storage requirement for new urban areas that are developed at the expense of forested areas. The study is conducted in four parts. First, we estimate the carbon storage potential of forest areas via existing literature and databases. Then we collect all new development and construction estimates up to the year 2050 for the whole metropolitan region in Finland. Next, we conduct scenario analyses for different demand levels of wood in projected residential developments. Finally, we compare the carbon storage potential of the future building stock to the forest areas planned for development. The data used is provided by the regional authority. The results detail that the future residential building stock can store between 128–733 kt of carbon. The lower level implies that current construction methods can only partially preserve the carbon storage of an area in buildings. However, the higher level suggests future buildings to be able to exceed the carbon storage potential of forest areas by nearly 47 tC/ha. The study reminds that an increased use of wood is dependent on sustainable forest management practices. Furthermore, it is not our purpose to promote urban development into entirely new areas but rather encourage urban planners to consider the carbon balance when it is the only viable option.
... Swedish architects' perceptions, attitudes, and interest toward steel, concrete, and wooden frames in multi-story buildings were examined by Hemström et al. [6]. The influence of regulations, perceptions, and promotions on the emergence of an innovative system for wood-framed multi-story buildings in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom was evaluated by Mahapatra et al. [7]. Dodoo et al. [8] conducted a life cycle primary energy analysis of low-energy timber building systems in multi-story residential buildings. ...
Construction of buildings with wooden frames higher than two stories has been permitted in Sweden since 1994. As construction of multi-story buildings with wooden frames is relatively new, people in the construction industry are more likely to construct these buildings with concrete frames. The current research evaluates the factors influencing the choice of wooden frames for construction of multi-story buildings in Sweden. The purpose of this study is to explain which advantages and disadvantages construction companies in Sweden consider with wooden construction and to highlight the factors for why multi-story buildings are built with wood to a lesser extent than with other materials. The main goal is to investigate what factors or assumptions construction companies base their decisions on, and whether experience and competence in wooden frames for construction of multi-story buildings are considered in short supply in Sweden today. The chosen method for this research is a descriptive survey study with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The survey is based on respondents from five leading building companies in Sweden with regard to the companies’ revenue. The respondents had either previous experience in constructing multi-story buildings with wooden frames, experienced respondents (ERs), or no experience, unexperienced respondents (UERs). 63% of the respondents were ERs, while 37% of them were UERs. It is resulted that the respondents think there is a lack of competence and experience in wooden frames for construction of multi-story buildings in Sweden. Factors that have the greatest impact on decisions to construct with wooden frames are positive environmental and climatic aspects as well as production advantages. Factors that are considered as major obstacles to construct with wooden frames are cost, acoustics, and moisture problems.
... Innovations in engineered mass-timber wood products such as crosslaminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL), technological development of building technologies, and knowledge on the fire retardancy in wooden structures can challenge the dominance of concrete and steel as structural load-bearing materials (Frangi 2009;Loss et al. 2018). Business practices, along technological progress and an evolving regulatory framework, have enabled the expanded use of wood in load-bearing structures in single family houses and MSWBs (Mahapatra et al. 2012;Toppinen et al. 2018;Pelli and Lähtinen 2020). In the last decade, societal demands for sustainable building systems further paved the way for the diffusion of MSWBs at a global scale (Wang et al. 2014;Gosselin et al. 2017;Vihemäki et al. 2019;Toppinen et al. 2018;Lähtinen et al. 2019). ...
... There are some concerns among professionals regarding the fire safety of wooden buildings (e.g., Xia et al. 2014). More pressingly, professionals in multiple papers point out that building regulations or national building codes for example regarding fire safety are a barrier to wooden construction and the lack of legislative support is an issue (e.g., Januzi-Cana 2017; Laguarda Mallo and Espinoza 2015; Mahapatra et al. 2012;O'Connor et al. 2004;Xia et al. 2014). Even though regional differences exist, laws and regulations related to wood construction are clearly an issue faced by professionals regularly in different parts of the world. ...
Current global environmental challenges, such as climate change, set an urge to seek renewable low-emission alternatives to substitute fossil fuel-derived products while transitioning towards circular bioeconomy. Wood has proven to be a versatile renewable material that is able to substitute fossil-based materials. However, the market potential and uptake of wood-based products is also dependent on the preferences of consumers and other stakeholder groups. This paper presents a systematic literature review of studies examining stakeholder perceptions of wood-based products, which also resulted in the identification of research gaps and suggestions for future research directions. The results show that while there has been an adequate amount of research concerning perceptions of wood construction and wood products in the built environment especially in recent years, the perceptions of other wood-based products and emerging innovations, such as wood-based textiles and chemicals have previously been studied only marginally. The results show that relevant stakeholders can be divided into two major groups: professionals at different places in the forest products value chain and end-users. Stakeholders are interested in wood-based products in the built environment, seen as competitive to conventional non-wood alternatives. Wood-based products are seen as interesting and environmentally friendly, but also expensive and not easily available. Moreover, there is a lack of information regarding product characteristics. To improve the market share of especially new wood-based products, the focus needs to be on both product development as well as providing information, including information on the environmental performance, on different products.
... Generally, studies on dwelling preferences reported woodrelated attributes that were particularly appreciated, such as usability, soundscape, naturalness, aesthetic appearance, comfort, and healthiness (Mahapatra et al. 2012, Kylkilahti et al. 2020, Viholainen et al. 2021. Other surveys indicate that some categories of young respondents prefer wood over other construction materials because of its environmental advantages (Høibø et al. 2015, Petruch andWalcher 2021), which may be reflective of increased consumer awareness of environmental and social sustainability in choices (De Medeiros et al. 2014). ...
This study investigated people’s requirements for multi-story housing attributes and preferences for apartments in wooden-structure versus steel/concrete-structure multi-story buildings. Data came from an online survey conducted in Finland and Sweden that screened for respondents who expressed a preference for living in an apartment, as compared with a low-rise dwelling. Responses were analyzed using exploratory factor and regression analyses. Swedish respondents assigned significantly higher requirements to factors related to environmental and social sustainability performance than Finnish respondents. Requirements in both countries were described across three factors: environmental and social sustainability, quality, and design. Factor scores differed between socioeconomic sub-groups, particularly regarding quality, between urban and non-urban respondents. Preferences to live in an apartment in a wooden building were positively associated with respondents’ requirements for environmental and social sustainability, and negatively with requirements for quality-related attributes. Opposite relationships were found in the Swedish sample for apartments in non-wooden structure houses. Design requirements had no significant association with preferences for a specific material in load-bearing structures for multi-story buildings, in either country. The findings can contribute toward enhanced marketing efforts and customized value propositions to increase the social acceptability of multi-story wooden buildings and advance climate-related goals within the housing sector.
... Countries such as Japan, Scotland, and New Zealand have 45%, 83%, and 85% of the houses made of wood, respectively (Mahapatra et al. 2012;De Araujo et al. 2018). In Brazil, despite having an area of native forest cover of 60.7% of the national territory, the application of wood for residential use is still insignificant compared to the potential it represents (Vidal et al. 2015). ...
In Brazil, standard ABNT NBR 7190 (1997) prescribes the determination of strength (fM) and modulus of elasticity (EM) in static bending from specimens measuring 5 cm × 5 cm × 115 cm. Thus, the relationship between the test span (L) and the specimen height (h) greater than or equal to 21 (L/h ≥ 21) is respected, ensuring that the effect of shear in the calculation of displacements is negligible (Euler Bernoulli Theory). Considering the expressive number of tree species cataloged in the Brazilian Amazon Forest, any procedure that aims to facilitate the realization of experimental tests is highly desirable because it provides the knowledge of unusual species. These wood species may potentially replace woods that have been traditionally used and historically exploited. Using five hardwood species, this research aimed to verify, while maintaining constant L/h ≥ 21 ratios, the influence of specimens dimensions in the determination of fM and EM. For all species studied, the statistical analysis found equivalence in the values of fM and EM determined as a function of the sample sizes. Therefore, respecting the ratio L/h ≥ 21, the size of the specimens does not influence the determination of strength and stiffness in static bending.
