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The project aims to develop new models of prefabricated ultra-lightweight panels consisting of a combination of solid wood products, wood-based products and the use of thermal and acoustic insulation. The application of a tongue and groove system to assemble panels to each other and solid pieces of traditional heavy wooden framework, emulating a semi-heavy framework, will allow the development of a new innovative construction system aimed at modular construction, quick assembly and with enormous versatility and adaptation to different designs and types of construction.

Just started

The structural characterisation of the panels will be carried out by means of mechanical laboratory tests, as well as thermal, acoustic and watertightness characterisation by analytical means.

The aim of the project is to develop a construction system known as High Efficiency Light Panel (HELP). Consists of a set of innovative solutions based on a mixture of lightweight timber framing and cross laminated timber (CLT), for the manufacture of "Zero Emission" walls, slabs and roofs.

There is an improvement of the structural capacity of the construction system that allows more height (3-4 floors) than with the traditional lightweight building. The positioning of a three-layer or CLT board on the inside of the walls acts directly as a vapour barrier, saving the cost of installation.

The new building solutions are based on wooden or wood-base panels which will be subjected to tests, analytical calculations and numerical approximations for their structural, thermal, acoustic, watertight and fire resistance characterization. In addition, its environmental characterization (CO2, reutilization) will be carried out.
A solution with the new construction system has been defined for use in slabs, walls and roofs. Spreadsheets have been developed to obtain thermal transmissivity, surface and interstitial condensations, sound absorption and structural capacity.

The proposal proposes to methodology for the evaluation of the economic and financial sustainability of the poplar plantations, incorporating to the most usual analysis of profitability, by means of the calculation of the IRR and NPV indicators, the perspective of annual revenue for the forest owners. The methodology seeks to lay down the principles of the economic aspects to bear in mind, overcoming the approach of the calculation based only on the costs and income for hectare and it was not possible to compare with other crops.

In progress

The analysis with this new perspective allows to evaluate the rentability of the activity and to compare it with those of other agrarian crops which can occupy the same surfaces. In addition, they have stable subsidies that increase their competitiveness in the agro-forestry areas. The proposal establishes for the first time the term "forest income" for consideration to the "agrarian income", with which shares many assailable aspects. The comparative one between the calculation of both incomes can be of great usefulness for the invest decisions on the part of the owners, managers and responsible administrations.

Scots pine wood from the Region of Pinares (a region located between the provinces of Soria and Burgos) enjoyed great prestige in the Spanish market, despite the fact that it lacked a common standardised basis among the companies in the sector that would allow  to launch a regulated product on the market that would facilitate its commercialisation.
There was also a mismatch between the quality of the product and the quality of the service offered to the buyer by the industry.
In this context, the first guarantee mark was created in the wood sector, the Guarantee Mark Pino Soria Burgos.

The main lesson learned is that the wood sector requires common marketing standards that make it easier for users to buy their products, eliminating confusion and insecurities that lead to a rejection of the use of wood. They also allow generating a mercantile reference to compete with the rest of products, whether made of wood or other materials such as concrete, steel, pvc…
It also allows for closer ties between the business and technology sectors, which guarantees continuous improvement of the business sector through both training and innovation.

This guarantee mark is based on three basic pillars: Guarantee of origin, sustainability (all forests and their processors are certified under the PEFC system) and quality (common marketing bases are established).
More than 48 municipalities and the Community of the 150 villages of the Land of Soria, and a total of 15 companies of first transformation of the wood, have joined.
On the other hand, we have managed to join a sector that until the creation of the Guarantee Brand was completely dispersed. In addition, its close relationship with Cesefor (forestry and wood technological centre) has enabled it to carry out extensive certification of its products (CE marking, PEFC, carbon footprint), training courses (cost control, structural calculation, wood treatment, etc.), and innovation projects (structural characterisation, development of new building systems, etc.). Currently, the companies of the Guarantee Mark are references in the Spanish wood sector and in the construction sector.

1. Forest modeling and management diagrams 2. Development of tools to improve the quality of wood 2.1. Use of acoustic techniques for the valorization of wood 2.2. Establishment of quality standards 3. Update of volume equations (model trees) by laser 4. Incorporation of aerial laser in the valuation of forest use 5. Improvement and standardization of the techniques of signaling and characterization of the uses In progress (Expected results) The general objectives of this project are: - To analyze the factors that determine the quality of standing timber. -To obtain practical management standards that allow forest managers to manage their forest based on forest quality. - To create standardization tools validated by the industry in terms of performance and final product quality.

Public administrations directly manage a road network on forest land that in many cases is longer than the general road network itself.
Wood transport is a key factor in the value chain of wood mobilization.
There is therefore a need for reliable knowledge of this network, so that resources can be optimised and rationalised in terms of maintenance and improvement, that is to say, the rationalisation of the processes of inventory, planning, programming and control of the work on these tracks must be emphasised.

The lack of digital cartography with sufficient quality in rural areas is a constant in most territories. Together with a certain delay in the application of technologies in the sectors that operate in this area, they make these areas a priority objective on which to concentrate this type of effort.
This cartography allows to plan more effectively the operations related to the harvesting and transport of wood, from the forest to the industry.

Since 2009, Cesefor has directed and developed the project co-financed by the Regional Government of Castilla y León and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Within the framework of this project, more than 50,000 km of rural roads have been inventoried and more than 33,000 equipments have been collected, forming a continuous network connected to the road network with extensive qualitative information on forest areas.
The information has been collected by GPS, attaching the necessary qualitative information in each case.
Specific cartography has been distributed to environmental agents, fire extinguishing media dependent on the Junta de Castilla y León and the digital information is available at the Junta de Castilla y León.
A specific navigator has also been developed for rural roads, since due to the special characteristics of this network it is necessary to know the existing restrictions, either by type of vehicle or state of the tracks.

