KLIMAS Timber Meeting – a new dimension in timber construction discussions

The oldest raw material in the world – wood – is the future of sustainable construction. This was the idea behind the first edition of the KLIMAS Timber conference organized by Klimas Wkręt-met in Wanaty near Częstochowa.

The two-day event brought together Klimas brand partners and customers at the manufacturer’s headquarters near Częstochowa to learn about global trends and technologies in timber construction. Franco Piva, founder of Ergodomus, the world’s leading timber building and construction design company, was invited as a speaker. Franco himself is one of the best-known experts in the timber construction segment. His company has completed over three hundred buildings in fourteen countries in a dozen years. Philipp Zumbrunnen from EURBAN, one of the largest wood processing companies and a supplier of CLT timber technology and other solutions for timber construction, talked about the development of CLT technology.

International timber construction knowledge platform

KLIMAS Timber Meeting is a new meeting formula that integrates companies from various sectors, from engineers, and manufacturers to contractors from Poland and abroad. It is an excellent opportunity to present solutions and different approaches, which, despite the differences caused by climatic and geographic conditions, as well as building regulations, are united by the common idea of planet- and people-friendly construction. In the words of Paweł Klimas, development director and board member of Klimas Wkręt-met – Not today do we see the enormous potential and at the same time great progress in the development of wooden construction as the most sustainable building material. This is why we have been placing a strong emphasis on improving the product portfolio for this segment for years. What the entire industry needs today is a space where all participants in the construction process can share their knowledge and experience. We are creating just such a space – the international KLIMAS Timber Meeting platform – i.e., a series of meetings of experts: architects, suppliers, as well as contractors, who can benefit from the knowledge, but also expand their business contacts. The primary objective of the meetings is to promote and raise awareness of sustainable timber construction,” he adds.

Wood – a material with high potential

Wood is one of the oldest building materials used by humankind. For centuries it has been a popular choice, natural and dependable. – Today, the decision to build with wood is a conscious, sustainable choice. ‘Structural timber technologies combine the wisdom of nature with the intelligence of man,’ believes Paweł Klimas, ‘Environmentally friendly and efficient, timber is the obvious choice for low-energy buildings or passive houses. While the ‘green’ factor has so far played a decisive role, the economic benefits associated with using this raw material are becoming increasingly obvious, he adds.

Wood production emits much less carbon dioxide (CO2) than steel or concrete. In addition, growing trees retain atmospheric CO2 and lock it into their fibers. A building made of wood generates 26% to 31% less greenhouse gases than a building made of concrete or steel (CORRIM). And after counting the CO2 in the fiber, the wood turns out to be carbon negative. 1m3 of wood retains the equivalent of 3 tons of carbon. Wood is also a raw material with excellent fire resistance properties: the CLT wood burns slowly because a layer of carbon forms on the surface and hinders combustion. Its resistance is not affected by heat. This is not the case with so-called ‘non-combustible’ materials. As the burning rates are known, designers can determine the minimum dimensions needed to maintain the mechanical performance of the elements, in accordance with the required degree of fire resistance.

Technically compliant components

In line with European Union regulations, restrictions on the production of building components require manufacturers to optimize and adopt innovative approaches in terms of sustainable solutions. The KLIMAS Timber Meeting was also a pretext for presenting such solutions. – Using the capabilities of the technological park at our production facility, participants had the opportunity to gain experience with the entire complete process of the SQ Ceramic lamellar coating that we use to coat our products. This coating is characterized by extremely effective corrosion protection, despite its thin layer, which is why this technology is eagerly used in the automotive and aviation industries, comments Maciej Strychalski, marketing director at Klimas Wkręt-met. – The SQ Ceramic coating consists of a mixture of zinc flakes, aluminum, and bonding resins, and thanks to its unique composition, provides ten times higher protection against corrosion compared to galvanizing and 2 times higher protection compared to hot-dip galvanizing, achieving corrosion resistance class C4.

In addition, the production of screws with SQ Ceramic coating is more environmentally friendly, as the entire production cycle generates 70% less CO2 into the atmosphere than the production of standard screws, he adds.

A tour of the company, which was one of the highlights of the event, allowed participants to get to know the company from the inside, to visualize how a 4.0 company operates, based on the most modern technologies – I am glad that our guests could see how advanced technologies we create, and thanks to this we can provide a product of the highest world quality, even for such a demanding segment as timber construction – summarizes Paweł Klimas

The KLIMAS Timber Meeting is one of the many elements of Klimas Wkręt-met’s commitment to sustainable timber construction.