France

France, the youngest member of the European Federation of Timber Construction (EFTC) with its 15 million hectares of woodland, possesses approximately 13% of the entire European woodland area, 70% of which are privately owned. Two-thirds of the forests are deciduous wood and another third consists of coniferous wood, the majority of which is exported. The French wood and timber industries rank as number 7 on the list of the biggest exporters. In contrast, only 2% of French houses are built of timber. Although timber-frame construction was common in house-building in many regions from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, the construction of stone houses was predominant, which had always played a more important role in France than in the north of Europe. This is due to the the special charcteristics of the various climatic zones in France. Whereas the art of building stone houses was particularly widespread in the warmer, Mediterranean regions, the tradition of timber construction was only preserved in the Alsace and in Normandy. Nevertheless, timber construction enjoys quite a high reputation, particularly in the case of functional buildings as required in agriculture or in roof construction. A system of guilds has developed since the Middle Ages, almost like in Germany. So-called "Compagnons", formed a federation of joiners, cartwrights and timber-frame constructors. Prospects for vocational training, however, had been very bleak for a long time: whereas there was a considerable number of apprenticeships for carpenters within the companies, only one college was available for training engineers in timber construction. Technicians were better off: four schools were at their disposal. Only recently has the number of training centres been increasing, supplemented by state-supported training courses. In contrast to other European countries, pre-fabricated timberwork is predominant in France. In house construction this applies to prefabricated roof and wall panels, in hall construction to essential construction parts. In order to calculate statics, the French standards DTU Règles CB71 and NV 65 are used. The German standard is applied as a supplementary standard only in some areas such as timber construction. At the moment EUROCODE 5 is being used only on a small scale in France. The French application of the EC is still being worked on. At the same time France suggested some innovations with unusual features. A resourceful wood and timber importer established a department for marketing his products, in which application technologies for wooden construction systems in the extension of the attic storey or in agricultural hall construction have been developped. These technologies also gained state recognition within the framework of further training. Similar to a franchising system teaching documents are available which can be used for training carpenters on the job anywhere in France. In addition, an environmental law that was passed in France two years ago intends to promote wooden construction in the building and construction industry in particular, thus causing timber construction to increase.

Austria

In contrast, timber construction is not state-supported in Austria, a founding member of the EFTC. With its 3.9 million hectares Austria only possesses a scarce quarter of the French expanse of woodlands, but almost half of the total area of the Alpine republic is covered with woods (46%). In France the total woodland area amounts to only 30% of the territory. Therefore, it is not surprising that the "woodpeckers" have a long tradition in Austria. Unlike their French counterparts, however, they did not find any standardised regulations for building projects depending on the location. Whereas in France - in accordance with its centralised structure - the same regulations are valid in Paris, Lyon and Marseille, Austrian timber construction was confronted with different regulations in each federal state respectively. An example: according to the fire protection regulations in Styria, stairs had to be made of concrete up to three years ago. Today wooden stairs are also permitted as well as three-storey houses, which up to that time were only permitted in Vorarlberg, where timber construction had a long tradition. Correspondingly, the rule book was more progressive. In recent years some of the Austrian fire protection rules and regulations, different in each federal state, have been changed. But all over Austria the Austrian standards are binding, which only deal with the statistical loads. Architects wanting to support timber as a future-orientated building material with their plans might have to take difficult tight-rope walks: they have to solve the specific problems of each timber construction on their own, reconciling general standards with individual creativitiy. And this is not an easy task, especially because Austria - in contrast to Germany, for example - is not considered to be very keen on experimenting in terms of timber construction.Therefore Ernst Giselbrecht, an Austrian architect, does not think that the problems of timber construction may be solved by standardisation; nor is he sure that architecture in timber construction will be promoted. He thinks it much more likely that wooden houses will be built of prefabricated construction parts.