32 Amsterdam’s municipality adopted the Green Deal Timber Construction Agreement, according to which all new buildings in the city from 2025 will have to consist of at least 20% of wood or other biomaterials, such as hemp or cork, Dezeen reports.
According to the project authors, the use of wood during construction will reduce the dependence on steel and concrete, in the production of which is produced by a lot of carbon dioxide. The authorities hope that the agreement will help them significantly reduce the number of greenhouse gases emissions and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
In the Amsterdam Institute of promising urban decisions, it is believed that the innovation will reduce the volume of carbon dioxide in the city by 220 thousand tons per year. According to them, it is equivalent to the number of emissions that produce 22 thousand houses.
Amsterdam is not the first city in which the project was accepted about using biomaterials during construction.
The deal could help Amsterdam become circular
Amsterdam is not the only city to have introduced legislation that encourages the use of biomaterials. In October, in New York, the city council has approved the use of mass timber to construct buildings up to 25.9 meters tall.
In 2020, the French government agreed that all new public buildings in the country must be built from at least 50% timber or other natural materials by 2022.
To support the Green Deal Timber Construction agreement, sites for new construction projects will be designated across Amsterdam.
The city will also invest in the research and development of timber and biobased materials for construction and companies committed to helping the city achieve its goals.
While helping Amsterdam become carbon neutral, the deal also supports the city’s goal of achieving a circular economy because timber and other biomaterials are easily reused and recycled.
A circular economy is an economic model that minimizes consumption and waste and prioritizes the continual reuse of materials.
“Biobased materials, particularly the latest generation of mass timber products, are part of the solution to make our city climate-neutral and truly circular,” explained Arjan van Timmeren, a professor at the AMS Institute.
In the UK, the use of timber is currently hindered by new government legislation that makes it difficult for architects to specify the material. The rules, introduced in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster, were described by timber architecture expert Andrew Waugh as a “policy car crash.”
Headquarters of the Council of the European Union, updated in 2016, contain recycled oak window frames
Let’s remind you that the EU Council, one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union, moved in December 2016 to an updated building in Brussels. The double facade covered the “lantern” made of glass and is supplemented with a pattern of “recycled oak window frames.” Such a wooden pattern symbolizes the link between traditions and the latest technologies, Ad Magazine states.
Belgian headquarters have allocated a block in the Residence Palace building in the European Quarter of Brussels for a new office.
The entire European Quarter of Brussels consists of administrative buildings of the European Union, and the main artery of the district is the street of the law.
The northeastern part of the Residence Palace building, built in the 1920s, is supplemented with two new facades, which changes the L-shaped building on the “cubic.” The glass facades cover the main entrance to the building, and a structure resembling a giant lamp has appeared inside the new part; a conference room will be located there.
The facade built in 2016 was simultaneously a practical and philosophical outcome with traditional construction elements. According to the authors of the project, it also symbolizes the diversity of cultures of European countries.
The EU Council hopes that the draft of their new headquarters will be an example of a viable development of architecture. Solar panels cover both historic and new parts of the building on the roof, which emphasizes the “connection between this, past and future.”
