ForestValue2 JC2023 - Smart condition assessment of Reclaimed Timber for eXtended service life of long-lived wood products

The built environment requires an immediate introduction of reuse strategies that address the resource waste and emissions problem. Urban mining and adaptive reuse are limited by a lack of quality assessment procedures that decrease the risk for the industry. Therefore, a re-certification process based on the reliable, replicable, and feasible condition assessment methodology of reclaimed/in-built timber is needed. The essential goals of the project are: Identifying the set of non-destructive tests (NDTs) that are most suitable for comprehensive and efficient condition assessment (i.e., density, stiffness, strength, fire resistance, defects, moisture content, fibre direction) in wood that is feasible for in-situ as well as laboratory setting Developing procedures for the data postprocessing from NDTs for the highest information value output and combined risk/reliability quantification with an extensive metadata template for data repositories Testing the developed methodology on a real case study for the adaptive reuse of a 5-story timber office building Establishing circularity quantification based on the real potential and Life-Cycle Assessment procedure for long-lived timber products, including risk quantification over multiple reuse and recycling/recovery – timber cascading. Developing documentation and a re-certification guideline for reclaimed timber as the basis for European standardisation

TiREX project answers to the Joint Call Forest Value 2, topic on 'Sustainable timber building systems'. Focus is put on enabling reuse and life extension of the timber structures by developing knowledge and tools for condition assessment of reclaimed timber. The main barrier to circular economy of timber industry addressed in TiReX is the organisation of timber strength grading and quality assessment of solid timber around the material raw production in the saw mill industry. TiREX is divided into 5 core work packages focused on laboratory testing (Spain), data processing (WUT), pilot project of adaptive reuse of timber (Norway), environmental analysis (Finland), and dissemination and communication (Latvia). Testing reclaimed timber from north, south and east Europe with non-destructive and destructive methods is the core TiREX activity and includes mechanical and thermal performance. Methods of data processing for replicability, accuracy, uniformity, future standardization, practicality and reliability of results in real settings will be developed and tested. Real timber building adaptive reuse project in Norway will provide field laboratory for verifying theoretical ideas and frameworks. Holistic environmental assessment methodology for circular wood industry will be theoretically developed and showcased on the pilot building. TiREX contributes to the call objectives of increased carbon sequestration, optimal carbon storage, circular use of wood, integration of cascading, as well as addresses circular and recycling wood principles, organisational structure and policies and regulation. TiReX project is focused on generating knowledge and procedures that offer huge potential for emission and waste reduction and thus require fast popularization and adoption within construction industry to be impactful. TiREX has strong transnational cooperation to prepare data sets that span wide range of parameters representative for Europe via sharing knowledge and laboratories.