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“There are many reasons why we still only see around 3 per cent of buildings in Europe utilising wood, especially in multistory or commercial structures. Yes, building regulations are complex, but a key factor is the lack of experience among European traders. As one of the market leaders, we see it as our responsibility to share our knowledge within the construction industry and further support our peers with not only raw materials, but our digital tools as well.

Working with wood is far simpler than many think, as we can deliver prefabricated, yet bespoke, walls, floors, roofs and stairs, as a kit, to the building site. We still have much work to do on the educational side, and we will not just sit and wait for others to do it.”

In furthering its mission, Stora Enso invested EUR 79 million in the build of the fourth of its CLT mills earlier this year. The new production line is situated in Ždírec in the Czech Republic, integrated with the existing sawmill, and will be launching its full-scale commercial production in early 2023. Once at full capacity, this location will be one of the world’s largest and most modern facilities, perfectly situated near some of the key markets in central Europe. Saki Boukas, Senior Vice President of Sourcing and Logistics, cites the on-time and on-budget completion of the state-of-the-art mill as a proud achievement for the company.

Elsewhere in the world, last year, Stora Enso undertook the project to construct one of the largest wooden buildings in Asia – the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The 42,000 metres square structure spans six stories and incorporates the company’s crosslaminated components for floors and walls, and its glue laminated timbers for beams and columns. The construction challenge was almost matched by the necessary production and delivery of 7700 cubic metres of CLT, but Stora managed to achieve both. “Besides the environmental gains of our employment of wood in the structure,” Lars elaborates, “our approach offered our partners a number of other improvements as well. The construction site’s surroundings enjoyed a vast reduction in noise, dust and vibrations and required far fewer personnel – a huge bonus to the construction industry in Singapore. With the project being a