Metsä Wooda Finnish manufacturer of engineered wood products, says its durable, material-saving products can store carbon for decades, helping to fight climate change.
To build its new 17,000 square meter concrete plant, German construction specialist Brüninghoff, which manufactures pre-fabricated wood materials, such as laminated veneer wood, wanted to use materials that matched its sustainability strategy. The company therefore chose Kerto LVL (precast panels and studs manufactured by Metsä Wood) for the factory’s non-load-bearing exterior walls. The panels were attached to concrete support frames.
Metsä Wood’s Kerto LVL, a structural laminated veneer, takes up less bulk than other wood materials and also has an excellent strength to weight ratio. In addition to supporting the sustainability strategy, Kerto LVL has helped to optimize assembly times.
The factory in Brüninghoff has a total of 239 wall elements with an area of approximately 5,000 square meters. He used a total of 242 cubic meters of Kerto LVL. The team used a carbon storage calculator to determine that the Kerto LVL stores 165.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (a unit based on global warming potential) – meaning that, compared to d t other building materials, the wood in Metsä Wood is ‘highly durable’. “, says the company.
“Through this construction, we are forcing a structural change towards a construction that supports the circular economy. The change is necessary because the construction sector is responsible for the consumption of enormous amounts of resources. It is about optimizing construction methods, to develop low-emission concepts and to increasingly support recycling solutions,” Brüninghoff chief executive Frank Steffens said in a statement.
The building has already received pre-certification according to the ecological, economic and social criteria of the German Society for Sustainable Building (DGNB).
