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LVM Zemgale Region Customer Centre Building is Recognized as the Most Sustainable Project in Latvia in 2021

Evaluating buildings, the design of which includes features of sustainability, JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) newly opened Zemgale Region Customer Centre ranked first in the competition of ten buildings in the nomination “Most Sustainable Project in Latvia 2021” in the “Sustainability in Architecture, Construction, Design 2021” contest.

Wooden materials are widely used in the construction of LVM Zemgale Region Customer Centre, combining modern, comfortable design and proving the advantages of wood as an innovative and environmentally friendly building material.

“The design of LVM Zemgale Region Customer Centre building includes a number of well-thought-out solutions that create a sustainable building: the building frame is mainly made of wooden structures, wood is widely used for interior and exterior façade decoration, natural materials such as wood fibre wool are used for building insulation, roof solar panels have been installed, LED type luminaries have been used for lighting, which significantly reduces energy consumption,” says Uģis Perševics, LVM Construction Manager.  

The timber used in the implementation of the project is made of approximately 1200 m3 of round wood materials. This amount of wood grows in Latvian forests in about 25 minutes. One cubic metre of growing wood absorbs 1000 kg of CO2 and produces 727 kg of oxygen.

The competition “Sustainability in Architecture, Construction, Design”, which took place for the ninth time this year, is a competition dedicated to sustainable construction, architecture and design. It is organized by the association “Building Design and Construction Council” in cooperation with the Ministry of Economics and the State Construction Control Bureau.

Wood – a building material with a wide range of options

Worldwide, the construction sector is responsible for 35% of greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, wood is becoming increasingly important in construction as a renewable and all-natural raw material.

Technological development once brought a lot of concrete and steel into construction, thus wood, starting from the middle of the last century, has had to compete with the new materials in large-scale construction. Wood, used as a building material, is now experiencing its renaissance in many parts of the world, and more and more countries are seeking to build high-rise buildings and large, voluminous buildings and building complexes from wood.

According to experts, wood as a material used in the construction and design has an extremely wide range of options of use – from thorough and stable structures to beautiful and subtle design solutions. As compared to steel or concrete, wood can better withstand its own weight, which allows you to create larger spaces and at the same time use less support in the design of the building. It is estimated that wood has 15 times better thermal insulation than concrete, but a 2.5 cm thick wooden board has better heat resistance than an 11.4 cm thick brick wall. Wood is a living, natural and environmentally friendly material.

Since its foundation in 1999, JSC “Latvia's State Forests” through implementing sustainable forest management has paid more than one billion euros to State and local government budgets. LVM's economic activities are carried out by maintaining and recovering forests, taking care of nature conservation, recreation opportunities and increasing timber volumes, as well as investing in expanding the forestland and developing forest infrastructure – renovation of drainage systems and forest road construction. The volume of timber in the forests managed by LVM increases by 12 million cubic metres annually.