Swedish urban developer Atrium Ljungberg has unveiled plans to build a wooden city in Stockholm, which will stretch over 250,000m.2 (2.6 million square meters), making it the largest known timber construction project in the world.
Apart from a residential component of 2,000 homes, the mixed-use development will also have 7,000 office spaces in Sickla, which is located in the south of Stockholm. Titled “Stockholm Wood City,” construction on the project will begin in 2025, with the first buildings expected to be completed by 2027.
Modern wooden construction is a hot topic globally, but the projects completed so far are usually single buildings or blocks. Among others, the new European Bauhaus of recent years has driven the rise of wood construction, but old conventions and beliefs have held back this development. As shown by several research studies, wooden buildings have many advantages such as providing better air quality, reducing stress, increasing productivity and storing CO2 throughout their life cycle.
In addition to the advantages of wood, the project brings other environmental benefits. The emphasis on office space is a way to meet the job deficit south of Stockholm city centre, to further shorten commuting times for more people. In a country where energy supply and efficiency is high on the national agenda, the project will focus on self-produced, stored and shared energy. By investing in resource-efficient construction methods and circular material flows, the developer wants to bring innovation to the fore.
“We are proud to present Stockholm Wood City. This is not only an important step for us as a company, but a historic milestone for Swedish innovation capacity.” says Annica Ånäs, CEO of Atrium Ljungberg. “Stockholm Wood City manifests our future. On the part of tenants, there is a strong demand for innovative and sustainable solutions, a demand that we satisfy with this initiative.”