... Several estimates of wood construction market development have been published over the past 15 years (e.g., [17,[26][27][28][29][30]). Technological progress and efforts toward climate change mitigation have opened up new business opportunities in the construction sector. ...
The demand for wood has increased in recent years due to new technical possibilities and environmental concerns. This paper provides an analysis of the factors that affect the use of wood in the construction sector, and an assessment of their importance in individual countries and for groups of stakeholders. The study covers the technical, societal, political, economic, and gender aspects of wood construction, with the aim of increasing global understanding regarding national differences, the current situation, and the potential for further development. The subject was investigated using a survey, and the most important opportunities for and barriers to growth in the use of wood in the construction sector were selected, following a statistical analysis. The results indicate strong regional and cultural differences regarding the acceptance of some of the opportunities and barriers related to the development of wood construction. The findings indicate that there is a need to promote wood construction based on its technical and economic benefits rather than its societal ones. On the other hand, the current societal barriers should be addressed as a priority, together with the establishment of common and harmonized policies. The results of this study, therefore, will contribute to the generation of regional-sensitive information that can be useful for policymakers when updating the building codes in their individual countries.
... In Sweden, wood is used largely for frames in detached houses (around 80-90% [192], very large compared with other countries such as Germany: 2% [193]) but still minor in multi-dwellings (around 8.8% in 2014 (TMF 2016)). This shows that it is already conventional practice in some countries for some building types. ...
Residential end-uses represent a significant share of final energy consumption and material stocks. However, approaching sustainability of the residential sector merely as an environmental technical problem is insufficient. Home is the center of daily life providing essential functions to people. Household metabolism is not a matter of the sum of individual behaviors, typologies of buildings, or energy uses stripped out of context, but the system that emerges from the historical combination of these elements and the functions it performs. The residential sector comprises both families (units of organized individuals) and dwellings (within municipalities/urban forms). To analyze these dynamics, we draw upon practice theory and Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) illustrating with data from Sweden and Spain in 2015. The objective is to establish an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing the sustainability of the residential sector. We also present a list of possible measures and their trade-offs in diverse dimensions: energy carrier consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, materials, floor area, human activity, social organization and institutions, finance and desirability. Even though the inclusion of all variables in a single model is not feasible, the holistic understanding of household metabolism can help build coherent anticipation scenarios by selecting plausible hypotheses. Ultimately, this allows making profound transformations to sustainability.
... This provides carbon sequestration from the atmosphere, howbeit typically temporary (Schlamadinger and Marland 1996). Notwithstanding these benefits, the rate of adoption of wood-based construction systems for multi-storey buildings remains slow (Mahapatra et al. 2012, Hemström et al. 2017, Hildebrandt et al. 2017. Hence studies to increase knowledge and competitiveness of wood-based multistorey buildings are essential. ...
Low-carbon buildings and construction products can play a key role in creating a low-carbon society. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is proposed as a prime example of innovative building products, revolutionising the use of timber in multi-storey construction. Therefore, an understanding of the synergy between structural engineering design solutions and climate impact of CLT is essential. In this study, the carbon footprint of a CLT multi-storey building is analysed in a life cycle perspective and strategies to optimise this are explored through a synergy approach, which integrates knowledge from optimised CLT utilisation, connections in CLT assemblies, risk management in building service-life and life cycle analysis. The study is based on emerging results in a multi-disciplinary research project to improve the competitiveness of CLT-based building systems through optimised structural engineering design and reduced climate impact. The impacts associated with material production, construction, service-life and end-of-life stages are analysed using a process-based life cycle analysis approach. The consequences of CLT panels and connection configurations are explored in the production and construction stages, the implications of plausible replacement scenarios are analysed during the service-life stage, and in the end-of-life stage the impacts of connection configuration for post-use material recovery and carbon footprint are analysed. The analyses show that a reduction of up to 43% in the life cycle carbon footprint can be achieved when employing the synergy approach. This study demonstrates the significance of the synergy between structural engineering design solutions and carbon footprint in CLT buildings.
... Study presented by D' Amico et al. (2021) showed that replacing concrete floors with steel-cross laminated timber lowers greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, wood as multi-storey building material has gained increased interest and also become more visible in Europe (Mahapatra et al., 2012;Markstöm et al., 2018;Petruch and Walcher, 2021). The prefabrication of engineered wood products as glue laminated timber (GLT), laminated veneer lumber (LVL), cross laminated timber (CLT) has allowed for the increased use of wood in large scale construction (Hurmekoski et al., 2015;Lu et al., 2017). ...
In recent years, wood has received increased interest in Europe as a multi-storey building material. The trend is driven by the recognition that wood, as an environment friendly material, can contribute bioeconomy development and the achievement of sustainable development goals. In Lithuania, multi-storey wood-based building is still at the level of policy and political discussions. Therefore, the presented research focuses on quantification and comparison of the sustainability impacts of both wood- and concrete-based building materials value chains and provides applied scientific knowledge relevant to decision makers and in this way contributes to mitigation of the climate change.
In detail, study covers the production value chain – from raw material extraction to manufacturing using the same method, while documenting and assessing the material sourcing stages transparently and consistently. In our study glue laminated timber and sawn timber building materials represented renewable material value chains, while site-cast concrete and precast reinforced concrete building materials represented non-renewable materials value chains. In discussion with study partners in the BenchValue project and during a project stakeholder workshop, twelve environmental, social and economic indicators were selected to perform the sustainability impact assessment of selected building materials. Building materials were compared by using a decision support tool ToSIA. The relevant data was gathered from local, well-known companies in the national and international arena.
Our results revealed that glue laminated timber and sawn timber value chains compared to site-cast concrete and precast reinforced concrete value chains have more positive sustainability impacts. This is especially true when analysing environmental indicators: GHG emissions, Energy use, Generation of wastes and Water use. Analyses also revealed more positive socio-economic impacts of wood-based building materials. The socio-economic advantage of wood could increase competitiveness of the regions and contributes to their sustainable development.
Our paper is in line with the applied research. Since it is a case study, the presented results are country specific, because the estimation of indicators was done by applying local data. The presented research is relevant to policy experts and decision makers in the context of the reduction of CO2 emissions. Also, this paper is relevant to the companies and architects who want to build and compare various building materials. Partially, results of this paper could be applied in other countries with comparable to Lithuania economic development level, having in mind the possible shortcomings already highlighted.
... Even though some studies have found that construction key actors prefer traditional frame materials such as concrete over timber e.g., [21][22][23], it was observed that the attitudes of those who have experience working with timber frames greatly affect the results, e.g., [8,24,25]. ...
As a result of increasing urbanization, the need for sustainable housing, e.g., tall (over eight-story) timber apartments, is increasing in Finland. Leveraging the experience of key Finnish professionals plays a significant role in the transition and expansion of sustainable timber housing as an essential part of the forest-based bioeconomy. This interview-based study will serve to fill a gap by examining the views of key professionals with experience in tall timber residential construction, using Finland as a case study. The 21 interviews primarily highlighted that: (1) the construction cost was the most important parameter affecting the architectural and structural design; (2) the most critical consideration influencing the overall design was reported to be the structural system selection and structural design, followed by city planning and client control; (3) key professionals assessed the building’s form and the main dimensions of the building’s mass as the most significant parameters affected by timber construction; (4) the main structural considerations that needed to be developed for tall timber housing were the bracing solutions and fittings, the structures of the intermediate floors, and load-bearing vertical/partition structures; (5) construction preconceptions, the lack of cost-competitiveness, and the lack of construction expertise/actors were considered to be major obstacles; (6) the most important parameters for the future of tall timber apartment buildings were reported to be education, timber construction marketing and public awareness, land delivery conditions, the unification of public administration, and financial support; (7) tall timber building design was reported to be a complex subject that requires close collaboration, especially between the architect, the structural designer and the wood supplier. This paper will help us to understand the boundary conditions affecting the design, the development needs in solutions, the importance of design parameters, the design parameters affected by timber construction, and the prospects, measures and obstacles to tall timber apartments from the perspectives of key Finnish professionals, thereby aiding the sound planning and development of tall timber housing projects.
