The Summer General Assembly meeting and 70th Anniversary celebration was a two-days event under the slogan ¨The Future is Bright – the Future is Wooden¨ which included guided tour visiting several of the unique wood projects in Skellefteå (we talk about this town in this Xylon’s article, Ed) a visit to the Holmen sawmill in Bygdsiljum and a panel discussion bringing together key people involved in the prize-winning Culture House construction who emphasized how the rise of a building can help a whole region rise.
The Cei-Bois General Assembly meeting was also an opportunity to welcome two new members from Italy and Slovenia respectively, making our wood family bigger and stronger. Addressing what the future hold ahead for the European Timber Industry, Sampsa Auvinen, Chair of Cei-Bois said “70 years ago, Cei-Bois was founded with the idea of bringing together different European Woodworking Industries representatives to work together and help promote our sector and the use of wood in its numerous forms and applications by highlighting the natural sustainability of wood and wood-based products. As we celebrate today, we can truly say that our dedication and hard work has paid off by having our message been heard and spread by high level officials such as, President von der Leyen during her recent speech at the Opening Session of the Conference ¨Reconstructing the Future for People and Planet – a New European Bauhaus Initiative¨. There is a lot more work ahead, but together we can, and we will continue to promote wood as the natural solution to reaching the net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, because wood, is both good for the planet, and good for the wellbeing of people”!
SKELLEFTEÅ AND SUSTAINABILITY
The city of Skellefteå is the living example of the European Bauhaus concept where the growth strategy of the city is based on sustainability, innovation, inclusiveness, and culture. And in the middle of this city, its outstanding symbol is a wooden building made using locally sourced timber and built up for the local community to enjoy the theatre, great food, reading a book in the building’s library, having a chat, or going to the spa. Skellefteå proves what a sustainable climate-conscious town looks like – from wooden schools, bridges, to one of the world’s tallest wooden buildings using glued laminated timber and cross-laminated timber! The building materials are expected to be sustainable, beautiful, and affordable. Wood can tick all three boxes.
Sustainability has become one of the most important issues concerning the construction sector in the 21st century. Our industry has the key – Wood – to help decarbonise the built environment. Wood plays a major part in mitigating climate change, while responding to the needs of the growing European urban population. Wood is the only construction materials capable of storing carbon, and it can be used in any structure. It is also one of the easiest materials to recycle and it can be further used for a wide variety of products.
