Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2016 | Page 64

T

he Finns build the houses for their
families out of wood, build their summer cottages out of wood. But when it
comes to large-scale construction – such as
apartment buildings – it’s been concrete and
steel all the way.
It has been clear for a long time that the
greatest potential for growth in wood construction lies in the building of multi-storey
structures. As global climate, environment,
and natural-resource issues are becoming
more and more important, wood construction is rising on the agenda of the decisionmakers around the country – and new markets are opening up for wood.

Fire Hazard No Longer
Despite the fact that concrete has dominated the multi-storey building market for
the past 50 years, wood has been building a
62 Nordicum

comeback, if slowly, since the early 1990s.
Development efforts have focused particularly on acquiring the know-how necessary
to build multi-storey wooden buildings and
on enhancing buildings’ energy-efficiency.
What’s more, Finland’s fire-safety
regulations were changed in 1997 to facilitate more extensive use of wood in building frames and façades for buildings of up
to four storeys. The fire codes were changed
again in April 2011, to allow for the use of
wood even in residential and office buildings of 5–8 storeys with a wooden frame
and facade.
In addition, the possibilities for using
wood were extended to cover repairs of (and
extensions to) concrete suburban buildings.

Carbon 360
And then there are the new energy-effi-

ciency regulations which entere [