... However, despite its many advantages, wood is an uncommon material in multi-story building construction (Gosselin et al. 2017). This is largely because the path-dependent culture of the construction sector favors well-established traditional materials, namely concrete and steel (see e.g., Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hurmekoski et al. 2015). A large body of research investigating MSWB has thereby focused on the outlook of professionals in the construction sector (Gosselin et al. 2017) who possess a high degree of influence over material decision making (e.g., see Roos et al. 2010;Hemström et al. 2017;Toppinen et al. 2018). ...
Multi-story wooden buildings are hailed as a favorable means toward reducing the embodied energy of the construction sector. However, the sector’s path-dependent nature hinders acceptance of using wood in multi-story construction. As a result, research predominantly focuses on examining the perceptions of construction professionals to identify means of breaking the path dependency. We propose using citizens’ perceptions about the use of wood to inform professional decision makers. Our research thus aims to answer two questions: What are citizens’ perceptions about using wood as a construction material, and are there country-based cultural differences between these perceptions? To elicit this spectrum of citizen views, an online survey was deployed in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze 6633 open-ended responses to the survey. Respondents held multi-faceted opinions about the physical properties, environmental, social, and economic aspects of using wood as a construction material. Citizens from Finland, Norway, and Sweden expressed discernably different perspectives about the acceptability of using wood than did citizens from Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Overall, respondents from all countries expressed high approval for the use of wood in construction.
... The research methodology for restoring the bearing capacity of a destructed wooden beam [57,58] provides for three stages of experimental research. At the first stage, the Having determined the components of the adhesive composite under study [59,60]: epoxy resin ED-20, hardener (polyethylene polyamine), plasticizer (dibutyl phthalate), solvent (acetone), it is necessary to determine their rational ratio. ...
One of the ways to strengthen and restore the bearing capacity of timber structures is the use of polymers. This paper investigates a method of reinforcing destructed wooden structures with a polymer composite. The authors present a technique for determining the physical, mechanical and technological characteristics of a composite material based on experimental studies. The article contains the results of investigations of polymer composites samples, wood samples under short-term loading, and the results of testing a polymer composite for adhesion strength in shear and bending. The results were obtained by means of a comparative analysis of the achieved strength values of healthy wood and impregnated wood with a polymer composite. According to the results of experimental studies, it was found that the strength indicators of reconstituted wood with a polymer composite when tested for compression and chipping along the fibers increase: breaking load by 22–24%, and the tensile strength by 15–17%.
... A utilização de madeira como material de construção para habitações residenciais está bem estabelecida em vários países da Europa, no Reino Unido, por exemplo, aproximadamente 20% das novas residências são em estruturas de madeira, na Escócia esse percentual é cerca de 70% (REMAGE et al., 2017). Já de acordo com Hemstrom (2016), no Japão 45% das construções residenciais são em wood frame, na Nova Zelândia esse percentual é de 85%, chegando aos impressionantes 90% na América do Norte. ...
In Brazil, the standard NBR 7190: 1997 establishes testing methods to determine the physical and mechanical properties of the material. However, the tests require that the procedures be undertaken in specialised, high-cost laboratories. The Brazilian code sets different values for relations between shear strength and compression strength parallel to the grain. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between compressive strength and shear strength parallel to the grain, considering the results of the tests of those properties. The results were compared with the relation values set by the Brazilian Standard NBR 7190:1997, and the optimal coefficient found was 86.4% higher than the coefficient set by the Brazilian standard, considering the set of all species. With regards to the variation in the relation between the investigated properties, considering the different classes of wood resistance in this study, no decreases were found in the values of the optimal coefficients as the classes increase (a situation described in the NBR 7190:1997 standard), which represent one further divergent result.
... One emerging area is the single-family wooden house industry. Wood is increasing in popularity as a building material, because of its sustainable features (Mahapatra et al., 2012;Lindgren and Emmitt, 2017;Tighnavard Balasbaneh et al., 2018) and potential to contribute to the fulfilment of global sustainability goals (Brege et al., 2017). At the same time, the singlefamily wooden house industry needs to innovate and improve its productivity, to meet future building demand (Boverket, 2016;Brege et al., 2017;Hemström et al., 2017;Palmgren et al., 2017). ...
Purpose
The meaning of Industry 4.0 has started to be outlined for the construction industry, but there is still limited knowledge on the implications for the single-family wooden house building industry. The purpose of this paper is to expand the understanding of what the fourth industrial revolution implies for the single-family wooden house industry. The paper contributes with practitioners’ view of the content and meaning of a smart single-family wooden house factory.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory multiple case study was carried out at two Swedish single-family wooden house builders, combined with a traditional literature review.
Findings
As a result of a multiple case studies, the content and meaning of a smart single-family wooden house factory was elaborated on. In total, 15 components of a smart single-family wooden house factory were identified, of which 8 corresponded to the components of Industry 4.0 as described in other sectors.
Research limitations/implications
The study can be expanded to also include multi-family wooden house builders and other branches of the offsite wooden building industry.
Practical implications
Managers in the house-building industry who want to improve and strive for a smart single-family wooden house factory can learn from this study, get an insight of what other companies consider as important and how it relates to Industry 4.0.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is a first attempt to understand what Industry 4.0 mean and how it can be accomplished for the single-family wooden house offsite manufacturing industry.
... These explain why the numerous prospects associated with the use of wood in the construction sector have continuously remained largely unexplored. The most notable of these impediments over the years has been the difficulties related to building codes particularly on issues related to seismic strength, fire safety, and the effect of wind and snow loads [25,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Other impediments include lack of expertise of the manpower in the proficient use of wood in building construction [25,28,29,31,32,[37][38][39]. ...
Coconut palm wood is commonly regarded as a sustainable building material. Nonetheless, its adoption as a green building material by the construction industry is limited, particularly in West Africa. This paper analyses the impediments to the effective adoption of coconut palm wood in residential building construction. The research data was collected from literature reviews, expert-based surveys, and semi-structured interviews with specialists from the construction sector, African Timber Organization, governmental institutions related to forestry and construction, university professors, and researchers in the areas of sustainable building materials and construction. Thirteen crucial impediments were identified and an integrated evaluation of the impediments was conducted using the Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) technique to examine the hierarchical structure of the relations between the impediments. A further technique, Cross-impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC), was used to categorize the impediments from a driving to driven perspective. This categorization provides a unique profile for the impediments, which is different from that of conventional evaluation techniques for evaluating impediments. The findings of this paper offer useful guide to practitioners and policy makers in formulating effective policies, regulations, and standards that will promote the development and wide adoption of coconut palm wood in the construction industry.
... New technology allows for a wider use of timber, even for tall structures. In some regions, building codes are being adapted to recognize these advances and facilitate the increased use of wood in buildings (Mahapatra et al. 2012). Large-scale use of wood as construction material necessitates that the forests from which the timber is obtained are managed sustainably (Kane and Yee 2017;Oliver et al. 2014). ...
... New technology allows for a wider use of timber, even for tall structures. In some regions, building codes are being adapted to recognize these advances and facilitate the increased use of wood in buildings (Mahapatra et al. 2012). Large-scale use of wood as construction material necessitates that the forests from which the timber is obtained are managed sustainably (Kane and Yee 2017;Oliver et al. 2014). ...
... New technology allows for a wider use of timber, even for tall structures. In some regions, building codes are being adapted to recognize these advances and facilitate the increased use of wood in buildings (Mahapatra et al. 2012). Large-scale use of wood as construction material necessitates that the forests from which the timber is obtained are managed sustainably (Kane and Yee 2017;Oliver et al. 2014). ...
... Given the effectiveness of wood as a structural element, timber constructions have become the most common, practical, and economical housing solution for most countries in the northern hemisphere (Araujo et al. 2016), leading to widespread use of timber in countries such as Austria, Japan, Scotland, and New Zealand, where 40%, 45%, 83%, and 85% of houses are made of wood, respectively (Mahapatra et al. 2012;Hurmekoski et al. 2015;Araujo et al. 2018). ...
