Timber Construction in Europe -
Prepared for the Future

The timber construction associations of the respective member countries do naturally not want to stand aside where the "European House" is built; they want to lend a strong hand. Due to the fact that there is a will, they thought, a way cannot be too far off. However, they soon realised that this way brought many problems with it.

FFirst of all, the competitors were not asleep; steel and reinforced concrete constructors had already been active at the construction site for the "European House". The carpenters lacked a powerful lobby. For creating one, a common language had to be found. As the mix of DIN, Austrian and other standards was, on the one hand, typically European - therefore varied and diverse - but, on the other hand, not beneficial to success in the common market. Due to such elementary obstacles, representatives of the carpentry and timber construction associations from Germany, Luxembourg, South Tyrol and Austria met in June 1989 to pave a practicable way into the future of European timber construction. Back then, the associations involved created a non-profit joint committee on a European basis, called "European Federation of Timber Construction". In the statutes of the association, which were passed on 1st June, 1989 in Luxembourg, where its headquarters are established, the following aims of the federation are defined:

By formulating these objectives, the participants of that meeting had - with foresight - in mind the construction of a boat, which was to take on board all those having to do with timber in Europe, in order to set a joint course to success.

A long way

At that point in time the far-reaching developments and challenges for timber construction which were to follow in the years to come, could not have been anticipated. Today, ten years after its foundation, the targets set have been expanded and made more precise to match the requirements. In order to handle these tasks, the structures had to be altered as well. For the functionaries alone cannot cope with such a multiple range of tasks, as endeavoured by the EFTC. A central specialist team was set up, for example, which deals with the association's targets, the coordination of technical matters and their dynamic realisation - all equally important for trade and industry. The expert team plays a central role in the following bodies, which constitute the European Federation of Timber Construction.

• The General Meeting consists of all representatives of all member associations and is the highest body of the EFTC, whose members meet at least once a year. The General Meeting has primary tasks, such as electing the president, passing the budget and possible amendments to its statutes.
• The Presiding Committee consists of all presidents or chairmen of the respective member associations and can, for example, set up commissions and committees.
• The Coordinating Committee is made up of fully employed staff of the respective member associations. With its specialist team the Coordinating Committee organises General Assemblies, conferences and plans the budget. It compiles programmes, keeps in touch with the individual associations and deals with all other tasks it has been given by the General Meeting

And these are quite manyfold, resulting from the growing number of members of the EFTC. As to date France - as the last EU country - has united 11,000 businesses with approximately 50,000 employees under the umbrella of the EFTC. All in all, there are more than 20,000 enterprises with more than 130,000 employees organised in the EFTC. Together, they generate a substantial turnover. The boat, once with only a few passengers aboard has - in its ten years since the foundation of the European Federation of Timber Construction - become a stately ship, which cannot be overlooked easily.

Common Market - Different Traditions

Nevertheless, it requires further efforts to promote communication between the individual members, and particularly finding a common course: "looking for markets, shaping and securing them," this is how the director of the Bavarian carpentry and timber construction associations Wolfgang Strauß described the shaping of the course in short. And what is true for Bavaria will probably have some meaning for the other national and regional associations in Europe as well. But timber construction does naturally not have a uniform history in Europe. Every country has its own traditions in terms of using and processing timber. Therefore, the European Federation of Timber Construction sees one of its main tasks in developing common perspectives for a successful future in view of the individual national and regional traditions concerning timber construction. The "EFTC news" will give insight into the different histories of European timber construction in no particular order.

Standards - Opportunities and Problems

This variety gives opportunities, but it brings up a number of problems as well. It is sure that timber construction needs a European togetherness to expand and to come up with common solutions for individual problems. The opportunity lies in the ability to learn from countries in whose national economy forestry plays a central role. But to do so, uniform standards and basic resources available everywhere in Europe are needed to pave the way for a positive development. But this is easier said than done.

The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) celebrated its 35th birthday last year. However, in the early 50s, representatives of the national organisations for standardisation from western Europe already met annually. In 1958 this led to the idea of founding a committee for standardisation for the common market. Since then, this "Comité Europeén de Normalisation (CEN)" has worked out European standards - EN standards - for the member states of the European Union and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA). In CEN, these countries are represented via their national institutes for standardisation (DIN, Austrian standards, etc). The standards that have been passed there have been published as DIN standards in Germany, named DIN EN, and as Austrian standards in Austria respectively. Since its foundation, CEN has meanwhile developed such a great number of standards that it is hard for users to keep an overview. Eighteen subgroups of CEN alone, so-called "Technical Committees (TC`s)" work out standards concerning timber directly. Besides, there is a range of further TC's; these work on standards concerning building materials. At the moment there are about 1,000 European, German, Austrian and French standards. With a view to these figures it seems almost futile for carpenters to find their way through. Moreover, there will be a transitional phase for the changeover from the traditional national standards to the European ones, in which both will exist side by side. The head of the specialist team for technology in the European Federation of Timber Construction, Prof. Dr. techn. Hans Hartl, sees the dawn of a particularly unsatisfactory situation: Due to the chaos of standards, keeping oneself busy with technological objectivity is often disregarded and considered to be rather nonessential.

This attitude is encouraged as long as neither damage reports nor complaints are made. But it is not likely to stay this way. Professor Hartl points to the fact that, due to the permanent competition by other building materials that timber is exposed to, users - especially carpenters - will have to deal with the matter of standardisation of the European timber construction. The European Federation of Timber Construction sees the support of its member companies in this matter, and, in doing so, the creation of the preconditions forusing new standards as one of its most important goals. Professor Hartl adds encouragingly that this variety of standards should not be seen as an obstacle, but as the increasing offer that is necessary for our European as well as international competitiveness of our respective national economies. However, successful competition depends on a wide range of factors that are closely linked to the European standardisation of timber. Successful vocational and further training, the exchange of apprentices and therefore of experiences beyond national borders need, besides other factors, a common "language", such as the catalogue of European standardisation of timber construction. The presence in new markets and the further development of ideas which show the building material timber as competitive to other building materials, even in unusual projects, demands an exact knowledge of the standards catalogue.

