Innovative design and resource efficient materials cut costs and empower circularity in construction

Circular economy starts from the design 

The strength of Kerto LVL allows designs that minimise the amount of material used for construction, while its durability allows buildings to be long-lasting, keeping the materials in use and storing carbon. Circularity comes into play at the end of the building's life, when the wooden elements can be reused elsewhere or recycled into new building products. Even the entire building can be relocated and repurposed.  

The circularity is supported by a digital passport of all the materials and elements used in the building’s construction. In the design, engineering and production process of buildings, Sustainer’s in-house software creates digital twins, where every element is tracked and linked with a wide range of associated data. Moving from the digital to the physical world, this data can be accessed via a special QR code attached to each element. When scanned, the QR code reveals all the attributes of the element and references back to the detailed model of the entire building.

Co-operation is crucial in material efficient building  

Buildings designed resource-efficiently and assembled with materials such as Kerto LVL hold a key advantage in meeting the increasing need for construction: more can be built thanks to the lower cost per square metre. What’s more, resource efficient buildings have a more universal appeal, since they can be applied to a range of projects, from low-cost social housing and middle sector development to high-end residences and business premises.   

While the basic principle is simple in theory, the implementation requires various factors in development, production, fabrication, supply chains, management and execution to work in harmony. Since no single company can control all these variables, co-operation is essential for such an ecosystem to bear fruit.  

When buildings are designed with a building system, such as Sustainer’s, a common thread can be made to connect all the parties around a digital infrastructure. The software creates the digital twin that is used for design, engineering and production processes. Information is created and distributed amongst the stakeholders in the value chain to keep every party informed, involved and up to date.  

Sustainability requires comprehensive resource efficiency 

Sustainer’s digital designs can be realised to their full potential with building materials that support sustainability and circularity throughout the entire value chain, all the way from sourcing to end-of-life solutions. 

When it comes to Kerto LVL, resource efficiency already begins in the forest, with Metsä Group using every part of the tree for the highest added value products. In production, Metsä Wood uses raw materials, energy and water as efficiently as possible. For example, 96% of production side streams are utilised as raw materials for new products and renewable energy. 

As a building material, Kerto LVL has the requisite properties to improve sustainability on several fronts. The light weight helps lower emissions, as the products and elements made of Kerto LVL can be transported in larger quantities at once and lifted with smaller cranes. Kerto LVL also allows for lighter foundations, which reduces the need for materials such as concrete. The remarkable strength to weight ratio – equal to steel – means that load-bearing structures can be built with less material, which enables reduced emissions, cost savings and more square metres of habitable space.  The uniform quality of Kerto LVL is a further advantage in prefab models such as Sustainer's because the dimensional stability of the laminated structure keeps the wood from warping. And because Kerto LVL can be delivered in customized product dimensions according to customer requirements, cross cutting and waste are minimised. 

One of the reasons Sustainer chose Kerto LVL for its main constructive material is that the material, built up with many thin layers of veneer, provides a more diverse set of thicknesses to choose from. When designing structural elements, beam and plate structures can be combined to form floor, ceiling or wall packages of high rigidity and stability. Compared to a solid wall construction, this requires far less material and reduces the price of the building structure.   

Furthermore, Sustainer is able to parametrise these structures in their software and create a wide range of module sizes, while still maintaining a similar fabrication process. This results in a more diverse set of modules for architects and property developers to choose from in their projects, meaning they can better maximise the potential of the site with Sustainer’s system in mind.  

In conclusion, we need forward-thinking actions to solve the equation of satisfying the growing global demand for construction while safeguarding the natural world. Sustainer’s circular and material efficient building systems, brought to fruition through the exceptional properties of Kerto LVL, present a step towards a more sustainable built environment. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Sustainer is actively seeking new partners from all continents to join its network.