Accurate estimation of average modulus of elasticity in compression parallel to the grain (Ec0) is of paramount importance for rational sizing of timber structures, given the use of this property in the estimation of stability of compressed parts (ultimate limit state, ULS) and in calculation of excessive strains (serviceability limit state, SLS). In Brazil, if values cannot be experimentally determined, ABNT NBR 7190 (1997) allows for estimation of Ec0 through relations to average modulus of elasticity both in tension parallel to the grain (Et0) (Ec0 = Et0) and in bending (EM) (Ec0 = EM/0.90). This research aimed to access the efficiency of these relations by testing 30 tropical wood species. The analysis of variance results showed that Ec0 and Et0 were statistically equal. However, Ec0 and EM/0.90 were not statistically equal, and the method of least squares resulted in a coefficient of 0.98, which was 8.89% higher than the one suggested by ABNT NBR 7190 (1997) and close to 1, thus, validating the results of ANOVA, which pointed on the equivalence between Ec0 and EM (Ec0 = EM). As an alternative to simplified equations of the standard, two-parameter regression models were used. The geometric model with R² = 91.67% proved to be the model of best fit, which demonstrated that Ec0 could be calculated as a function of EM.
Zusammenfassung
Aufgrund der Größe der betroffenen Landflächen, den bei ihrer Nutzung emittierten und sequestrierten Treibhausgasen (THG) und des teilweise ungünstigen Zustands von Böden in Hinblick auf ihren Gehalt an organisch gebundenem Kohlenstoff (C) kommt der Landnutzung a priori eine wichtige Rolle bei Mitigationsbemühungen zu. Zur Minderung des Klimawandels ist eine Verringerung der atmosphärischen CO2-Konzentration erforderlich, die durch eine Abnahme der THG-Emissionen und durch Aufnahme und langfristige Speicherung von atmosphärischem Kohlenstoff in Biomasse und Boden erreicht werden kann (Chenu et al., 2019; Mayer et al., 2018; Paustian et al., 2016; Vos et al., 2018). Der Erhaltung bzw. idealerweise Erhöhung der organischen Substanz des Bodens durch geeignete Bodenschutzmaßnahmen kommt entscheidende Bedeutung zu.
Purpose
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an innovative construction material that provides a balanced mix of structural stiffness, fabrication flexibility and sustainability. CLT development and innovation diffusion require close collaborations between its supply chain architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing (AECM) stakeholders. As such, the purpose of this study is to provide a preliminary understanding of the knowledge diffusion and innovation process of CLT construction.
Design/methodology/approach
The study implemented a longitudinal social network analysis of the AECM companies involved in 100 CLT projects in the UK. The project data were acquired from an industry publication and decoded in the form of a multimode project-company network, which was projected into a single-mode company collaborative network. This complete network was filtered into a four-phase network to allow the longitudinal analysis of the CLT collaborations over time. A set of network and node social network analysis metrics was used to characterize the topology patters of the network and the centrality of the companies.
Findings
The study highlighted the scale-free structure of the CLT collaborative network that depends on the influential hubs of timber manufacturers, engineers and contractors to accelerate the innovation diffusion. However, such CLT supply collaborative network structure is more vulnerable to disruptions due to its dependence on these few prominent hubs. Also, the industry collaborative network’s decreased modularity confirms the maturity of the CLT technology and the formation of cohesive clusters of innovation partners. The macro analysis approach of the study highlighted the critical role of supply chain upstream stakeholders due to their higher centralities in the collaborative network. Stronger collaborations were found between the supply chain upstream stakeholders (timber manufacturers) and downstream stakeholders (architects and main contractors).
Originality/value
The study contributes to the field of industrialized and CLT construction by characterizing the collaborative networks between CLT supply chain stakeholders that are critical to propose governmental policies and industry initiatives to advance this sustainable construction material.
Building construction has significant negative impacts on the environment. However, various measures can mitigate these impacts, including using wood as a building material and improving the building and construction process. The need to renovate and extend existing buildings increases with urbanization and a growing population. Wood is an attractive option for adding new floors to existing structures because of its superior strength-to-weight ratio, allowing for the potential to “build on top” of existing buildings. In order to achieve higher levels of sustainability in wood extension building projects, this study aimed to highlight the benefits of adopting a project-based business model approach by studying the technical, economic, social, and environmental attributes associated with timber building extension projects. Unlike the common firm-level business model approach, a project-based business model allows for a comprehensive view of the value creation, delivery, proposition, and capture of all the key actors involved in a construction project. The study results emphasize the success factors of an extension building project and conclude with critical factors related to the business model’s resources, activities, and actors, which would enhance the outcomes of a wood extension project. Such factors relate to knowledge and experience derived from wood construction, and to a holistic perspective on planning, and involvement of all relevant actors from the design phase to project completion.
Dünyada insan nüfusu ve kentleşme her geçen gün artarak devam etmektedir. Nüfus ve kentleşmedeki artış kentsel alanların fiziki altyapısını oluşturan çok katlı yapıların da çoğalmasına neden olmaktadır. Bu yapıların büyük çoğunluğu ise bilindiği üzere yoğun fosil-enerji tabanlı endüstriyel süreçlerle açığa çıkarılan veya işlenen çimento ve çelik gibi materyallerle inşa edilmektedir. Halihazırda tercih edilen bu malzemelerin fazla üretimi ve kullanılması, dünyadaki sınırlı maddi kaynakların tükenmesi ve çevrenin zarar görmesinde önemli rol oynamaktadır.
Küresel ölçekte önemli bir sorun olan bu durum karşısında çok katlı ahşap yapılar oldukça dikkat çeken bir alternatif olarak ön plana çıkmaktadır. Ahşap; karbon tutma, çevreye zarar vermeden sürdürülebilir bir şekilde üretilebilme, kolay işlenebilme özelliklerinin yanı sıra günümüzde gelişen teknolojiler sayesinde çok katlı yapılar için de elverişli hale gelmiştir. Bu nedenle Finlandiya, İsveç, Amerika ve Kanada başta olmak üzere birçok ülkede çok katlı yapılarda da tercih edilmeye başlamıştır. Ancak, betonarme ve çelik yapım sistemlerinin hakim olduğu yapı sektöründe çok katlı ahşap yapıların inşa oranlarının artabilmesi hiçbir ülkede bir anda ve kendiliğinden olmamıştır. Ülkelerin durumlarına göre farklılaşan stratejik girişimler ve teşvik politikaları sayesinde yavaş yavaş bir yaygınlaşma gerçekleşebilmiştir.
Dünyada ahşap yapılara yönelik teşvik politikalarının incelendiği bu bildiride; ülkelerdeki ahşap teşvik politikaları, içerikleri, yürürlüğe girdikleri yıllar ve politikaların uygulanması sonrası ahşap yapı sektöründeki değişimler literatür üzerinden derlenmiştir. Böylece küresel ölçekte ahşap yapı politikaları ve politikaların ahşap yapı sektörüne etkilerine dair kapsamlı bir resim ortaya konmaya çalışılmıştır.
In a context of environmental concern and limited urban land, the construction industry faces the challenge of providing solutions for the increasing urban population both efficiently and sustainably. Numerous innovations on engineered wood products for multistorey buildings arise as one of the most promising solutions. In this context, various policies have facilitated the development of Tall Wood Buildings (TWBs). Yet, few publications analyse these policies and their influence on specific projects. This research aims to examine the impact of Policy Instruments (PIs) on individual TWBs qualitatively. Data collection is based on documentary review and semi-structured interviews with policymakers and professionals involved in 37 projects across eight countries. This study reveals that numerous TWBs have been facilitated by policies, acting through diverse PIs applied combined or in isolation. Notably, while Regulatory Instruments allowed TWBs in the first place, Research and Development Tools supported their development and approval process. Often, Research and Development Tools subsidised demonstration projects through Economic Instruments, after competitions or applications (Voluntary Policy Tools). Moreover, many Information Tools (e.g. campaigns, technical assessments) complemented other PIs. Remarkably, while some TWBs have become legal and technological precedents, technical information resulting from their development has influenced proposed changes in building codes.
