Construction on Stockholm Wood City dubbed the “world’s first five-minute city” is several months ahead of schedule and is on track to provide 2,000 new homes by 2027. That is, according to Swedish property developer Atrium Ljungberg, which began construction on the world’s largest timber district in October.
“We can tell the story about how to build a liveable city, how to add nature into the city and build something sustainable,” says Håkan Hyllengren, Atrium Ljungberg’s business development director. “It’s not just about wood; it’s the whole concept.”
Speaking to Time Magazine, Hyllengren hopes Stockholm Wood City will become “an international showcase” due to its sheer scale. Wood Central understands that the project is set to become the planet’s biggest “mixed-use” wooden neighbourhood. Alongside apartment buildings taking shape, a high school will open in the fall, and 7,000 office spaces will be available within two years.
Like most mid-rise and high-rise timber buildings, the new buildings will use cross-laminated timber, which is easy to produce thanks to Scandinavia’s abundance of forests. Around 70% of Sweden is covered in woodland, and in 1903, it became the first nation in the world to require compulsory reforestation. “We don’t have a problem where we will run out of wood,” smiles Hyllengren. “We’ve actually got more forest now than we had 100 years ago because we replant.”
Atrium Ljungberg estimates that engineered wood is approximately 10% more expensive than steel or concrete. Hyllengren, however, says the company can recoup the extra costs elsewhere:
“You have to look at the whole project. Since many wooden building parts arrive preassembled, you don’t have to mix wood or wait to dry, like concrete, which he argues helps save money by saving labour hours.”
“By building so much faster than when we build with normal concrete, we can reduce the [project] time,” Hyellngren said, pointing out that this also means that tenants can move in and start paying rent earlier. Then, the architects and engineers working on the project share knowledge “in a way that I haven’t seen in the same way in construction with concrete or steel.”
- To learn more about Stockholm’s Wood City, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from June 2023.
