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Wood construction waste circularity presents enormous potential to significantly de-crease total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union (EU). Latvia could become a frontrunner due to its historic relationship with forestry, wood construction practises and unused potential of the innovative application of wood. This research examines what the potential of “circular wood” in Latvia is, how ready the Latvian wood house construction sector is to engage in a circular economy and wood waste circularity and whether the legal framework is ready to support wood waste management in the country. This study presents a combined approach for systematic wood construction product circularity assessment that includes a review of existing EU and Latvian frameworks for construction and demolition waste (CDW) management and wood construction, a general analysis of wood waste recycling systems and technologies, a quantitative data analysis of construction waste management in Latvia and qualitative data analysis of the Latvian wood house construction sector, and interviews with a focus group of Latvian wood industry representatives. The Latvian scope has allowed us to clarify the pattern methodology and impact points to be replicated, tested and measured further on a broader scale, in other countries, or throughout the whole EU. The main findings reveal a potential life cycle assessment (LCA) verifying the circularity of wood and limitations of wood construction waste circularity in Latvia in terms of wood house construction industry readiness and a legal framework as well as overall social prejudices for circular construction. Findings indicate an overall awareness and level of willingness to participate and engage in the circular construction models among Latvians; however, proactiveness and support (legal and financial) is expected from the government and municipalities. The recommendations point towards improvements in wood waste data management, the wood construction sector and the overall impact on sustainable development goals.

This work studies the presence and evolution of wood construction in urban environments, using Santiago province in Chile as a relevant comparative case. The first part of the study analyzes the spatial and temporal distribution of wood-based structures in Santiago, showing that although wood has historically been used in low-rise housing, its presence has declined significantly due to increasing urban densification and the widespread adoption of materials like concrete for taller buildings. Currently, only 5.4% of Santiago’s buildings use wood structures, with their presence notably decreasing in the high-density municipalities of the city. Recent construction trends in Santiago show that the average building height is 12 stories, with timber buildings not exceeding 6 stories, despite the absence of specific restrictions in the building code for tall timber structures. The second part of this study contrasts these trends with the global development of tall timber buildings (six stories or more), which total approximately 300 worldwide as of 2024. The leading cities include Paris (with over 35 buildings) and London (over 17), followed by Zürich, Vancouver, and Portland. This study highlights the pivotal role of wood promotion policies in enabling this global expansion. Finally, a five-phase classification is proposed to evaluate the evolution of tall timber construction in a given city, emphasizing the role of public policy in enabling large-scale adoption, especially for cities such as Santiago.

Circular economy development is about a system level change towards enhanced sustainability and circularity covering both biological and technical cycles. This study aimed at exploring, identifying, analyzing and synthesizing the current state of and future outlook on CE development in the wood construction sector in Finland as perceived by various sectoral companies. This study focused on multiple themes related to the importance of the various aspects of a CE and associated approaches in this particular sector. This study applied a qualitative research approach, and a questionnaire survey was the specific method. The survey was sent to both architectural and construction sector companies. This study addressed a gap in research and contributes to the better understanding of the current state of and future outlook on CE development in the wood construction sector. The results indicate that the CE concept is mostly considered to be an important part of building design and construction. However, some respondents found that this concept is new to them. Interestingly, the cascading use of wood and the assessment and measurement of a CE were not at all familiar to many respondents. Particularly important CE aspects in the wood construction sector include, for example, sustainability and the long life cycles of products, components and materials; co-creation and cooperation covering the whole life cycle of construction and the whole supply chain; training and competence development; and design for a CE, sustainability and long life cycles. Many essential elements of a CE were in use, coming into use or in consideration by many of the sectoral companies.

Off-site construction is an innovative type of construction with the philosophy of standardizing the process and deploying the latest technological enablers. Many technologies, such as the Building Information Model (BIM), Internet of Things (IoT), etc., are concerned with virtual representation and manipulation of the physical site. However, a holistic view of the off-site construction processes is lacking in the exploration of the technological advances, resulting in inconsistency when applying these advances in practice. The concept of Digital Twin is useful for addressing this challenge. Digital Twin is a philosophy and a collection of technologies aimed toward seamless physical and virtual connections. Therefore, a holistic Off-site Construction Digital Twin model is necessary for any research concerning this topic, and an assessment framework is useful in helping off-site construction industry companies in approaching systematic Digital Twin. This research first proposes a model for Off-site Construction Digital Twin. To quantify this model, an assessment tool named Off-site Construction Digital Twin Maturity Level is proposed. The validation and evaluation of this assessment framework are conducted through a case study with ACQBuilt, an off-site construction company in Edmonton, Canada. The resulting assessment framework contributes to the body of knowledge in two ways: Firstly, it sets the foundation for an Off-site Construction Digital Twin, which is anticipated to significantly reduce waste and to improve efficiency. Secondly, it enables easier technology application in practice by offering a holistic Digital Twin framework.