In Brazil, the Brazilian Standard NBR 7190 (ABNT, 1997) establishes testing methods to obtaining the physical and mechanical properties wood. With the impossibility of determining the experimental results, the Brazilian Code establishes relations among the properties. However, the relations between the stiffness properties are based on the older normative standard MB-26: 1940 (Brazilian Standard NBR 6230), which condisidered another calculation model rather than the one used by the Brazilian standard. This research aimed to investigate the equivalence between the conventional modulus of elasticity in static bending tests (EM), with compression parallel to the fibres (Ec0) and tension parallel to the fibres (Et0) of ten species of tropical wood, as well as to establish relations between these properties, in case they are not equivalent. The ANOVA results showed that Ec0 and Et0 were statistically equivalent, and the relation between EM and 0.90∙Ec0 was not statistically equivalent, implying the determination of an ideal coefficient equal to 0.98 by the least squares method. This coefficient was 8.89% higher than the Brazilian standard.
Intermediaries can potentially help reduce institutional lock-ins that slow down sustainability transitions by influencing policy processes, because of their connectedness and often high level of legitimacy. In this paper, we analysed intermediaries seeking to accelerate the diffusion of wooden multi-storey construction (WMC) in Finland, their roles and engagement in policy processes. Increasing the use of wood in construction has high policy support nationally, backed up with climate and forest policies. Yet, market diffusion has been slow. The data consist of qualitative interviews of intermediaries and other actors, participatory observation and a review of secondary materials. The results reveal a complex set of intermediaries, including systemic, niche and regime-based ones. The intermediaries are characterised by multiple goals, partly over-lapping roles and means of policy influencing. The low degree of coordination among the intermediaries and the differences in their agenda for transition are critical challenges which limit the effectiveness of their actions.
"Nowhere does history indulge in repetitions so often or so uniformly as in Wall Street," observed legendary speculator Jesse Livermore. History tells us that periods of major technological innovation are typically accompanied by speculative bubbles as economic agents overreact to genuine advancements in productivity. Excessive run-ups in asset prices can have important consequences for the economy as firms and investors respond to the price signals, resulting in capital misallocation. On the one hand, speculation can magnify the volatility of economic and financial variables, thus harming the welfare of those who are averse to uncertainty and fluctuations. But on the other hand, speculation can increase investment in risky ventures, thus yielding benefits to a society that suffers from an underinvestment problem.
A plethora of definitions for innovation types has resulted in an ambiguity in the way the terms 'innovation' and 'innovativeness' are operationalized and utilized in the new product development literature. The terms radical, really-new, incremental and discontinuous are used ubiquitously to identify innovations. One must question, what is the difference between these different classifications? To date consistent definitions for these innovation types have not emerged from the new product research community. A review of the literature from the marketing, engineering, and new product development disciplines attempts to put some clarity and continuity to the use of these terms. This review shows that it is important to consider both a marketing and technological perspective as well as a macrolevel and microlevel perspective when identifying innovations. Additionally, it is shown when strict classifications from the extant literature are applied, a significant shortfall appears in empirical work directed toward radical and really new innovations. A method for classifying innovations is suggested so that practitioners and academics can talk with a common understanding of how a specific innovation type is identified and how the innovation process may be unique for that particular innovation type. A recommended list of measures based on extant literature is provided for future empirical research concerning technological innovations and innovativeness.
We study the opportunities to increase the use of wood in the Dutch residential
construction sector and assess the effects on material related CO2 emission. Four house types
are modeled with increasing quantities of wood used in constructions. CO2 emission
reductions of almost 50% are technically possible. We assess the innovation characteristics of
these wood applications to create insights in the complexity of the necessary change process.
Then we relate the innovation characteristics of the wood options to the context in which
implementation of the technologies take place. The options vary strongly in the required
technical and network changes and so do the opportunities to implement them. Based on this
we expect that a 12% CO2 emission reduction related to material use for residential buildings
is possible in the short term by an increased share of wood use. We also study the
possibilities for increased wood recycling practices. A large technical potential exists. To
achieve this potential a significant policy effort is needed since significant changes in both
technical and network dimensions are necessary. To stimulate innovation in the use of wood
in residential construction, important focus points of policy making should be the culture in
the Dutch construction sector, the way new building projects are commissioned, research
areas within the building sector, and stabilization of building networks.
This paper presents a methodology for identifying and weighing the importance of product attributes used by a key customer group of a company. A central feature of the technique is the introduction of a new concept: competition factors (CF). These factors address the influence of substitute products in the specific product attributes that a customer group considers. A better knowledge of substitute products can surface previously hidden or latent customer needs. CF allow dealing with this problem, providing a powerful tool for market-oriented businesses that seek to understand customers' expressed and latent needs. The wood products industry and architects are used to illustrate the technique.
This article presents an overview and assessment of the systems of the innovation approach. It focuses mainly on national systems of innovation, but in addition it addresses sectoral and regional systems of innovation. This article addresses the emergence and development of the systems of innovation (SI) approach, its strengths and weaknesses, the criticism that it is “undertheorized,” the constituents of SIs, the main function and activities in SIs, the boundaries of SIs, and proposals for further research. It also discusses how the rigour and specificity of the SI approach could be increased. The innovation concept used in this article is wide and includes product innovations as well as process innovations. Product innovations are new—or better—material goods as well as new intangible services. Process innovations are new ways of producing goods and services.
This paper presents selected findings from a representative consumer survey of the German population exploring the image of timber as a construction material in general, and of timber frame houses in particular. The study found that prejudice regarding the deficiency of timber as a construction material and of timber frame houses, in terms of fire resistance, durability and stability, persists in the minds of consumers. On the other hand, timber as a construction material and timber frame houses have a positive association with well-being, aesthetics and eco-friendliness. Although these "soft" criteria are important factors in the choice of a certain building construction mode, these attributes are not sufficient, on their own, to trigger the choice of timber as a construction material.
Innovation and technical change play significant roles in both firm and economic growth, resulting in the creation of knowledge and the formation of new products. Due to the competitive aspects of innovation, firms often interact with and share and/or exchange information with other organizations, including other firms and universities, to further their innovative pursuits. Additionally, other factors, such as laws, cultural norms, and social rules, impact a firm's innovative abilities and behaviors. Organizations and institutions, economic infrastructures, sectoral innovation systems, and national imaginations all have a role in innovation systems. This edited work is composed of 17 essays, providing differing perspectives. To better understand the systems of innovation approach to business, this book examines three significant issues: part one dissects conceptual problems related to the theory of the systems of innovation approach; part two discusses the relationship between the systems of innovation approach and other innovation theories; and part three promotes greater understanding of the dynamics of systems of innovation. The various systems of innovation approaches have nine common characteristics: innovations and learning at the center of focus; holistic and interdisciplinary; historical perspective; differences between regional systems (no optimal system); interdependence; encompasses both technological and organizational innovations; institutions are central; conceptual ambiguity; and conceptual frameworks rather than formal theories. The creation and distribution of technological knowledge, including interindustry differences, are also explored. Evolutionary theories of economics and the ways in which they influence the systems of innovation approach are examined. The influence of policy upon technological change is also discussed, as are Technological and institutional change as components in the creation and change of innovation systems. Challenges to the systems approach are examined, including policy-based challenges to firms, paradigmatic shifts in innovation systems, and differences among European systems of innovation. (AKP)
Based on an interdisciplinary perspective the role of wood as a carbon sink, as a multi-purpose material, and as a renewable
energy source for the net reduction of greenhouse gases is discussed. We synthesize aspects from engineering, natural and
social sciences to better understand the role of wood substitution in CO2 mitigation. We also formulate some recommendations on filling knowledge gaps that could be useful for policy making regarding
how wood substitution could be further expanded. There are sufficient wood resources to substantially increase the use of
wood for material and energy purposes. However, a number of factors hinder a wider use of wood for energy and material purposes.
Furthermore, an analysis of wood substitution is a very complex issue, since the substitution influencing factors are to be
found along the entire wood supply chain and involve several industries, socio-economic and cultural aspects, traditions,
price dynamics, and structural and technical change. To improve the knowledge about wood as a substitute for other resources
and the implications, it would be helpful to better integrate research from different disciplines on the subject and to cover
different scales from a project to an economy-wide level.
