More than 300 Japanese architects and structural engineers took part in the first European Wood Day in Japan.
The event was organised by the European Wood Initiative (EWI), a collaboration between the Nordic Timber Council (NTC), representing Finland, Sweden and Norway, Proholz of Austria, Holzabsatzfonds of Germany and FrenchTimber of France.
An impressive line-up of speakers from Europe gave presentations at Tokyo University on September 28. EWI chairman Jan Söderlind said: “This European wood day is a great occasion to show our potential customers in the Far East a clear profile of the joint European timber industry.
“It is also an opportunity to discuss the many issues that concern both Japan and the European Union. These issues include construction quality, awareness of ‘sick building’ syndrome and emissions from construction materials.”
Mr Söderlind said the decision to present a united European timber trade to Asian markets had already paid off, adding that interest for the European Wood Day among Japanese architects and builders had surprised everyone.
NTC project manager Inge-Bo Asplund said: “Although Europe exported 2.7 million m3 of timber to Japan in 2003, plus a lot of special products such as glulam, there has been very little harmonisation of standards and control between Europe and Japan.”
He said feedback from Japan indicated that the Wood Day was of great benefit as the Japanese suffered from too little architectural and structural influence from Europe.
