Trends in the development of innovative timber products on the construction market in Europe

Extending the existing knowledge of timber construction to new design challenges (multi-storey buildings, complex shaped structures, design for disassembly, resource efficiency, sustainability or affordability, among others) requires innovation. This work aims to analyse the trends in the development of innovative timber products and systems on the market for the timber construction sector. To this end, a descriptive statistical analysis of construction products regulated by the EU’s Construction Products Regulation (CPR) was carried out. Both, mature products with CE marking developed under harmonised standards of the European Standardisation Committee (CEN), and innovative products with European Technical Assessment (ETA) certification obtained on the basis of European Assessment Documents (EAD) of the European Organisation for Technical Assessment (EOTA), were included. The results show a trend towards diversification in both softwood and hardwood species for structural applications, and an increase trend in sawnwood and wood-based panels production, mainly from softwoods. Innovative products with ETA certification also show an increasing trend since 2015, produced in Europe and internationally. Most of these are connector for structural applications, building kits, structural wood products and thermal insulation materials.

Find here the conference paper & presentation slides.

WCTE proceedings: https://doi.org/10.52202/080513-0514  | Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15804518

KEYWORDS: EOTA-EAD-ETA, CEN-TC-EN, notified bodies, standardisation, wood species