Travel broadens the mind

Those who look beyond their own nose will learn something new, an aphorism traditional in trade. For anyone planning to attend training measures in another European country, they should not loose sight of the common European market. This does not only increase experience, it also creates an important basis for the setting up and further development of joint standards, as is already the case with EU standards or EUROCODE 5. In spite of that, communication within Europe has its difficulties. The increased exchange of apprentices amongst European countries is therefore one of the major aims within the training and further education programme of the EFTC. Another important institution in this context is the "European Carpenter Competition", which was carried out by the EFTC at the beginning of September in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt. Upcoming competitions are to take place in France in two years' time and in Switzerland in 2004. These events, too, will contribute to our joint path into the future of European timber construction. The technical dictionary, which has just been published in four languages (English, French, German and Italian) facilitates the interpretation of guidelines, laws and standards. Naturally, this dictionary does not only prove valuable for trainees and apprentices. During a meeting of the EFTC presiding committee at the end of last year in Birmingham (England currently enjoys observer status in the EFTC) the representatives of the member states could convince themselves personally of the impressive scope and quality of the English research project "Timber Frame 2000". This is a lifesize six storey timber frame construction with four flats on each floor, staircase and lift shaft. The building, designed in a former airplane hangar in Cardington, was developed after the amendment to the English planning regulations. Since 1991 five or more floors are permissible, as against the previous maximum three, with no additional requirements to the fire safety regulations. "Timber Frame 2000" is in charge of developing the timber frame construction for the next millenium. This is a project which is surely pathbreaking for the future of European timber construction. For the companies of other national and regional associations to participate in this development and profit from it in the process, it is vital to carry out specific training and further education during the transition period from national to European standards and phraseology. In addition to that, the use of modern communication technology should be considered - something that so far only few timber construction companies have done.

EDP, CAD and the internet

Electronic data processing may certainly be common practice in many businesses, but computer-assisted design and production methods are less common. The EFTC wants to promote their use and the training in this technique as well as an efficient presentation of products and services on the market. And could this be reached in a better way than by being present on the internet? In Germany alone, about five million potential clients are using the communication network. Among these, almost 30% - according to the result of a study - have a household income of more than DM 6,000. As far as new buildings, extensions or renovations are concerned, the carpenter may certainly find interesting clients here. Besides this, computer-assisted images in design and construction, as mentioned above, may also be transported easily via the information highway. This has advantages when the future client does not live in the immediate vicinity, but perhaps in another European country. More and more often building projects are indeed advertised all over Europe: timber construction businesses should benefit from this trend as well.

Timber used in an unusual way

By being present on the internet, there is an opportunity for establishing a better position for the alternative building material timber in projects so far dominated by steel and concrete. On a long-term basis, the timber construction lobby the European Federation of Timber Construction has been striving for in order to accomplish common goals on the European market may be established in this way. There are many exemplary construction projects in which timber plays more than a major role, but there could be even more: timber is ideally and increasingly used in energy-saving, ecological constructions in the sector of public and private house building. And it has also established itself as an alternative to steel and concrete in places where extreme pressure has to be borne; often thanks to lower costs. When renovating a damaged steel-concrete bow bridge in Sufers, Switzerland, four new main beams and some more intermediate diagonal beams made from larch timber, were used. The railing was made of larch timber as well. Examples such as the Crestawald-bridge let us hope that in the future, other clients will discover such composite constructions made from timber and concrete to be a sensible alternative. To reach this goal, increased activities in public relations are necessary, and the European Federation of Timber Construction will give its best to develop these. The "EFTC news", which has just been published for the first time, is supposed to contribute to this.

Database - access for everyone

A further and most important step has been reached with setting-up NORMDAT, a timber construction database, in which all essential innovations are recorded and updated. The selection of the approximately 1,000 European, German, Austrian and French standards was influenced by the current EFTC member states Germany, France, Luxembourg, Austria and South Tyrol. This new database may be extended to form a complete system by adding authorisations, notifications of test results of products and addresses as well as the European standards yet to come, offering not only the master-carpenter the basis (and the guarantee!) for applying the recognised rules of technology. Everybody with simple PC equipment at his disposal can use NORMDAT. Using NORMDAT the EFTC has developed a timber construction dictionary, a technical compendium, making it easier to use terms and phrases in a foreign language. This dictionary is used in businesses which want to be present on the European market as well as by architects, engineers and, of course, the respective training institutions. Besides the purely material help the EFTC also deals with promoting communication within the organisation and outside. This refers to topics dealing with standards concerning carpentry. It turned out that there is a number of individual topics, but on the other hand at least as many gaps resulting from the comparison with the national standards. Therefore, the EFTC tries hard to coordinate all interests and to form a strategic alliance in order to find a common way to Brussels. The EFTC also recruits members actively, because every successful activity on this level requires an equal one on the national level. Only in this way can the individual carpenter enjoy additional national advantages.

The "problem child": small to medium-sized businesses

The concentration process in the German economy and its support by Brussels is causing the EFTC a lot of worry with regard to its small to medium-sized members. On the occasion of his visit in Brussels, president Georg König pointed out that these businesses are the bearers of the national economy in all European states. Although they provide a large number of jobs and apprenticeships, and guarantee the treasury most of its revenue from taxation, they had been put in second place by their national governments and also by Brussels. In contrast, König demanded equal opportunities concering the promotion of research and development.

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