New research on industrial wood construction and its sustainability linkages

FBBS researchers are conducting research on industrial wood construction, analyzing its market, policy and business aspects, as well as connections to sustainability transformations. A new paper published in Environmental Change and Societal Transitions explores intermediaries seeking to accelerate the spread of wooden multi-storey construction in Finland and their engagement in policy processes.

In April, a paper by FBBS researchers, Heini Vihemäki, Anne Toppinen, and Ritva Toivonen, on intermediaries facilitating wooden multi-storey construction in Finland was The findings suggests that the intermediary field is characterized by a strong presence of organizations and networks connected with the regime (central goverment) and the niche (wood industries) levels. In addition, the field is characterized with multiple goals, over-lapping roles and means of policy influencing. Among the policy implications is a need to strengthen coordination among the actors, and fulfill the gaps in the types and roles of the intermediaries. The paper was produced as a part of the -project.

Several new research and development projects on industrial wood construction are running and starting at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, with active involvement of many FBBS researchers and others at the Department of Forest Sciences. One of them, KnockOnWood, will conduct comparative research on consumer views, and business and municipal strategies regarding the climate and other sustainability aspects of wooden flats and housing in Sweden and Finland. It aims to develop new tools and more effective strategies to facilitate the adoption of modern wood-based building solutions as one of the ways to tackle climate challenges in housing and building.

The Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry is planning to establish a new research platform, so called Hyytiälä Living Lab. The lab will enable cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary, long-term research on the interactions of a modern wooden building, its users and the bio-physical environment. The initiative is connected to an actual buidling project, scheduled to start later this year in the Hyytiälä Forest Station, Juupajoki.

A brief story on the recent article and research on industrial wood construction by the FBBS researchers, their collaborators, and the Living Lab concept, is available in Finnish at the .