The CLT panels: a sustainable response for existing buildings

The Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is a good response to the need to improve the existing structural assets. It is an innovative building material that is part of the family of "engineered woods" and can be used both for local reinforcement and for an improvement of the overall response of existing structures. Its use can be a flywheel for the rebirth of the "short" forest-wood supply chain. Several countries are pushing in this direction like Italy that is deepening the knowledge of the technological and mechanical characteristics of some local species potentially usable as chestnut wood. This approach also responds to the issue of sustainability, affecting the life cycle of the industrial ecosystem with long-term actions. The rapid technological development has not been followed by the regulatory update that is firm to glulam. This lack could stop the "short" forest-wood supply chain and even more the use of the CLT itself losing all the benefits that would bring in several areas.