On December 8, 2020, the coordination team of the Brașov Metropolitan Agency together with the representatives of Urbasofia organized an online workshop, part of the "Build-in-Wood" project. The meeting aimed to present the evolution of the project and identify the main challenges, needs and solutions in terms of wooden constructions. Representatives of profile organizations, educational institutions, industry and NGOs working in the field of forestry were invited to this meeting.
Mircea Segărceanu, as moderator of the meeting and project manager from BMA, made a short introduction in which he highlighted the main purpose of the meeting and how it will happen, later giving the floor to the representative of Urbasofia.
In this context, Mădălina Rusen (Urbasofia) presented the stage of the project, providing details about it. At the same time, she mentioned that the aim of the project is to create a chain of added value in the wood industry, a pilot project will be carried out in Brașov to capitalize on local / regional potential, resulting in a set of recommendations to the European Commission concerns the use of wood in wooden constructions with a minimum ground floor +2 floors.
Challenges
Further, Liviu Goga, Vice President of the Romanian Foresters Association presented elements regarding the sustainability of wood exploitation and reminded that there is a forest management system (10-year management plan), while IFN (National Forest Inventory) - presents the periodic image review of the existing Forest Fund. Liviu Goga specified that over 11 million homes in Romania are heated with firewood. In his view, the next challenges are the implementation of the European Green Pact, with a focus on carbon law and the possibility for economic operators to generate carbon certificates through voluntary schemes. The Vice President of ASFOR argued that an important element was missing, namely that there was no functioning carbon market. Thus, one ton of sequestered carbon (which is not released) is the equivalent of a carbon certificate, and on energy exchanges there is the possibility that these certificates can be traded. Moreover, Liviu Goga specified that ASFOR is trying a scheme to validate carbon certificates and build a Research Center in the field of wood, in an attempt to adapt the calculation formulas associated with carbon certificates, for wood products.
Marius Șoflete had a very interesting intervention, pointing out that the main challenge is the perception of wooden constructions. In this context, he argued that there is a lack of legislation regulations in force and a number of constraints in terms of buildings. He continued, mentioning that to these aspects is added the lack of education of all specialists working in this field.
Subsequently, Mircea Segărceanu gave a presentation with the technical results of the project: the guide for wooden constructions, the legislative analysis at the level of the Member States regarding the norms of thermal, fireproof and acoustic constructions.
Discussions
An interactive question and answer session followed, the first issue being the one related to the use of resources within the project, at the local level of the Brașov region.
Marius Șoflete argued that there is a need for an institutional actor with a role of mediation and integration, a role assumed by BMA. At the same time, he said that it is necessary to connect the private sector with the public one, the authorities with the beneficiaries, the designers with the rest, because in Romania they are quite segmented and the client's interests are not taken into account as they should.
Marilena Manolache, the Chief Architect of Brașov Municipality, had a point of view regarding the legislative part related to air quality and wood use in tall buildings, arguing that it is tried, as much as possible, at the level of local administration, to encourage this type of initiatives, but there is no support from the national strategy.
Liviu Goga emphasized the need to support proposals for legislative changes through scientific research in the field, which would add increased credibility at the ministry level. In this regard, he mentioned the establishment of a research center in the wood industry, an industry initiative, which will gain the necessary national and European accreditations. Regarding this aspect, Kádár Rezső, vice president of the Pro Wood cluster, was also of the opinion that there is no unity for all involved and that a value chain needs to be built, from design to the finished product.
On the other hand, Lajos Vajda, president of the Green Energy Cluster and the Sfântu Gheorghe Business Incubator, mentioned that Pro Wood was created 10 years ago and by accessing funds, an attempt was made to integrate research and education.
Regarding the type of fiscal facilities that could be taken, Marius Șoflete stated that there is a need for state support for lending if it is built of wood, adding that banks consider them a risk when considering lending. He suggested that the tax rate on the building be calculated based on technical performance and environmental impact.