BauBuche - the sustainable high-performance material

Since the beginning of the 21st century, timber construction has been experiencing a Europe-wide renaissance, and we are witnessing new dimensions opening up in terms of timber structures. At present, timber construction is limited almost exclusively to softwoods. Although hardwoods offer much greater strength and stiffness, up to now the process of converting them into building materials has been too costly. August 2014 saw the launch of the first industrially manufactured construction material derived from hardwood - BauBuche, a laminated veneer lumber produced from European beech. This new material has an exceptionally high load-bearing capacity, and therefore permits more slender structural components and longer spans in timber construction. Compared with softwoods, BauBuche reduces material consumption considerably, while a comparison with steel shows that BauBuche has the potential to open up completely new applications for timber construction. BauBuche has national technical approval and conforms to the Eurocode 5 rules for the design of timber structures. The high strength and density, however, mean that special rules apply for certain individual aspects.