Stora Enso has been chosen as the provider of wood material for a 14-storey wooden building in Joensuu, Finland. Once completed, the building, Light House Joensuu, will be the country’s tallest wooden high-rise building.

“New innovative solutions in massive wood make it possible to use wood in high-rise buildings and city centres. Massive wood elements made from a light but strong wood open the way for taller wooden high-rise buildings than ever before. Renewable wood is a responsible choice, as wooden buildings store carbon during its lifecycle,” says Jari Suominen, Executive Vice President of Stora Enso’s Wood Products division.

Stora Enso provides the solid wood products for the frame of the residential building, which will be almost 50 metres high. The main part of the massive wooden elements will be laminated veneer lumber (LVL) produced at Stora Enso’s mill in Varkaus, Finland. LVL will be used for wall structures, whereas the floors will be made from cross-laminated timber (CLT) produced in Austria.
“Light House Joensuu is an excellent example of how high-rising construction can be sustainable and quickly implemented. In addition, it combines our products and the best features of both LVL and CLT”, says Jari Suominen.

Light House Joensuu will have some 120 student apartments. The constructor of the house is student residence company Joensuun Opiskelija-asunnot Oy Joensuun Elli, and the main contractor is Construction Office Eero Reijonen. Construction work on the site began in early 2018, and is scheduled for completion in autumn 2019.