Building with wood - the climate-friendly alternative

Building with wood has gained popularity in recent years due to its numerous advantages and has become an attractive and climate-friendly alternative to other construction methods. Some building projects have attracted attention due to the special properties of wood.

The "Donaumarina Tower", for example, is to be built on Vienna's Handelskai and will be the world's tallest wooden skyscraper at 113 metres. Plans call for 32 upper floors and four underground floors with a total floor area of over 44,000 square metres. The developer, UBM Development AG, wants to become the leading developer of timber construction projects in Europe.

There is a shortage of several hundred thousand flats in German cities. The construction industry can hardly meet the demand at present due to the changed financing conditions. However, alternative building materials are an important topic not only for cost reasons, but also because of the urgently needed climate-friendly orientation of construction.

Wood as a renewable building material is playing an increasingly important role. This is because wood improves the CO2 balance, can reduce construction times and thus costs, and can be built upwards. Compared to other building materials such as steel, wood has good thermal insulation properties and can contribute to the energy efficiency of buildings. As a natural building material, wood creates a pleasant and healthy indoor climate, regulates humidity and can contribute to a low-noise environment.

One of the most spectacular construction projects is currently being built in Hamburg's Hafencity. The "Roots" high-rise building will be constructed from wooden elements prefabricated to the millimetre in the factory and will be an eye-catcher in the Elbbrücken quarter. Around 180 flats are being built in the 18-storey, 65-metre-high building, which is made entirely of wood except for the base and the lower storeys.

Two outstanding residential buildings in timber construction were awarded the German Sustainability Award for Architecture. They exemplify the performance of urban timber construction. With ten storeys and a height of 34 metres, the SKAIO in Heilbronn was the first high-rise wooden building in Germany. The Walden 48 residential building in Berlin is a successful example of inner-city redensification.

(Photo: © 652235, Pixabay)