Sickla in Stockholm will be made almost entirely of timber

A new, new city is being built in Sweden, but is not built using steel or concrete – the main building material is wood.

Stockholm, part of the Swedish capital, will be the “world’s largest wooden construction project” according to its developer Atrium Ljungberg12 billion Swedish crowns (about $ 1.25 billion) will deposit project.

Sickla – An industrial area once known to the south of the Stockholm center Diesel engines production -The cross -laminated wood used in the core of the Material buildings, floors and walls is redeveloped using wooden wood.

New wooden houses, offices, schools and stores, some will be intertwined with old buildings transformed into libraries or cinemas, and the area will extend to 250,000 square meters or about 2.7 million square meters.

Atrium Ljungberg Business Development President Håkan Hyllengren said Sickla aims to be a showcase for sustainable development. The construction sector produces 37% of the world’s carbon emissions, which is “by far” when it comes to greenhouse gases, According to the UN Environmental Program.

Hyllengren said, “We are in a industry where we can really make a change, if we can build differently and run buildings more environmentally,” Hyllengren said.

To do this, according to Hyllengren, it also contributes to the company’s goal of reducing construction emissions to almost zero by 2030, a “brave and hard” decision.

The studies show that mass timber buildings produce much lower emissions than steel or concrete: 2024 Studies By academics from USDA Forest Service, timber buildings Global warming potential (emission size) At least 81% lower than concrete, while the steel figure was 76% lower.

Approximately 70% of the Sweden region consists of forests and the country has been used in construction for years. “We have a cultural connection with the forest,” Oskar Norelius, the chief architect of White Arkitekter, who works with Atrium Ljungberg. He said.

“Many Swedish forests spend time to relax and do different activities in the Swedish forest.

But Hyllengren said that the wooden buildings are “usually here and there is a single house,” so creating a whole city from the timber.

Norelius designed Sara Kulturhus, a 20 -storey building consisting of museum and gallery areas, an event hall, library and a 200 -room wooden hotel in the north of Sweden.

The project helped people in the industry to see the potential to build larger structures in the wood that can be perceived to be difficult due to the rules around the risk of fire. “We have changed the mentality to see that timber was a driving force for architecture instead of a restriction,” Norelius said. He said.

The first part of the development is that a settlement zone of 80 apartments, Kvarter 7, will be completed by the end of 2025, while White Arkitekter is working on designs for the first office block of Sickla. The project also has a planning permission for double -use buildings, that is, that houses can be an office in the future and that it provides a “second life” to buildings. Approximately 2,000 apartments are planned for 2027.

Beyond the sustainability of the timber building, people seem to love wood. Norelius said that Sara Kulturhus’ visitors had embraced wooden columns. The structure of buildings, including pipes and ventilation equipment, means that there may be more wooden columns that people can “bend or touch”.

Like other European countries, Sweden had a real estate accident In 2023, as the interest rates increased and Hyllengren “feel that it began to change.” Considering the transportation connections of Sickla – trains and trams running to Central Stockholm, and the subway of the city will be expanded to development – Hyllengren said it is optimistic about the future.

A floor plate of concrete, although about 20% cheaper than the timber, Hyllengren, wooden building is much faster than using traditional methods, that is to say that the apartments and offices are ready to rent earlier.

And the pleasant aesthetics of the wood can lead to financial benefits for the developer. “We believe that what we create is something that will be attractive – and we will get higher rental income.” He said.