Japanese culture traditionally places value on the beauty of wood texture and grain patterns.
all, a keen eye for choosing reliable quality materials,” Na- kashima says. Today, a large part of raw material for glulam products comes from Northern Europe. “In the past, we imported raw materials mainly from North America, but they were not dry enough and do- mestic demand in the United States led to instability in the volumes available. In a bid to resolve this we negotiated with some countries including New Zealand, but northern Europe now makes up the core.” “What is crucial for glulam production is a stable supply of good-quality raw materials. Finland handles sawing to drying consistently, prices and quality are stable and relia- bility is high so we can place orders with confidence. As an important partner, we would like to continue cooperating closely going forward.” OUTLOOK FOR WOOD CONSTRUCTION IN JAPAN Japan has many legal regulations for wooden buildings, with detailed ordinances based on a building’s purpose, dimensions, and environment. These include the Building Standard Law, aimed at ensuring the safety of buildings and the Fire Service Act, aimed at fire prevention. While they have been gradually revised, they are not fully up-to-date with the rapidly advancing technology and newly developed materials. Amid Japan’s declining birth rate and ageing population, the amount of new housing construction is expected to decrease. A rapid decline in demand is unlikely, howev- er, given that moves to rebuild old buildings are likely to accelerate. Japan has a culture that traditionally places value on the beauty of wood texture and grain patterns. Nevertheless, there is a mistaken prejudice that wood is more flammable and lacks strength compared to concrete
and steel. In reality, when compared by unit weight, wood is the strongest and neither acid nor alkali will cause it to deteriorate. Many people are under the impression that buildings made from steel frames or reinforced concrete are safe and long-lasting. But the Horyuji temple has stood for 1,300 years while the Todaiji temple in Nara is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. At long last, we are seeing a renewed awareness of the diverse advantages of wood architecture and the number of wooden buildings can be expected to increase in future. SPECIALLY DRIED PINE AS RAW MATERIAL Metsä Fibre has been supplying sawn timber to Meik- en and to many other Japanese manufacturers of glulam beams for many years. The product exported to Japan is pine lamina, which is manufactured exactly according to Japanese dimensions and quality standards. “The most important quality requirement is strength. It is also our advantage over non-Scandinavian sawn tim- ber producers, because slow and long-growing Finnish softwood is inherently very strong. In addition, lamina is always specially dried,” says Sami Peltoniemi , Metsä Fibre’s Sales Manager, APAC. Japanese manufacturers of glulam beams monitor the quality of the wood raw material very closely. The strength of each piece is tested before it is taken for gluing. The products destined for Japan are produced at Metsä Fibre’s sawmills in Lappeenranta and Merikarvia. Produc- tion from Rauma’s future sawmill will also be exported to the Japanese market. “With the Rauma sawmill, our ability to produce lam- ina for the Japanese market will more than double,” says Peltoniemi. •
Hobuko Elementary school
But the present situation is a transitional one. In 2003, Japan’s Forestry Agency and Ministry of Land, Infrastruc- ture, Transport and Tourism decided to promote the use of wood in public architecture, too. Since then, national and municipal governments have encouraged wood construction in medium and large buildings and the use of CLT (cross-laminated timber) has also been approved. “Wood architecture still accounts for only about 10 per cent of small to medium-sized non-residential buildings. This is because of limited education about wood architec- ture in university curriculums and the fact that smaller building contractors specialise in housing and lack ex- perience in non-residential construction,” says Toyoda. “Small- and medium-sized non-residential buildings are likely to play a critical role as a market for glulam going forward, so we are looking at various ways to enter the market.”
THE ROLE OF BUILDING MATERIAL PRODUCERS Northern Europe is now a key source of raw materials imported by Meiken Lamwood Corp., one of the largest glulam manufacturers in Japan. Meiken Lamwood was one of the first to develop CLT, says Takushi Nakashima , Executive Managing Director of its Lamina Purchasing Department. “Buyers for housing construction account for the great majority of the glulam that we manufacture and deliv- er. There is also some demand for products like large cross-section glulam, but volumes are currently small. However, demand for CLT has started to pick up, and the demand situation is likely to change, so we will adjust our production plans.” Glulam is used for structures where stable strength and moisture percentage are required. “For our products to be trusted by customers, there must be reliable control of the manufacturing process and above
Takushi Nakashima Executive Managing Director of the
Yasuo (Yaz) Toyoda Executive Officer in charge of the wood products division of ITOCHU Kenzai Corpo- ration. ITOCHU Kenzai handles 750,000 m³ of timber from all over the world.
Sami Peltoniemi Sales Manager, APAC, at Metsä Fibre. Peltoniemi is responsible for timber sales to Japan.
Lamina Purchasing Department at Meiken Lamwood Corporation. Meiken Lamwood is Japan’s largest manufacturer of glulam posts and beams.
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