BASAJAUN is a major European innovation project about sustainability of building with wood. The main objective has been to demonstrate how wood construction chains can be optimized to foster both rural development and urban transformation whilst being connected with sustainable forest management in Europe. The core idea is to enable the construction of a mid-sized building with the lowest possible hectares of forest.
In France, a full-scale medium-sized demonstration building has been constructed, using innovative architecture and full digitisation of the 'forest to building' chain to show how timber construction can generate benefits for rural areas. In addition, two buildings have been designed for Finland to demonstrate that the developed solutions are valuable in northern and southern European conditions. Coordinated by TECNALIA, the project comprises 29 partners from 12 countries including 8 leading research and technology organizations, 3 universities, 15 companies and 5 other public and sectoral organizations. The team unites strong expertise in wood construction systems and buildings, innovative materials, architecture, forestry, digitalisation, environmental assessment, and rural development. It covers regions both in Northern, Central and Southern Europe.
The project has received a 10M€ grant funding from the EU Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement no. 862942. The project has run for four and a half years from October 2019 until March 2024.
Forests and forestry can help rural development and contribute to the economic growth of Europe’s rural regions. Sustainable forest products and services connecting forests with urban centres through smart modern wood supply chains, such as the wood construction sector, can ensure existing jobs and create new opportunities for business and employment especially in rural areas. Fostering this rural renaissance is a main purpose of the project.
Wood is a natural, renewable material that stores CO2 in solid products throughout their whole life cycle. Increasing the consumption of wood in buildings implies a reduction in the use of other non-renewable materials, such as concrete or steel that require high amounts of ‘grey energy’ for production. By choosing this renewable construction material instead of other materials, the carbon footprint of buildings can be significantly reduced.
Modernising urban areas by promoting building with wood including multi-storey buildings, renovation, retrofitting, and urban densification is a great opportunity for a low carbon, circular economy. Enhancing carbon capture in forests and maximizing storage in wood products will play an essential role in the mitigation of anthropogenic GHG emissions to combat climate change. The BASAJAUN project demonstrates how new materials, products and system solutions can benefit a sustainable circular wood construction sector.
Digital innovations in forestry and wood industries are paving the way to more sustainable management of forest and more efficient use of wood resources. Enhanced scanning, automation and modelling technologies allow that digital twins of forests and buildings are becoming a reality. By connecting step by step the entire chain from the individual tree in the forest up to the specific wood product in a building, it will be possible to fully optimise the valorisation of wood in terms of its economic, environmental and social benefits. The BASAJAUN project develops a first prototype of a digital ‘forest to building’ platform to showcase that the data gaps between forestry and wood industries can be bridged through digital solutions and be exploited for the benefit of a more competitive, sustainable wood construction sector.
