Look at the 8-storey building in the picture. There is something odd about it. But in a good way.
There is no concrete in the walls, and no steel in the beams. And the climate footprint is lower than for any comparable building in the country.
Situated in picturesque surroundings near the grand lake of Vänern, this new wooden building will consist of 45 rental apartments when completed next year.
The wooden building in the picture is currently being erected in Mariestad, Sweden, which is not a coincidence. The municipality of Mariestad has gained international recognition for consistently pushing the envelope in terms of climate action. ”Mariestad has a very good track record in raising the bar on sustainability, and those are the kind of municipalities where we want to play an active role”, says Rolf Alexander, Marketing Manager at Vernum Fastigheter, the housing company responsible for constructing the wooden building in Mariestad.
Vernum Fastigheter was born only one and a half years ago, but the founders have worked together for many years in other constellations in the construction industry.
”About four years ago, we became aware of the enormous climate footprint associated with using concrete and steel, and we realized we needed to change our way of constructing buildings”, says Rolf Alexander.
Rolf Alexander is Marketing Manager at Vernum Fastigheter, a Swedish housing company with 18 employees, and a total of 725 apartments under production.
Because of this, Vernum Fastigheter only builds wooden houses. The climate effect of this choice is huge. According to extensive life cycle analyses done by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) and the Royal Institute of Technology KTH, a wooden house from Vernum Fastigheter can be built and used for 100 years before having the same climate footprint as a newly constructed house made with concrete and steel. ”Currently, our preferred material of choice is wood, simply because it is the most sustainable construction material on the market. But should other materials be invented that are even better for the climate, we will start using those instead”, says Rolf Alexander.
Vernum Fasigheter is constantly looking for new ways to lower the carbon footprint of its buildings, with a set goal to reduce it from today’s 176 kilo of carbon equivalents per square meter, down to under 100.
”We believe it is important to be transparent and show the actual carbon footprint of a building. Nowadays one often sees companies labeling their products as climate-neutral or even climate positive, and we could do so as well by showing how much carbon can be sequestered in our buildings and by including our solar panels and other features in our calculations, but it is not a productive way to bring your emissions down. You have to be honest with the numbers.”
Digitalization is an important tool for Vernum Fastigheter in terms of sustainability.
”We have developed a digital system in which the whole construction process is defined in our digital platform. This is a unique tool that gives us all follow-up numbers and calculations we need to act upon until the house is ready to be handed over to the tenant. By doing so, we can minimize not only loss of resources, but also loss of time and loss of money in the production process”, says Rolf Alexander.
Vernum Fastigheters wooden houses are built in ”portable factories” on-site. See this film (in Swedish) and learn more.
To further minimize loss and reduce waste, Vernum Fastigheter is finding new ways to take care of as much material as possible in the construction process.
”Today, 75 percent of our managed forests are used for products with a short life span. We try to use some of those in our buildings, thereby turning them into long-term products. For example, we are using wood-fibre for insulation, as was done a hundred years ago.
By doing so, Vernum Fastigheter is also reducing the emissions from its supply chain, often referred to as scope 3 emissions.
”We try to minimize the use of emission-heavy materials, such as glue, plastics and rubber mats. More than 90 percent of all materials in our buildings are wood”, says Rolf Alexander.
To lower transport emissions, Vernum Fastigheter only uses wood produced locally in Sweden. And instead of transporting the buildings in the form of pre-fabricated modules, which also means transporting a lot of air, the material used for the buildings is packed effectively, IKEA-style, before being loaded as cargo on the trucks.
The climate benefits of wooden houses are well-known. But also bring health benefits to the people living in them.
Research has shown that living in a house made of wood can reduce stress levels. The houses built by Vernum Fastigheter also come with the highest acoustic standards and meets all required fire safety regulations.
FACT BOX: MARIESTAD
- Mariestad municipality (population 25,000) is located in Lake Vänern archipelago, a UNESCO Biosphere reserve. Biosphere Reserves involve local communities and all interested stakeholders in the mission to becoming a model region for sustainable development.
- Mariestad is also home to Electrivillage, a venture that involves testing and demonstration of sustainable transport and energy systems in the biosphere reserve. ElectriVillage is the way forward for Mariestad to meet ambitious climate goals like the Agenda 2030 for a fossil-free society and the Paris Agreement. There is currently no other model region in the world that exhibit a combination of sustainable transport and energy systems like the one of ElectriVillage.
- Mariestad established the world's first solar-power powered hydrogen gas station in 2018 and last year constructed a fossil-free preschool, powered by innovative energy solutions.
- Volvo Group is currently establishing a battery plant for trucks and other heavy vehicles in Mariestad.
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57 w
Impressive building method to save our planet
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58 w
regarding the leadership in Mariestad Municipality and Electrivillage, hydrogen investment, including purpose-built transport vehicles, which conditions scrap value, because they do not work which resulted in a loss of at least SEK 30 million, reported in the Mariestad newspaper a few days ago, which is a lot of money in a rural municipality with approx. 25,000 inhabitants, with a stagnant number of inhabitants for the last 50 years. Investing in the basic development of a hydrogen-based total system containing, among other things, the production of hydrogen for own use in the municipality, the purchase of specially built transport vehicles for hydrogen operation, the construction of a hydrogen snack bar and a hydrogen-heated preschool requires a lot of Guts when Leadership is lacking. At the same time as these experiments have been going on for at least 6 years, and you are still buying hydrogen for something that would have been a success, with self-produced hydrogen in Mariestad, the losses continue to shine with millions to come, which Mariestad Municipality's politicians promised through a serious Green Washing which cost 30 million in loss.
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72 w
HempCrete would be better than killing trees
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70 w
@daryl_cleary wood is just the leader of sustainable materials (when appropriately harvested). There is no denying that. But you are right in some way Daryl : wood cannot not scale up (at least, not fast enough: we cannot build too many of this kind of buildings without destroying vast swaths of ancient forests, because we simply did not plant enoughforests for timber in the past centuries. On the contrary, desertic or urban areas have replaced degraded forests instead of regenerating them). Now, forest regeneration is well under way, but that is not compatible with harvesting large quantities of timber wood, not anytime soon). So alternatives to wood are coming... but we do not know yet which will scale up.
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72 w
Super interesting! Vernum Fastigheter shows that there are ways to do things differently and better for the planet
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@sarah_chabane thank you! We certainly have our vision set out to change the industry.
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72 w
I am always so impressed by all the work Mariestad is doing for the planet and its inhabitants! I have a question though: how do you make sure that the wood you use is sustainably sourced?
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72 w
@marine_stephan thank you for that question. The debate on how to manage our forests is highly relevant in these times. As you see in the article we source our wood locally with minimum shipment as a goal. As one of our priorities, we see it as essential to minimize both waste and use of wood. Shift as much as possible from short to long term use. For example Vernum can build two houses with the same amount as one CLT house (cross laminated timber). But as part of an industry dependant on wood it is of course our responsibility to also support and further all efforts to an even more sustainable use of our forests. Hope that gives you some insight. please see the following movie. https://youtu.be/5fJJJybDaCU
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72 w
This is true Climate leadership! Really impressed by Mariestad!
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@Johannes_Luiga we are as well! MARIESTAD is an example of leadership and guts!!