Many of the resources required by industry are only available in limited amounts on Earth. From the point of view of the scarcity of resources, a change in the use of building materials based on renewable resources must also take place in the construction of new buildings. A modern building material that is being used more and more frequently in this context is glued laminated timber. This is made of several layers of wood, creating a particularly stable base. Furthermore, glued laminated timber has a low CO2 footprint compared to other building materials.

In order to achieve the desired stability, wooden boards are individually dried during the manufacture of this building material and knots and imperfections are cut off. The individual boards are then glued together parallel to the fibers. This creates an elongated beam, similar to a solid wooden beam. The big advantage compared to solid wood is the higher load-bearing capacity, since there are no longer any defects in the wood and the gluing results in a homogeneous cross-section. The flexible shape and length in which glued laminated timber can be produced enables a wide range of applications. By means of a finger joint, the individual sections can be assembled lengthwise to form very long slats. In this way, large girder lengths can be realized, which enable a column-free span of up to 60 meters, which is important for roof girders, for example. For this reason, glued laminated timber is mainly used in load-bearing elements such as ceilings, walls and roof trusses.

The use of this building material also makes sense in relation to industrial and logistics real estate. The new Edeka logistics center in Marktredwitz shows how it can work. With a construction volume of over 300 million euros, it has been under construction since August 2021 and is scheduled for completion in November 2023. The buildings will cover an area of ​​more than 100,000 square meters, which will make the logistics center the world's largest laminated timber project after completion. From there, all 1,000 Edeka stores in northern Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia will be supplied from 2025. The number of picked items doubles compared to the previous location, while the number of jobs increases from 450 to 600.

At BUILDINX, the first business platform covering the entire value chain of innovative logistics and industrial real estate, you can find out more about the use of sustainable building materials in your logistics real estate. With us you will find the right contact person when it comes to the planning and execution of your construction project. Cooperation and networking are our top priority.

Autor: Verena Zieringer