Celebrating construction with timber – Enter your project into the Best Use of Certified Timber Prize!

24 July 2020 Sustainable construction

Timber as a construction material can do so much more than meets the eye. It looks good and is easy to work with, but also brings enormous benefits for our planet. Did you know that global CO₂ emissions could be reduced by 31% if builders used wood instead of steel and concrete?

To highlight outstanding constructions using timber from a sustainable source, PEFC and the World Architecture Festival are awarding the Best Use of Certified Timber Prize for the third time this year. Entries are open until 8 January 2021.

If you are an architect or project team and have used certified timber as the main construction material in one of your buildings, submit your project now!

Why use timber in construction?

Concrete, steel, cement and glass are among the most frequently used construction materials. But there is a problem: they emit enormous amounts of carbon, making the building and construction sector responsible for 39% of all carbon emissions in the world.

Wood does just the opposite: rather than emitting carbon, it stores it. Using wood for construction saves about 40% of carbon emissions in comparison to concrete, and 30% in comparison to steel. 

As trees grow, they absorb CO₂ and store it as carbon in their biomass. The carbon remains there, even after the trees have been felled. A cubic metre of wood contains around a tonne of CO₂. This is equivalent to 350 litres of gasoline. Building with wood can therefore significantly reduce our carbon footprint.

Building with wood clearly has many benefits, but this is only if it comes from a sustainable source. PEFC certification gives you the assurance that the sourced timber comes from sustainably managed forests. Through PEFC project certification, you can clearly and reliably demonstrate your decision to build with PEFC-certified timber.

Best Use of Certified Timber Prize – submit your project now!

Supported by PEFC, the Best Use of Certified Timber Prize awards architects and project teams that have used certified timber in an innovative, educational or artistic manner.

The 13^th World Architecture Festival has been postponed due to the Corona pandemic, and will take place in Lisbon from 23 – 25 June 2021.

Are you interested? Make sure to submit your project before 8 January!

Designing the Future with Sustainable Timber

Sustainable construction is on the rise, and across the world, the architecture community is embracing solid and engineered wood for their constructions.

Under the theme Designing the Future with Sustainable Timber, a range of stakeholders have come together under the leadership of PEFC to promote the use of wood in construction in general and certified wood in particular. Join us! Contact us at fabienne.sinclair@pefc.org