First wooden high-rise in Switzerland: In 2016, the country's first wooden multi-story building was built in Rotkreuz/CH. The 36-m-high building was awarded the Swiss timber construction prize Prix Lignum, among others © Markus Bertschi
"The beginning was horrible in every way. We completely underestimated the whole issue, both in production and in marketing," managing director Ralf Pollmeier says at the start of the Holzkurier interview. "We didn’t expect the market to react so sluggishly to a newly launched product, nor that the processing of beech wood into a timber construction product would be so challenging. In retrospect, however, our perseverance paid off," the entrepreneur adds.
This was ten years ago and is now a thing of the past. BauBuche has found its place on the market and will see strong growth in the future as well, as Pollmeier predicts. The advantages are clear: In terms of performance, appearance and the possibility to have slim structures, BauBuche is clearly superior to spruce and a number of other types of wood. In combination with the high availability in the forests of Central Europe, beech is therefore an excellent choice for use in timber constructions from many points of view.
All of these arguments in favor of the hardwood are often needed to justify the higher price and complex processing of BauBuche. "Many processing companies still think that BauBuche can be handled in the same way as an ordinary glulam beam made of spruce wood. However, for special products you also need special tools. Then, you don’t have any problems," Patrik Rodlberger, managing director of Pollmeier’s laminated veneer lumber plant, says when asked about the demanding processing of the beech LVL. Pollmeier aptly draws an analogy between this topic and the frequent comparison of construction and stainless steel: "BauBuche is a high-performance material that opens up new applications in timber construction. It isn’t suitable for every standard application because that’s not the goal to begin with."
With BauBuche, we launched a high-performance material on the market ten years ago which sets new standards both in performance and from an aesthetic point of view.
© Pollmeier
Alternative to conventional mass timber
Local raw materials: When building the new forestry administration building in Thuringia, local hardwoods were used. In addition to the load-bearing structure and the wood-concrete composite ceilings, the entire furnishing was built in BauBuche as well © Thomas Eiken
"Originally, we thought that solid wood was a discontinued model and that this market would completely break away from us in the future. At that time, we also had to temporarily shut down the sawmill in Malchow/DE. BauBuche was therefore also to become a product for a type of wood that no one really wanted apart from firewood at the time. In retrospect, we were fortunately wrong, but BauBuche has remained," explains Pollmeier and continues: "In the beginning, we only had the use as a carrier in mind. We hadn't even thought of slender and solid columns for timber high-rise construction. Today, among other things, our great success lies in this application."
In fact, using it as a support in particular has immense advantages. Compared to conventional solutions made of spruce wood, up to 60% of cross-sectional area can be saved and thus a lot of valuable space can be gained. "A lot of money can be made with everym2 of additional net floor area. The higher price of BauBuche is put into perspective very quickly. This is especially true for properties in prime locations, where our products are often used," says Rodlberger, underlining the advantages of BauBuche's comparatively slim component dimensions.
"Nothing was designed for hardwood"
"In the beginning, we bought a veneer line that was designed for softwood. In order to be able to process hardwood, we had to make a number of adjustments and adaptations in addition to learning many things the hard way and building up know-how. There are major barriers which make the market entry in this segment particularly difficult, as hardly anyone has industrial expertise in this field," Pollmeier says. "Even though we have the process well under control today, we still face new challenges on a regular basis that we need to find a solution to," Rodlberger adds.
A colorful range of new possibilities
Another award winner: This multiple award-winning production hall in Probstzella/DE impresses with its particularly delicate load-bearing structure © Michael Christian Peters
BauBuche is becoming increasingly popular among architects and structural engineers. It combines high-strength properties (maximum strength class GL75) with an attractive appearance and the possibility to build slim structures with particularly large spans. In the future, it will also be possible to use columns with cross-sections of up to 900 x 900 mm. This will move beech timber construction into even higher spheres without the need for block gluing.
"In recent years, we have done little marketing for capacity reasons. If we were to start banging the drum for BauBuche today, we could certainly increase sales further. We are sure that if the trend towards timber construction continues, and it looks like it will, we will continue to be successful with columns and beams made of BauBuche in the coming decades," Pollmeier says confidently.
The successful entrepreneur has every reason to be confident, as his company has created a product that is suitable for industrial production and makes it possible to substitute steel in building construction. BauBuche can therefore rightly be described as a high-performance wood-based material. It is without doubt an impressive pioneering achievement in the field of structural hardwood use. In order to be able to master the challenges of the future, many more pioneering solutions will be needed. BauBuche has been a reality for years and has been used in many successfully completed projects, most of which also deserve the title of architectural masterpiece.