The eMonte Operational Group, made up of the Madeira Cluster and the Design of Galicia (CMD), the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), E-Monte Forestry Solutions S.R.L. and Manuel Graña, was created in order to allow all the agents involved in the Galician forestry sector to carry out the tasks in a simpler way, from the application of ICT. The GO project works around www.eMonte.es, a new online portal that facilitates the purchase and sale of lots of wood between forest owners / communities of mountains and end companies.

This project started to work on August 2017 and since then, more than 150 wood batches have been purchased through its website. Besides, the success of this project (and the App) has allowed to create three more tools to help all the actors of the wood value chain: a web portal to sell forest properties, a tool to estimate the volume of wood of a forest and another tool to group small owners and helping them to sell their wood together

E-MONTE is the first Galician platform that facilitates the purchase / sale of stand trees. Its role is to unite forest owners and end companies. E-MONTE offers the owners a showcase in which to sell their wood. Once a batch has been published, the owner ensures good visibility, saves unnecessary travel and maximizes the results of the sale. With E-MONTE the paddling companies know all the available wood batches. Through the platform, they can access the characteristics of each batch before moving. Once they decide to enter a lot, they can do so without having to be accompanied by the owner through the E-MONTE APP. This allows them to save on personnel costs and travel expenses.

The forestry activity in Castilla y León is one of the most important in the forest Spanish context in terms of size and balance between the different agents and aspects of the value chain, in terms of productive area, production and productive potential, and variety and type of products. The globalization and duration of the economic crisis, affected the decrease of resources, this raised business difficulties and changes in the current management model. The programme was proposed as an instrument to stimulate economic activity and the development of the forest management.

In progress

The first objective is to increase the value of sustainable production, the productivity of the forests and the sector in the region. This would improve the main economic and employment parameters linked to the regional forestry sector. The programme development has allowed increasing the market of wood in Castilla y León.

FAFCYLE is a regional union of associations from nine provinces in the region of Castilla y León. It was founded in 1992 and nowadays is supported by 6.000 members who own more than 500.000 hectares. The main objectives include among others the representation of the landowners in regional, national and European governments and institutions and the assessment in the management of members-owned forests. Since 2006 Fafcyle has been mobilizing the forest resources of the region by organized collective auctions for owners of poplars. They are offered an advisory service, valuation and sale. The auctions are public with the presence of a notary with conditions and contracts signed between all the parties.

Average increase: 26,16%
Adjudication average price: 58,37 €/m3
In conclusion, we can confirm the recovery of the poplar market and the increase in interest by our associates and the industry for the Poplar Wood Auction.
FAFCYLE and its member associations, are firmly committed to continue this work: it is important to jointly manage the uses to get on the one hand a good offer interesting for the industry and on the other, obtain for the owner a fairer price of the product with guarantees in the sales and use processes.

This system offers to the owners advantages like: transparency in prices and improving themselves, technical counseling, guarantees on sale, security in the payment and execution of the felling.
The process is done in three steps:
1. Stand volume and valuation: tree inventory, volume calculation, stand volume rates, calculation of market price by diametric class and finally valuation document for the owner.
2. Before the auction:  FAFCYLE and the owner sign a contract to enter to the join auction. After this, the announcement of the auction is made in provincial bulletins, mails to the lumberjacks; and visits to the woodlot with the interested forest industries.
3. We do a public act auction before notary. Where woodlots are adjudicated, FAFCYLE, the owner and the purchaser sign a sale contract.
Between 2006 and 2017 a total of 145,188.81 m3 have been adjudicated in 200 lots valued in 7,326,991.56 €
Year 2017: 33 lots with a total of 20.900 m3 of wood valued in 1.457.537€ ( 69,7 euros/m3)

Structural sawn timber intended for construction must offer similar guarantees to those offered by other materials and products intended for the structural construction sector. For this purpose, it is necessary to develop classification tools that allow manufacturers and marketers to certify the strength and stiffness values of all the wood that is placed on the market (adjusted to the species and origin that corresponds).
It is, in addition to being a legal obligation, a tool for the valuation of wood that is enabling a competitive improvement of its industrial network.

Technological development of structural sawn timber not only enables it to be directly promoted in the construction sector as a construction element, but also to be incorporated into the manufacture of technological products with high added value, such as glued laminated timber, duos, trios, CLT, prefabricated panels... These are high value-added products that require high levels of competitiveness that cannot be achieved without their main raw material, structural sawn timber, increasing its competitiveness, optimising its manufacturing times and its declared mechanical properties

Visual classification tools have been developed for the main commercial wood species found in Spanish forest stands, such as Pinus sylvestris, Pinus insigne, Pinus nigra, Pinus pinaster, Abies alba, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Quercus rubra, Castanea sativa and Eucalyptus globulus. Tools that in many cases enable the possibility of classifying structural sawn timber into three structural qualities, which allows the different qualities of wood that the timber industry places on the construction market to be classified and valued.
Mechanical classification systems are currently being developed for the main species of the Pinus genus. This is one more step in the competitive improvement of this type of wood, as it improves the classification times and the classifying performance in the different mechanical qualities.
Both developments have enhanced the value of the wood of the different wood species characterized, and have promoted its use in construction.