In the winter of 2022/2023 BlueCity made the case for wood with two Wood Hackathons, with one centering on Willows and the other on Cross Laminated Timber (CLT). Wood has tremendous potential in a circular society as a resource for the construction industry. More trees also contribute to restoring biodiversity. But... wood is unable to deliver on its sustainability promises in the current economic system. There is not enough Dutch lumber to meet future demand and most of the residual wood still often ends up in the incinerator. The run-on wood as a fuel, rising timber prices, and a growing shortage of skilled craftsmen only served to increase the pressure this winter on the current wood economy. High time for a radical overhaul of this economy, with the BlueCity Wood Hackathons.
CLT Hackathon
During the CLT Hackathon, our wood pioneers set about producing Cross Laminated Timber from pieces of firewood.
From firewood to CLT lumber
The first Wood Hackathon focused on CLT lumber, made from used wood. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is an engineered wood panel product made from gluing together several layers of lumber. It is a strong, rigid, stable material thanks to the crosswise layering of wood fiber. Its mechanical properties also explain why it’s such a popular building material. CLT offers the same strength as reinforced concrete, meaning it can be used for load-bearing structures. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately CLT is almost always produced from new material, whereas it can also be produced from reclaimed wood. Most timber is broken down into smaller pieces for the production of furniture, pellets, or shelving. When we dispose of these wood products, waste processors often shred the wood to produce biomass or filler, instead of preserving the fiber (and the strength) for the production of new wood products. Used wood is thus devalued. In times of rising lumber prices, this obviously makes no sense. There is sufficient demand for sustainable lumber. High time, in other words, to align the supply with the demand. During this Hackathon, we started from the pioneering work of a number of Dutch entrepreneurs and research institutes to develop a structural chain in which pieces of wood are upgraded to strong, good, sustainable CLT lumber. At BlueCity we cannot wait to use these superb, sustainable CLT beams in the renovation of our building. The following people participated in this Hackathon: Huub and Jannie Coenen (Crumble development), Marije Remigius and Paul Jie (Fiction Factory), Rosa Meijer (Renewi Nederland), Walter de Groot (CircuWall), Peter Fraanje (Built by Nature), Lisanne Beenen (PaperInnovator), Thomas van Haastrecht (Houdhout), Ron van Oorschot (TNO), Willem van Merrienboer (Boerboom Hout Groep), Nescio Midavaine, Nick Boogaards, Sanne Pelt and Collin Timmer (Van den Berg Hardhout BV).