Construction projects that are completed abroad involve not only the typical risks that are faced at home but also various complex risks that are specific to international transactions. However, little research has been conducted on the risks that exist in prefabricated construction projects, but they need to be discussed. This paper aims to analyze the operational and financial risks associated with the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the province of Quebec operating in the prefabricated wood construction sector in the American market. Firstly, a literature review was carried out on operational and financial risks in overseas construction projects. This research identified 36 risks, including 21 operational and 15 financial. Next, the risks identified were divided into eight categories: design, standards, coordination, resources, internal to the alliance, partner, customer, and market. Professionals from different types of wood prefabrication companies were then asked to identify the probability of occurrence and magnitude of the impact of each identified risk. This information was used to calculate the criticality of each risk using Monte Carlo simulation to generate scenarios for use as a decision-making tool in risk assessment. The results show that highly critical operational risks are concentrated in the operational risk categories of coordination and resources. It should be noted that the most critical risk is that of ineffective communication and coordination, which is linked to project governance. On the other hand, financial risks with high criticality are spread across the four financial risk categories. A comparison of the criticality of the operational and financial risks identified revealed that the financial risks were the most critical.

Housing availability relative to population size is widely regarded as the main qualitative indicator of housing development standards. In Central Europe, there has been a notable trend of residents relocating from larger urban areas, where most housing is apartment buildings, to smaller satellite towns. Many investors and users are placing greater emphasis on construction methods, material bases, and sustainability. Among the sustainable housing options in Central Europe (V4 countries), single-family wooden houses are gaining popularity. Despite their advantages, the broader adoption of wood-based sustainable construction is hindered by limited public awareness. Hence, this study explores the perception of potential users and investors on wood-based constructions compared to traditional construction methods. Results show that potential users and investors perceive wooden constructions as capable of meeting the current legislative, energy-related, technological, and economic requirements. Correlation analysis of the data revealed differences in the perception of the parameters of constructions among various respondent groups. The primary contribution of this study lies in increasing awareness of wood-based constructions and analyzing the interactions among the selected parameters of constructions. Findings from this study highlight the potential for innovation aimed at enhancing efficiency and sustainability in housing developments.

Construction sector has high environmental impact throughout entire life cycle of buildings. One way to reduce the impact is to use building materials with the lowest possible environmental impact – such as wood. The use of wood-based building materials can improve the overall environmental balance of buildings. Compared to other materials, wood probably has the best environmental performance. These findings are particularly significant in the context of the environmental and legislative situation in Europe and the Czech Republic and may be one of the reasons for the increasing number of new wood-based buildings. The main reason for the research is to highlight the potential of wood as an ecological renewable material with multiple applications in all sectors of the national economy, especially in the construction industry. This paper aims to deepen the knowledge of the environmental specifications of building materials, especially wood, highlight its benefits and verify that building with natural and eco-friendly materials is less costly with lower environmental impacts. To illustrate the environmental impact of the construction industry, a case study comparing house variants was conducted to find the most suitable combinations of materials in terms of economic, environmental, and social aspects. It was found that from a sustainable development perspective, building with green materials generally means lower environmental impacts measured by e.g. global warming potential and embodied energy. This is particularly evident in the case of wood, which is not only a renewable material with advantageous thermo-technical and construction properties despite its low weight, but also stores carbon as it grows. The findings show that wood in the structure can reduce the cumulative environmental impact of the whole structure.

Using engineered wood for construction has been discussed for climate change mitigation. It remains unclear where and in which way the additional demand for wooden construction material shall be fulfilled. Here we assess the global and regional impacts of increased demand for engineered wood on land use and associated CO 2 emissions until 2100 using an open-source land system model. We show that if 90% of the new urban population would be housed in newly built urban mid-rise buildings with wooden constructions, 106 Gt of additional CO 2 could be saved by 2100. Forest plantations would need to expand by up to 149 Mha by 2100 and harvests from unprotected natural forests would increase. Our results indicate that expansion of timber plantations for wooden buildings is possible without major repercussions on agricultural production. Strong governance and careful planning are required to ensure a sustainable transition to timber cities even if frontier forests and biodiversity hotspots are protected. Wood used in construction stores carbon and reduces the emissions from steel and cement production. Transformation to timber cities while protecting forest and biodiversity is possible without significant increase in competition for land.

“Ecological buildings” and “energy-efficient buildings” are concepts which we encounter on a daily basis and which define modern trends. The purpose of their design is to create an optimal thermal microclimate by means of heat flows that form within it or enter it. A balanced combination of heat flows creates suitable conditions for thermal comfort—a factor contributing to the quality of the internal environment of buildings. This research addresses the problem of heat distribution in construction materials based on wood and their thermal–technical properties in relation to the sustainability requirements for the thermal–technical properties of constructions and buildings. The research examines the structural parts of the external walls of modern log constructions. The objective of this work is to analyse the thermal–technical properties of the structural parts of modern log wood constructions in laboratory conditions and verify them against calculated values and values declared by manufacturers. This publication is also a contribution to the current needs in terms of the sustainability and internal environment quality of constructions in general. The publication is also a contribution to the current needs in the field of heating technology in terms of sustainability and the quality of internal environments.