This paper demonstrates that the traditional categorization of innovation as either incremental or radical is incomplete and potentially misleading and does not account for the sometimes disastrous effects on industry incumbents of seemingly minor improvements in technological products. We examine such innovations more closely and, distinguishing between the components of a product and the ways they are integrated into the system that is the product "architecture," define them as innovations that change the architecture of a product without changing its components. We show that architectural innovations destroy the usefulness of the architectural knowledge of established firms, and that since architectural knowledge tends to become embedded in the structure and information-processing procedures of established organizations, this destruction is difficult for firms to recognize and hard to correct. Architectural innovation therefore presents established organizations with subtle challenges that may have significant competitive implications. We illustrate the concept's explanatory force through an empirical study of the semiconductor photolithographic alignment equipment industry, which has experienced a number of architectural innovations.
The author explores the relationship of industrial innovation and economic development in terms of economic investment in new processes and materials, the effects of technology on firm size, and the role of public policy in fostering technology and stimulating employment. Each of these areas is treated in a separate section. Excerpts from The Measurement of Scientific and Technical Activities appears in the appendix. 473 references, 30 footnotes, 13 figures, 35 tables (DCK)
Understanding the environmental burdens from residential construction is increasingly important as consumers become more aware of the impacts of their purchasing decisions. In 2004, The Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) evaluated the life-cycle environmental impacts of building materials used in residential construction. This report builds upon those findings by examining the environmental burdens of each component used to construct wall and floor subassemblies in residential homes. Evaluating components and subassemblies illuminates how the environmental burdens from different products, designs, and processes compare. Summary performance measures were developed for fossil fuel energy requirements, global warming potential, air and water pollution, and solid waste. This study clearly shows that the use of wood-based building materials significantly reduces most environmental burdens. The study also demonstrates the benefits of biofuels, recycling, and pre-cutting to reduce solid waste. This study's significance is enhanced by the detailed insights it provides on how architects and product and process engineers can substantially reduce environmental burdens.
The U.S. residential construction industry, traditionally the largest end-use market for softwood lumber, has undergone a period of rapid change over the past decade. The effects that timber harvest restrictions in federal and state forests have had on softwood lumber price, price volatility, and lumber quality, combined with technological advances employed by the manufacturers of substitute materials, have contributed to the increased use of substitute materials in residential construction. The objective of this research was to assess the extent of material substitution in residential construction between 1994 and 1998, as well as to provide insight into the factors driving the changes in material substitution. Results of this study are based on a random sample of 2,400 U.S. residential construction firms and a census of the 100 largest U.S. residential construction firms. Results are directly compared with data collected from an identical survey that was conducted in 1995. This study offers convincing evidence that softwood lumber continues to lose market share in the U.S. residential construction industry and that builders remain concerned about softwood lumber quality, price, and price stability. Additionally, this study reveals that builder impressions regarding the environmental impact of substitute materials, including steel and concrete, have become increasingly favorable relative to softwood lumber over the analyzed time frame.
In Sweden multi-storey, multi-residential timber frame construction is proving to be cheaper and faster to build than equivalent buildings in concrete or steel. It is also rated as much better by tenants who had previously lived in concrete apartments. A considerable amount of research has been done at the BRE labs in Cardington, UK, as well as the University of Lund, Sweden, covering fire, acoustic, differential movement, construction costs and disproportionate collapse. Proceedings from a series of seminars by the European COST Action Group E5 are an extremely valuable source of information. The main concern of building authorities has been fire performance but those concerns now appear to have been allayed. Having building regulations expressed in performance terms rather than prescriptive terms has been a significant breakthrough for timber in this application. Most of the research effort concerns acoustic insulation and isolation of the separate tenancies within buildings, as this is the item that causes most annoyance for occupants. A clever development of timber framing that provides both thermal and acoustic insulation has been patented by Södra Timber AB. This article is extracted from my report on visits to one centre in the UK and four in Sweden.
The unsustainability of the present trajctories of technical change in sectors such as transport and agriculture is widely recognized. It is far from clear, however, how a transition to more sustainable modes of development may be achieved. Sustainable technologies that fulful important user requirements in terms of performance and price are most often not available on the market. Ideas of what might be more sustainable technologies exist, but the long development times, uncertainty about market demand and social gains, and the need for change at different levels in organization, technology, infastructure and the wider social and institutional context-provide a great barrier. This raises the question of how the potential of more sustainable technologies and modes of development may be exploited. In this article we describe how technical change is locked into dominant technological regimes, and present a perspective, called strategic niche management, on how to expedite a transition into a new regime. The perspective consists of the creation and/or management of nichesfor promising technologies.
Construction innovation offers the potential for significant company, industry, and societal benefits. The objective of this paper is to present five models of construction innovation, which can provide a basis upon which companies can select and implement the innovations. Based upon current management and economic theories of innovations, the models reflect the unique conditions of constructed facilities, including the scale, complexity, and longevity of the facilities, as well as their organizational and social contexts. The innovations are differentiated by their degree of change from current practice, and their links to other components and systems. The five models are incremental, modular, architectural, system, and radical innovations. Using this categorization of innovations, companies can plan their implementation activities with respect to timing of commitment, coordination among the project team, special resources, and level of supervisory activity. Examples of construction innovations in each category are discussed.
The Swedish legal restriction on construction of multi-storey timber buildings was imposed in 1888 and repealed in 1994. The subsequent emergence of such a timber building system in Sweden is analysed in the context of the existing concrete-based construction system. The characteristics of the construction industry and its path dependency over the past century hamper the development of a timber building system. However, government policies and funding, the wood industry's interest in an enhanced market for value-added wood products, and involvement of the wood research community has helped develop such a construction system. Investments in knowledge creation, incentives for the entry of new firms, and increased prefabrication may facilitate a transition from this formative phase to a growth phase in the diffusion of timber buildings.
Use of wood frames from sustainable forestry instead of non-wood frames in multi-storey buildings can
reduce primary energy use and carbon dioxide emissions in construction. However, construction actors
might have different perceptions towards wood frames than towards steel and concrete frames. Such
perceptions may influence the actors’ decision to adopt wood frames. In this study we use a web-based
questionnaire to assess Swedish architects’ perceptions, attitudes and interest towards steel, concrete
and wood frames in multi-storey buildings (n = 412). Results indicate that the responding architects find
concrete the most suitable frame material in buildings of 3–8 storeys, mainly because of the performance
of concrete with regards to the engineering aspects (e.g. stability and fire safety) that were considered
important in the choice of frame material. Although wood is considered the least suitable frame material,
the overall attitude towards, and interest in, using wood is positive and related to the perceived environmental
benefits of wood. This may derive from an increased discussion of and information about the
environmental impact of buildings. Wood may be perceived as new and innovative while not considered
as adequately proven as steel and concrete with regards to engineering aspects.
