With a third of the country under forest cover, France has a huge timber resource. And of the 38 million m3 of timber harvested each year, softwoods account for around 75%.
Given this resource, it is not surprising that a large majority of French sawmills process softwoods almost exclusively. Among the 10 million m3 of lumber manufactured each year, around 8 million m3 are softwood boards aimed mostly at the construction industry.
In recent years, major investments have modernised the sawmill industry. Around 20 major French sawmills with a capacity of at least 100,000m3 carry out almost half of the total production of softwood lumber. And as the majority of supply basins are based in mountainous zones, the very slow growth of trees at altitude gives remarkable properties of mechanical resistance to these timbers.
"Thanks to our location, we are able to use pine and spruce from the Jura region. The very fine growth rings give us exactly the type of wood we are looking for," said Grégory Baud who runs the technical division of Prolignum, one of the French companies specialising in glued-laminated timber.
Prolignum manufactures a wooden structural product that consists of two to five thick strips (over 45mm) glued and pressed together. Referred to as duo or trio, according to the number of strips used, these glued laminated boards are used as posts, beams and other structural elements. They are available as standard square or rectangular sections and resemble traditional timber frames.
"For framework, we also produce solid finger-jointed boards, each product consisting of a single layer of boards, finger-jointed together to create extended lengths."
All of these products meet CE standards and qualify for resistance class C24.
Over the past 10 years France has doubled its production of this type of product and new factories with hi-tech equipment have been established. The Monnet-Sève group facility, for example, has a Microtec Goldeneye 702 sorting line that analyses the quality of each board using X-rays.
For manufacturing glued-laminated timber, the factory has a Grecon Turbo LH, a Dimter Opticut station, a Ledinek Rotoles planing machine and four presses that are capable of manufacturing 16m length boards with a maximum height of 1.4m. For the various cuts aimed at assembly, a K2i Hundegger saw and joinery machine can produce boards up to 1.25m in width.
A large proportion of the glued laminated timber produced in France is exported to other European countries’ construction sectors, but French manufacturers are looking beyond Europe, aiming to infiltrate more distant markets.
This is the case for Cosylva, which exports Douglas fir glued-laminated timber to the Arab Emirates. The company is able to be involved from the initial design stage of a project, accompanying its client through to the construction stage.
Another company that is active in export markets, Simonin, also has the end user in mind.
"From our side, we are trying to design and manufacture hi-tech products," said Christian Ballanche, who runs the company.
He points to the Résix system, a Simonin patent for a fusion of three elements: gluedlaminated timber (CE marked), steel rods, and a high-performance epoxy resin.
While some French producers of glued laminated timber are focusing on industrial production, others have become specialist manufacturers, recognised for their technical skill. Some have integrated upstream manufacturing to offer a complete service and turnkey solutions to their customers.
