MainWood – Mainstreaming Wood Construction
Overview
Timber engineering and construction concepts have immense potential to reduce carbon emissions. The use of biomaterials in the construction industry allows for increased carbon storage and reduced energy-related emissions, but scaling-up wood construction has cross-sectoral implications. Benefitting from expertise from four Swiss research institutions, the MainWood project will provide the scientific basis for the transition to construction bioeconomy in Switzerland and beyond. Working across the wood construction supply chain, the MainWood research team will address forest dynamics impacted by climate change, timber production systems, new wood-based construction materials, innovative design and construction, life cycle assessment, and retrofitting concepts. MainWood is also working with policy and societal actors to contribute to a transition to a circular bioeconomy that connects rural and urban landscapes.
Switzerland aims to increase wood utilisation from Swiss forests, which can conflict with other policy directives, such as biodiversity and forest protection. To meet such diverse demands, the Swiss Federal Council has mandated an integral forest and wood Strategy (external pageIntegrale Wald- und Holzstrategie 2050call_made).
Our role in MainWood is assessing the Swiss Bioeconomy Policies, where we will (1) assess how current and future forest, wood and land-use policies prioritise different forest services, (2) analyse how different land-cover scenarios lead to trade-offs across land-use priorities, and (3) identify leverage points and possible policy measures to promote the use domestic wood in Swiss construction.
Start
2022
Financing
Collaborators
- Dr. Eva Lieberherr (NARP)
- David Ellison (NARP)
- external pageDr. Astrid Zabel (CDE, Universität Bern)call_made