Getting an innovation adopted is difficult; a common problem is increasing the rate of its diffusion. Diffusion is the communication of an innovation through certain channels over time among members of a social system. It is a communication whose messages are concerned with new ideas; it is a process where participants create and share information to achieve a mutual understanding. Initial chapters of the book discuss the history of diffusion research, some major criticisms of diffusion research, and the meta-research procedures used in the book. This text is the third edition of this well-respected work. The first edition was published in 1962, and the fifth edition in 2003. The book's theoretical framework relies on the concepts of information and uncertainty. Uncertainty is the degree to which alternatives are perceived with respect to an event and the relative probabilities of these alternatives; uncertainty implies a lack of predictability and motivates an individual to seek information. A technological innovation embodies information, thus reducing uncertainty. Information affects uncertainty in a situation where a choice exists among alternatives; information about a technological innovation can be software information or innovation-evaluation information. An innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or an other unit of adoption; innovation presents an individual or organization with a new alternative(s) or new means of solving problems. Whether new alternatives are superior is not precisely known by problem solvers. Thus people seek new information. Information about new ideas is exchanged through a process of convergence involving interpersonal networks. Thus, diffusion of innovations is a social process that communicates perceived information about a new idea; it produces an alteration in the structure and function of a social system, producing social consequences. Diffusion has four elements: (1) an innovation that is perceived as new, (2) communication channels, (3) time, and (4) a social system (members jointly solving to accomplish a common goal). Diffusion systems can be centralized or decentralized. The innovation-development process has five steps passing from recognition of a need, through R&D, commercialization, diffusions and adoption, to consequences. Time enters the diffusion process in three ways: (1) innovation-decision process, (2) innovativeness, and (3) rate of the innovation's adoption. The innovation-decision process is an information-seeking and information-processing activity that motivates an individual to reduce uncertainty about the (dis)advantages of the innovation. There are five steps in the process: (1) knowledge for an adoption/rejection/implementation decision; (2) persuasion to form an attitude, (3) decision, (4) implementation, and (5) confirmation (reinforcement or rejection). Innovations can also be re-invented (changed or modified) by the user. The innovation-decision period is the time required to pass through the innovation-decision process. Rates of adoption of an innovation depend on (and can be predicted by) how its characteristics are perceived in terms of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. The diffusion effect is the increasing, cumulative pressure from interpersonal networks to adopt (or reject) an innovation. Overadoption is an innovation's adoption when experts suggest its rejection. Diffusion networks convey innovation-evaluation information to decrease uncertainty about an idea's use. The heart of the diffusion process is the modeling and imitation by potential adopters of their network partners who have adopted already. Change agents influence innovation decisions in a direction deemed desirable. Opinion leadership is the degree individuals influence others' attitudes
This paper compares two floor constructions used at the new airport outside Oslo, one made of solid oak and one made of natural stone, to (i) make an inventory of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the life cycle of the two constructions, (ii) calculate the differences regarding GHG emissions and cost, and (iii) determine which factors have the strongest influence on the results. Manufacturing the wood floor required 1.6 times more energy and produced one-third of the GHG emissions compared with the natural stone floor. Over the life cycle, net GHG emissions can be avoided only if the wood is used as a biofuel after the replacement or demolition of the floor. The wooden floor must be competitive on price to be a cost-efficient action against global warming. Per cubic metre of wood floor, emissions of up to 1.263 t of CO2 equivalents can be avoided by a substitution between the two floor constructions. The factors that have the most influence on the result are carbon fixation on forest land, waste handling of wood, and discount rate, the latter reflecting the relative importance over time given to a unit of GHG emissions.
Shortage of affordable housing is a problem shared by many major cities in the USA. Three- to five-storey wood-frame buildings offer economical housing through low construction cost and high speed of construction. In the designing of multi-storey wood-frame buildings, fire-safety and structural considerations are required by building codes. In addition, shrinkage and sound transmission do require special attention. Most Americans live in the suburbs in low-rise wood-frame constructions, including single-family detached houses and one- to three-storey apartments and condos. This has resulted in what is known as suburban sprawl—widely spread population, increasing the cost to the local government in providing streets, water, and sewer services. Planning for the shifting demographics and rising land cost, US cities are turning to densifying housing development of in-fill projects in the city and new development projects in suburban town centres.
The products of construction differ in many important ways from those of manufacturing. This paper describes five major characteristics of constructed products: immobility, complexity, durability, costliness, and high degree of social responsibility. These characteristics result in many limitations for construction technology: this paper analyses two of these limitations: the consequences of site operations and specialization. These characteristics suggest both insights regarding directions in developing construction technology and practical applications.
Presents a series of studies showing that the sources of innovation vary greatly; possible sources include innovation users, suppliers of innovation-related components, and product manufacturers. These types of roles are known as functional areas. Specific areas of innovation are marked by having innovators predominantly in one specific functional area. Using empirical data from industrial histories, the authors show that this innovation-function relationship has held in scientific instrument, semiconductor and printed circuit board assembly process innovations. Users are predominantly the innovators in these fields. Also identifies a few industries where manufacturers are typically the innovators and a few others where suppliers tend to be. Analysis of the economic rents of innovation expected by potential innovators can often, if not always, by itself predict the functional source of innovation. Innovating firms will do so only when these rents prove attractive. Two factors suggest that this will tend to limit exploitation of the innovation to a functional area. First, it is difficult for innovators to adopt new functional relationships to their innovations. Second, innovators face a poor ability to capture innovation rents by licensing their innovation-related knowledge to others. This hypothesis and its implications are tested against the empirical datasets used initially. The role of informal R&D know-how trading is also discussed and analyzed using the Prisoner's Dilemma. Guidance is given to innovation managers and policymakers. (CAR)
In this study a method is suggested to compare the net carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from the construction of concrete- and wood-framed buildings. The method is then applied to two buildings in Sweden
and Finland constructed with wood frames, compared with functionally equivalent buildings constructed with concrete frames.
Carbon accounting includes: emissions due to fossil fuel use in the production of building materials; the replacement of fossil
fuels by biomass residues from logging, wood processing, construction and demolition; carbon stock changes in forests and
buildings; and cement process reactions. The results show that wood-framed construction requires less energy, and emits less
CO2 to the atmosphere, than concrete-framed construction. The lifecycle emission difference between the wood- and concrete-framed
buildings ranges from 30 to 130 kg C per m2 of floor area. Hence, a net reduction of CO2 emission can be obtained by increasing the proportion of wood-based building materials, relative to concrete materials. The
benefits would be greatest if the biomass residues resulting from the production of the wood building materials were fully
used in energy supply systems. The carbon mitigation efficiency, expressed in terms of biomass used per unit of reduced carbon
emission, is considerably better if the wood is used to replace concrete building material than if the wood is used directly
as biofuel.
The relations between building material competitiveness and economic instruments for mitigating climate change are explored in this bottom-up study. The effects of carbon and energy taxes on building material manufacturing cost and total building construction cost are modelled, analysing individual materials as well as comparing a wood-framed building to a reinforced concrete-framed building. The energy balances of producing construction materials made of wood, concrete, steel, and gypsum are described and quantified. For wood lumber, more usable energy is available as biomass residues than is consumed in the processing steps. The quantities of biofuels made available during the production of wood materials are calculated, and the cost differences between using these biofuels and using fossil fuels are shown under various tax regimes. The results indicate that higher energy and carbon taxation rates increase the economic competitiveness of wood construction materials. This is due to both the lower energy cost for material manufacture, and the increased economic value of biomass by-products used to replace fossil fuel.
This article gives a state of the art overview on quantitative analyses from Norway and Sweden of Life cycle analyses (LCA), which compare the environmental impacts of substitution between wood and alternative materials, with emphasis on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, economics and methodological issues. In all studies referred to this overview, wood is a better alternative than other materials with regard to GHG emissions. Furthermore, wood is causing less emissions of SO2 and generates less waste compared to the alternative materials. Preservative treated wood, on the other hand, might have toxicological impacts on human health and ecosystems. Impacts on acidification, eutrofication and creation of photochemical ozone vary in different comparisons. Amount of greenhouse gases avoided due to substitution between wood and steel is in the range of 36–530 kg CO2-equivalents per m3 input of timber with 4% discount rate; depending on waste management of the materials, and how carbon fixation on forest land is included. This amount is 93–1062 kg CO2-equivalents for substitution between wood and concrete, if the wood is not landfilled after use. Many of the LCAs could be considerably improved, if the analyses were done with several alternative assumptions regarding boundaries of the system used in the LCA. This is important, not least to map what are the main assumptions for the results obtained and to compare with other studies. It is also important to consider the time-profile of the GHG emissions and other impacts over the life-cycle—it is surprising that this is not taken more seriously. Wood as a building material is competitive on price in those studies that include costs. It is a weak point of many LCAs that costs as well as other economic aspects influencing product substitution are not included, and a major research challenge is to combine traditional LCA with economic analysis in order to make both more policy relevant. In particular, one should develop dynamic input/output models where price and income substitutions as well as technological changes and cost components are included endogenously.
