The ForestED project will innovate in the transformation of hardwood wood for construction
The Forestry Association of Galicia participates in this project together with the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, the Forestry Science and Technology Center of Catalonia and the Forestry Consortium of Catalonia.
Obtaining new wood products from deciduous trees such as chestnut, birch or oak is one of the main objectives of the ForestED project, in which the Galician Forestry Association participates. The initiative aims to generate new products for building, both structural and non-structural (interior and exterior carpentry, etc.), as well as materials for street furniture.
The partners of the project will work for this with three forest species characteristic of Galicia, the chestnut, the birch and the oak, and with two others typical of Catalonia (beech and Aleppo pine).
ForestED is an initiative led by the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and with the participation of the Forestry Consortium of Catalonia, the Forestry Science and Technology Center of Catalonia and the Forestry Association of Galicia. The project is funded by the EU's NextGeneration funds, managed by the Biodivesidad Foundation.
This month, the project partners have already been visiting deciduous forests in Galicia and decided to select three forests in O Incio (Lugo), Boqueixón (A Coruña) and Zas (A Coruña).
In all three cases, these are masses with the availability of mature wood for extraction, without protection or topographical restrictions. The aim of the project is to manage the masses through a sustainable use, that is to say, the cuts will be limited to rare ones, so that the continuity of the mass is guaranteed.
The Forestry Association of Galicia emphasizes that the uses will be based on a study of the biodiversity of the area of intervention and with a technical planning that defines the forestry itineraries to follow in each case, aimed at improving biodiversity and renewing the masses and their natural regeneration.
The wood extracted will be representative of what usually exists in the Galician hardwood forests, of varied diameters and with different shapes and qualities. "The idea is to define innovative products that could be launched on the market from the resources we already have in the forest", explains the director of the Forestry Association of Galicia, Francisco Dans.
The wood used in these Galician forests as part of the project will be sent to Catalonia for processing by ForestED's technological partners, the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and the Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia.
ForestED has the support of the Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU