Engineered Woods for Sustainable Use of Local Resources

Wood is a versatile building material that has been used in construction processes for centuries. Nowadays, its natural features, such as renewability, allow it to be used as a substitute for more common materials like reinforced concrete. Furthermore, it can counteract the climate crisis due to its natural storage of CO2. Its use as a climate-friendly building material that can improve the performance of structures and the comfort of end-users must be achieved by proper forest management. Using wood and its derived engineered products, like glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT), could be a valid way to support the “short” forest-wood supply chain. Italy, like other countries, is improving its knowledge about the mechanical and technological characteristics of some local wood species to be used to produce glulam elements. The use of local timber types indulges in renewability, sustainability, and bio-economy, improving the life cycle of the industrial ecosystem with long-term actions. Unfortunately, the regulatory apparatus in force has not yet adequately accepted rapid technological developments. The standards must be updated to avoid the “short” forest-wood supply chain losing all the connected benefits. The paper focuses on an analysis of the most common standards in force today (with a focus on European standards) for the use of CLT in the structural field. The analysis shows the need to investigate the properties of the CLT panels further, focusing on the influence of the wooden species to favor the use of local timber.