Timber construction in Austria is going from strength to strength: Around a quarter of the floor space in Austria’s residential and non-residential buildings is now being built with timber, with 53% of it in the residential sector. “The demand for sustainably built homes in the cities of tomorrow can be met successfully with the help of wood. The construction material can be removed and reused in line with circular economy principles. Every year 30 million cubic metres of timber are grown in Austria and 90% of this is used and recycled. That’s the equivalent of 2,000 single-family homes per day. This means that a second forest of buildings is created, which also serves to bind CO2”, said PORR CEO Karl-Heinz Strauss. “However, since not many large-scale construction projects have been implemented yet, there is a lack of experience in many areas as well as a lack of the product approvals and certifications that are needed”.
LeopoldQuartier as trailblazer
Here, LeopoldQuartier on the Danube Canal in Vienna is leading the way. UBM is developing Europe’s first timber-framed city neighbourhood on an area of almost three hectares. “By choosing LeopoldQuartier, people are proactively responding to climate change”, said Peter Schaller, CEO of UBM Development AG.
The support structure from the first floor to the ninth and top floor of the 22,000m2 office building is being built in a timber hybrid construction as a skeleton structure consisting of timber elements and prefabricated parts made of reinforced concrete. In total, around 2,800m3 of timber will be used in the office building, consisting of glulam columns, cross-laminated timber walls and wood-concrete composite ceilings. The CO2-reduction compared to a reinforced concrete version is 2,700 t. The office project will be completed by the end of October 2025.
With its 253 apartments and timber support structure, LeopoldQuartier Living is the largest residential construction project in Austria to be built entirely of wood. Prefabricated elements made from 3,800m3 of timber are being used. Included here are 20,000m2 of cross-laminated timber ceilings and walls, 7,000m2 of timber-frame exterior walls and 204 prefabricated bathroom units, which will all facilitate the rapid completion of the construction work in the shell construction phase. The three residential buildings are scheduled for completion at the beginning of 2026.
Sustainable concept
The energy concept is sustainable as well: The entire LeopoldQuartier project is powered by means of 200 geothermal probes and three wells, also installed by PORR, as well as photovoltaics and heating/cooling panels in the offices. DGNB Gold certification is planned for LeopoldQuartier OFFICE.
UBM is on course to become the largest developer of timber-hybrid buildings in Europe. The EUR 1.9 billion project pipeline continues to receive investments, with the projects steadily advancing all the time. The majority of the buildings (over 90%) are located in Germany and Austria, of which 59% are residential and 41% are light industrial & office. Noteworthy projects include the Timber Factory in Munich as well as Timber Peak and Timber View in Mainz.
Realising the full construction potential of wood
As a pioneer in timber and timber hybrid construction, PORR is currently realising eight large-scale projects in Austria. In Viennese home construction these include LeopoldQuartier, “Vis à Vis” in Village im Dritten as well as “BRIO”; plus the European Patent Office in the office construction sector and the Elisabethinen Hospital in Graz in the medical segment.
In its role as general contractor, LeopoldQuartier gives PORR the opportunity to realise an office and residential construction project on a scale rarely seen before in Austria. Flagship projects like this test the limits of current standards, certification and empirical values. The experience gained from successfully executing multi-storey timber construction projects will also help to further develop timber construction and its mass production methods, thereby exploiting the massive potential of wood in large-scale construction projects.
Facts and figures:
Project type: | Building construction – timber-hybrid office and timber-hybrid residential construction |
Scope of services: | General contractor services, geothermal energy, structural engineering, timber construction engineering, LEAN and sustainability certification |
Client: | UBM Development |
Contractor: | PORR Bau GmbH and pde Integrale Planung |
Project duration: | Start of 2024 to February 2027 (general contractor services) |