Metsa Wood, a premium-quality provider of wood products for construction, industrial and distribution customers, calls for collaboration to improve the field of wood construction. Timber is a key element in house building and there is more to be done in terms of sharing knowledge and innovation to further advance the use of this material.

For this purpose to be achieved, Metsa Wood has launched the Open Source Wood initiative at www.opensourcewood.com. The company’s Executive Vice President, Esa Kaikkonen, explains that wood construction is just a niche because of the lack of knowledge shared in the field. The solution that they proposed might change that by bringing more collaboration in the industry.

The potential of wood is world-wide known and one study carried out by companies that have applied lean construction methods showed that 84% reported a higher quality in construction and 80% experienced a larger customer satisfaction. The results prove that to wood elements enable a faster, more efficient, and environmentally sound design, without reducing the quality of the final product.

Timber prefabrication construction has other advantages too. It reduces the inconvenience of constant uploading the building materials and it reduces the amount of on-site waste and therefore the need to transport it. This could be the solution to achieving the high volume of housing required in the UK.

Europe has already seen the potential that timber prefab has and UK is gradually turning towards it with a need to provide more affordable, adaptable and ecological homes.
Even though it looks like the wood construction is slowly progressing, there are more that need to be done in terms of making the companies realise its potential. With the launch of Open Source Wood project, it is hoped that timber construction will become the forefront of new house building in the UK.