A dissertation by Jaakko Jussila shows that the use of wood in construction improves sustainability, but preconceptions about quality issues and potentially high costs still keep wood from gaining ground in industrial construction. He finds that wood construction should focus more on customers and not only on technology and cost efficiency.

Recent years have seen a rapid evolution in wood construction, and general interest in the topic has also increased dramatically thanks to the social pressure to expand low-carbon construction.

People see the use of wood in construction as essential for reducing construction’s carbon footprint because it is a renewable raw material, serves as a carbon sink for decades, and is easily recyclable. However, Jussila notes that research and practice has demonstrated that large-scale wooden construction has spread slowly in Finland despite the acknowledged advantages of wooden construction and efforts to promote it.

The recent dissertation by Jussila covers the adoption of wood construction as part of a general shift towards construction sustainability. The thesis analyses what factors increase and decrease the amount of wood construction, especially from the perspective of Finnish municipal decision-makers and the institutional factors at play.

Jussila’s research includes an extensive analysis of the relevant literature. In addition, he has interviewed municipal decision-makers on their views about sustainable construction and what they see as obstacles and drivers with regards to wood construction.

Until now, research on wooden apartment building construction has mostly focused on the perspective of the builders, particularly on what construction companies, element manufacturers and designers see as the possibilities and challenges with wooden apartment building construction. There is little research on housing sales and how residents perceive their living experience, and the roles of institutions and municipal decision-makers in building wooden apartment buildings have also not received sufficient attention despite their widely acknowledged importance. The dissertation by Jussila contributes to filling these research gaps.

Read the article in Finnish here.

Dissertation can be read at website: https://
urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-395-039-9

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