Markku Karjalainen: Wood – the Construction Material of the Future
“Today, sustainable use of forests and timber construction are globally and socially significant topics. Wood is a traditional construction material, but it also offers a lot of untapped potential for the future.”
According to Karjalainen, the environmental friendliness of wood as a construction material is based on its renewability and versatile recycling opportunities. Long-lasting and recyclable wooden buildings and products function as carbon storage, increasing carbon sequestration and thus combating climate change.
“The largest potential for growth in Finnish timber construction lies in large-scale construction projects, such as wooden apartment buildings and public buildings. The popularity of wooden apartment buildings is rising steadily, but the number of projects is still quite small. One obstacle to growth is the limited number of skilled designers and other project operators required for large-scale timber construction projects.”
Karjalainen says that his approach to research has always been quite practical. Alongside his research work, he heads the Doctoral School of Industrial Timber Construction, where the research topics are also chosen to respond to concrete needs in the wood and construction sectors based on input and feedback from the field. The Doctoral School has introduced up-to-date research and expertise to the timber construction sector, thus aiming to respond to the lack of specialists.
“Multi-disciplinary research and training play a key role in facilitating the creation of new applications for wood, new innovations, and new professionals with cooperative attitudes.”
