A major breakthrough which could increase the use of wood in construction in China has been achieved by the Nordic Timber Council and European Wood.
It has been working with the Canada Wood Group, the American Forest & Paper Association and the Tianjin Fire Research Institute, which is part of China’s Ministry of Public Security, on a unique partnership involving fire regulations and codes that currently limit the use of wood in the building sector.
Jan Söderlind, managing director of the Nordic Timber Council and chair of European Wood, said: “Thanks to the fact that the research institute falls under the Ministry of Public Security, which has ultimate responsibility for fire legislation, our ability to influence codes is very promising.”
Hans Dutina, project manager for European Wood, said Chinese building codes related to the use of wood and, in many cases, fire regulations do not reflect current research within the field. He added: “Our approach is based on transferring western scientific findings to the Institute, identifying Chinese fire codes that do not correspond with scientific findings, and suggesting new codes.”
The potential for the use of wood in the Chinese building sector is around 50 million m3 a year – almost the entire production in the Nordic countries and Germany.
