A winning concept in wood

There was a time when wood was a building material mostly used in holiday homes, detached houses and smaller villas. But in recent years, wood has enjoyed a renaissance and is now a popular material, praised for its flexible and climate-smart properties. The Röjmyran industrial building at Anderstorp is one of many examples of how wood is being used more and more.

This afternoon, a pale afternoon sun shines over the industrial building at Anderstorp. The grey and white building is covered in thick drifts of powdery snow and Fredrik Löfstedt, property manager at Skellefteå Industrihus, has to use a broom to remove the snow from the entrance to one of the premises.

- Industrihuset offers ten premises for rent. Today, five are rented to companies in the warehouse, service and workshop sectors. We want there to be some vacancy in our property stock so that there are premises available when someone needs them. Because demand is always there," he says. The Röjmyran industrial building at Anderstorp is built with a glue-laminated timber frame and clad in wood panels.

Saves time and money

Wood binds carbon dioxide throughout its lifetime, and combined with the solar panel system on the roof, the building has a clear environmental profile. In fact, the house is self-sufficient in electricity for half the year. But building the house in wood wasn't just done with the environment in mind.

- Wood is perfect for industrial construction, where large parts of the building are built in a factory and then assembled on site. It's a way of building that saves both time and money," says Ove Nilsson, architect at Tyréns, who developed the concept for the house at Anderstorp together with Skellefteå Industrihus. During the design process, it was also important to create a building that would suit different types of plots and needs. The concept also includes the possibility of modifying the building if necessary.

- The ten premises consist of 24 modules, six metres wide and with a total area of 139 square metres. Each unit can be merged with the one next to it should the need for space increase," explains Fredrik Löfstedt.

Between 1874 and 1994, it was forbidden in Sweden to build wooden buildings higher than two storeys. The ban was a consequence of the many large-scale urban fires that regularly devastated cities across the country. As a result of the ban, wood as a material fell out of favour for more than a hundred years.

Clear wood profile

After the ban was lifted, interest in wood slowly began to revive, but it wasn't until 2004, when the government produced the first national strategy to increase wood construction, that developments really took off. With its tradition of timber construction and a strong timber industry, Skellefteå has become well known in the timber construction community.

- Skellefteå has a timber construction strategy and is a profiled city in these contexts. This has given the region the courage and will to grow. And with this industrial building, together with Skellefteå Industrihus, we are showing that wood can be used in so many different contexts and buildings. I am convinced that there is a large market for industrial buildings in wood, both nationally and internationally," says Ove Nilsson.

Skellefteå Industrihus and Tyréns are not the only ones in the region investing in industrial buildings and public premises in wood. Martinsons in Bygdsiljum has developed a concept for ready-made industrial hotels and Lövångers Bygg has also developed a number of machine halls in the form of kits.

- Recognition of the broad potential of wood is spreading. And we are seeing a lot of interest in this type of solution when we showcase the concept," says Ove Nilsson.