Scaling
Building with wood in urban and rural areas is one of the priority fields of action of the Federal Government's Charter for Wood 2.0, and is expected to contribute greatly to climate protection, value creation and resource efficiency (1). If the share of timber construction in new housing in Germany rose steadily to 55% for single- and two-family houses (following the Swedish model) and 15% for multi-family houses by 2030, building their structures in timber instead of mineral materials would save almost 12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent between 2016 and 2030 (2).
A paradigm shift is emerging, especially in public procurement. Aspects that are not yet measurable in monetary terms are increasingly finding their way into evaluation processes. Environmental aspects are at the forefront. Throughout Germany, cities have initiated and promoted timber construction model quarters – such as the Prinz-Eugen-Park in Munich or the Schumacher Quarter in Berlin-Tegel.
Timber construction on city level
Currently, there are no binding limits (in Germany) on the environmental impact and resource consumption of a building’s construction. From 2028 for large new buildings and from 2030 for all, the EU requires their life-cycle global warming potential to be calculated and disclosed; limit values are to follow (3). In future, however, the allocation of plots of land in the development of sustainable new quarters should be linked to consistent ecological criteria, such as the global warming potential (GWP) of the construction, as well as the proportion of renewable raw materials. Minimum criteria or targets are needed for the evaluation of the constructive and ecological parameters of architectural designs during the land allocation process. The targets should be taken into account in the context of a (multi-stage) concept tender as part of defined sustainability requirements.
The overview shows an exemplary procedure for the integration of ecological target values and scoring systems within the framework of a two-stage concept tender.
A concept tender is often carried out in a multi-stage procedure. The scope of minimum criteria and targets may therefore vary between phases. The first stage of a concept tender aims at a basic agreement on the ecological target values. An evaluation based on predefined rules then takes place in the subsequent tender stages.
Conclusio & Perspective
Timber Computer is designed to aid the transition towards ecological and affordable building. It embodies critical principles for enabling cities and municipalities to define timber construction-specific requirements during the allocation of public land for new constructed quarters, which is crucial for reducing the global warming potential (GWP) generated during the life-cycle of buildings and for storing carbon in the long term.
However, as Timber Computer is (for now) a tool for orientation, a specific strategy would include a wide range of building sizes, uses and classes in accordance with state building code requirements and therefore, has to be developed individually. In case this is for you and your city, our team is happy to help. Feel free to reach out.