We study the opportunities to increase the use of wood in the Dutch residential construction sector and assess the effects on material related CO2 emission. Four house types are modeled with increasing quantities of wood used in constructions. CO2 emission reductions of almost 50% are technically possible. We assess the innovation characteristics of these wood applications to create insights in the complexity of the necessary change process. Then we relate the innovation characteristics of the wood options to the context in which implementation of the technologies take place. The options vary strongly in the required technical and network changes and so do the opportunities to implement them. Based on this we expect that a 12% CO2 emission reduction related to material use for residential buildings is possible in the short term by an increased share of wood use. We also study the possibilities for increased wood recycling practices. A large technical potential exists. To achieve this potential a significant policy effort is needed since significant changes in both technical and network dimensions are necessary. To stimulate innovation in the use of wood in residential construction, important focus points of policy making should be the culture in the Dutch construction sector, the way new building projects are commissioned, research areas within the building sector, and stabilization of building networks.
Electricity supply is a large technical system, which exhibits strong path dependencies and high barriers for radical innovations. Recent market liberalization, however, has initiated a fundamental restructuring. The paper analyzes how liberalization has altered innovation processes in the field of electricity supply. We examine three radical innovations under monopoly conditions and contrast the findings with the results from a survey on the innovation behavior of electric utilities in liberalized markets. We argue that the selection environment for innovations has changed in various respects. In our sample, new options open to innovation activities have emerged at the level of the firm and utility strategies turn out to be more heterogeneous. This may be interpreted as an increase in the variety of search processes, which may lead to a mid-term decrease of path-dependencies.
A variety of factors affect the energy and CO2 balances of building materials over their lifecycle. Previous studies have shown that the use of wood for construction generally results in lower energy use and CO2 emission than does the use of concrete. To determine the uncertainties of this generality, we studied the changes in energy and CO2 balances caused by variation of key parameters in the manufacture and use of the materials comprising a wood- and a concrete-framed building. Parameters considered were clinker production efficiency, blending of cement, crushing of aggregate, recycling of steel, lumber drying efficiency, material transportation distance, carbon intensity of fossil fuel, recovery of logging, sawmill, construction and demolition residues for biofuel, and growth and exploitation of surplus forest not needed for wood material production. We found the materials of the wood-framed building had lower energy and CO2 balances than those of the concrete-framed building in all cases but one. Recovery of demolition and wood processing residues for use in place of fossil fuels contributed most significantly to the lower energy and CO2 balances of wood-framed building materials. We conclude that the use of wood building material instead of concrete, coupled with greater integration of wood by-products into energy systems, would be an effective means of reducing fossil fuel use and net CO2 emission to the atmosphere.
In the last decade ‘sectoral systems of innovation’ have emerged as a new approach in innovation studies. This article makes four contributions to the approach by addressing some open issues. The first contribution is to explicitly incorporate the user side in the analysis. Hence, the unit of analysis is widened from sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems. The second contribution is to suggest an analytical distinction between systems, actors involved in them, and the institutions which guide actor’s perceptions and activities. Thirdly, the article opens up the black box of institutions, making them an integral part of the analysis. Institutions should not just be used to explain inertia and stability. They can also be used to conceptualise the dynamic interplay between actors and structures. The fourth contribution is to address issues of change from one system to another. The article provides a coherent conceptual multi-level perspective, using insights from sociology, institutional theory and innovation studies. The perspective is particularly useful to analyse long-term dynamics, shifts from one socio-technical system to another and the co-evolution of technology and society.
In this paper, primary energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions from the construction of a multi-storey building, with either a wood or a concrete frame, were calculated from life-cycle and forest land-use perspectives. The primary energy input (mainly fossil fuels) in the production of building materials was found to be about 60–80% higher when concrete frames were considered instead of wood frames. The net greenhouse gas (GHG) balance for wood materials will depend strongly on how the wood is handled after demolition of the building. The nrt GHG balance will be slightly positive if all the demolition wood is used to replace fossil fuels, slightly negative if part of the demolition wood is re-used, and clearly positive if all wood is deposited in landfills, due to the production of CH4. However, if the biogas produced is collected and used to replace fossil fuels, the net GHG emissions will be insignificant. If concrete frames are used, the net GHG emissions will be about those when demolition wood from the wood-framed building is deposited in landfills and no biogas is collected. We have considered that the CO2 released from the chemical processes in the production of cement will be re-bound to the concrete by the carbonisation process. Otherwise, the net GHG emission would be more than twice as high when concrete frames are used. If forest biomass is used instead of fossil fuels, the net area of forest land required to supply both raw material and energy for the production of building materials, will be about twice as high when wood frames are used instead of concrete frames. However, the GHG mitigation efficiency, expressed as CO2 equivalents per unit area of forest land, will be 2–3 times higher when wood frames are used if excess wood waste and logging residues are used to replace fossil fuels. The excess forest in the concrete frame alternative is used to replace fossil fuels, but if this forest is used for carbon storage, the mitigation efficiency will be higher for the first forest rotation period (100 yr), but lower for the following rotation periods. Some of the data used in the analyses are uncertain, but an understanding of the complexity in comparing different alternatives for utilising forest for GHG mitigation, and of the fact that the time perspective applied affects the results markedly, is more important for the results than the precise figures in the input data.
A plethora of definitions for innovation types has resulted in an ambiguity in the way the terms ‘innovation’ and ‘innovativeness’ are operationalized and utilized in the new product development literature. The terms radical, really-new, incremental and discontinuous are used ubiquitously to identify innovations. One must question, what is the difference between these different classifications? To date consistent definitions for these innovation types have not emerged from the new product research community. A review of the literature from the marketing, engineering, and new product development disciplines attempts to put some clarity and continuity to the use of these terms. This review shows that it is important to consider both a marketing and technological perspective as well as a macrolevel and microlevel perspective when identifying innovations. Additionally, it is shown when strict classifications from the extant literature are applied, a significant shortfall appears in empirical work directed toward radical and really new innovations. A method for classifying innovations is suggested so that practitioners and academics can talk with a common understanding of how a specific innovation type is identified and how the innovation process may be unique for that particular innovation type. A recommended list of measures based on extant literature is provided for future empirical research concerning technological innovations and innovativeness.
“A rose is a rose is a rose. And a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”
Gertrude Stein & William Shakespeare
This handbook looks to provide academics and students with a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the phenomenon of innovation.
Innovation spans a number of fields within the social sciences and humanities: Management, Economics, Geography, Sociology, Policy Studies, Psychology, and History. Consequently, the rapidly increasing body of literature on innovation is characterized by a multitude of perspectives based on, or cutting across, existing disciplines and specializations. Scholars of innovation can come from such diverse starting points that much of this literature can be missed, and so constructive dialogues missed.
The editors of The Oxford Handbook of Innovation have carefully selected and designed twenty-one contributions from leading academic experts within their particular field, each focusing on a specific aspect of innovation. These have been organized into four main sections, the first of which looks at the creation of innovations, with particular focus on firms and networks. Section Two provides an account of the wider systematic setting influencing innovation and the role of institutions and organizations in this context. Section Three explores some of the diversity in the working of innovation over time and across different sectors of the economy, and Section Four focuses on the consequences of innovation with respect to economic growth, international competitiveness, and employment.
An introductory overview, concluding remarks, and guide to further reading for each chapter, make this handbook a key introduction and vital reference work for researchers, academics, and advanced students of innovation.
This thesis has aimed to describe how the context affect innovation in the Swedish construction industry. The construction industry is considered to be a complex industry, which make it distinctively different that a market of mass-produced goods. The factors used as framework to study the industry is; User-driven, risk, uncertainty, standards and regulations, unique projects, cost, complex processes and coordination. The factors were derived from theories regarding CoPS (complex products and systems), Network and Regulations and Standards. The initial idea about the unique features of the industry was strongly supported by empirical findings and the thesis resulted in a framework of contextual factors that can be used to analyse the industry and get a comprehensive understanding of how innovation in the construction industry works. . The study was conducted with an abductive approach utilizing the opportunity to have an iterative process between theory and empirical findings. This methodological approach to the purpose was chosen as a case study with participants from mainly the construction industry. To gain a better overview and deeper understanding an architect, real estate firm, and a security firm was incorporated.