Stora Enso and SRV plan in co-operation to build a world-class Wood City

Oct 04, 2011. /Lesprom Network/. Stora Enso plans to undertake a unique wooden construction project in Finland called Wood City in collaboration with the construction company SRV. A proposal that a site in the Jätkäsaari district of Helsinki be reserved for Stora Enso Oyj and SRV Yhtiöt Oyj was submitted to the Real Estate Board of the City of Helsinki. The aim is to create a world-class project in which engineering skills can be taught in a practical way and to develop wood architecture. The extraordinary city to be built of wood includes office, hotel and commercial buildings. The first buildings are expected to be completed in 2013, as the company said in a press release received by Lesprom Network. Special attention will be paid to solutions that improve energy efficiency in designing and constructing the buildings for the area. A high standard, internationally interesting and progressive plan for Wood City will be sought through an invitation-only design competition. Stora Enso is planning to supply supporting structures based on its new Urban MultiStorey™ concept for the buildings totalling 20,000 square metres of floor area in the site. “Development of the new CLT-based Urban MultiStorey™ concept has been not only one of the most important Building Solutions actions in strengthening our strategy, but also the start of a totally new future for construction. The concept, which is especially suitable for energy-efficient construction, is a more competitive and flexible total solution for our customers than other construction solutions for multiple-storey buildings globally. In addition to rapid construction, the major advantage of the concept is cost-effective construction of impermeable, fire-resistant and long-lasting wooden buildings,” says Hannu Kasurinen, EVP, Stora Enso Wood Products. “The Wood City project would offer us an excellent opportunity to develop our concept for the needs of office building construction too, jointly with the construction company SRV. Our solution based on massive CLT boards facilitates, for example, often popular vast glass surfaces, open, modifiable interiors and placing of piping and similar partly inside the elements,” Kasurinen continues. The Urban MultiStorey™ concept will be offered throughout Europe. It features a variety of Stora Enso wood products. In addition to CLT boards the total solution utilises pillar beams and various external and interior cladding products, for example. “Wood City, the eight-storey high Bridport House in London, a shopping centre in Vienna and the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia are all real proof points of projects in which Stora Enso's building solutions have a key role, heralding the dawning of a new era of wood construction. Thanks to new fire regulations that came into force in April, Finland now has an excellent opportunity to secure its place globally as one of the top countries for innovative and environmentally friendly multi storey wooden construction and, above all, an opportunity to build office buildings up to eight storeys high from wood,” says Kasurinen.