The Solsonès Forestry Hub is born to manage forests and give value to Mediterranean wood
The Forestry Hub of Catalonia is an initiative supporting innovation in forestry value chains. Its facilities for research, development, transfer, facilitation and training focus on using wood for: construction, textiles and biochemistry, aromatic and medicinal plants for pharma and cosmetics, and truffles and other non-wood forest products (NWFP) for food.
For some time now, the mantra has been circulating that our forests do not produce high-quality wood suitable for making splinters. But this is not true. It is also useful for other uses, such as the construction of wooden houses. A key point to increase forest management, which is expensive and difficult for owners to assume if they do not get a return on it.
“And forestry, management, has proven to be one of the most powerful tools to transform the landscape and fight against the impacts of climate change, such as droughts.” This is explained by Mario Beltran, a technician at the Centre for Forest Science and Technology of Catalonia (CTFC).
The pines that they have removed after managing in a forest in Llobera, in the Solsonès region, are taken to the Olius Forest Hub, a few kilometres away. It is a laboratory that conducts tests and trials on wood, but on an industrial scale. Thus, “we can give the construction recipes with different types of wood to the industry because we have tried it before here.”
The building is 1,200 square meters. And it is built, obviously, with wood, with fir and black pine from the Pyrenees. When we enter, the temperature is comfortable, although they do not have heating. Wood acts as a thermal insulator.
In the warehouse, the machines manufacture structural panels. They have combined different Mediterranean woods, such as Aleppo pine and beech, which are very resistant, but which have never been used in construction.
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Read our innovation factsheet on CTFC’s Forestry Hub of Catalonia by clicking the button below.