Timber, BIM and certification. How sustainable construction became a core specialisation

Sustainable construction has stopped being a marketing slogan in Poland and become a criterion that decides competitions and investment financing. The portfolio of the Chmielewski + Partners practice shows how consistently a specialisation can be built around this theme — from certified office buildings to an entire housing estate built in timber technology.

Winna Góra as proof of direction

The clearest confirmation of this direction is the win in the competition for the concept of the 'Miasteczko Winna Góra' estate in Środa Śląska, settled in September 2021. It is one of the first developments in Poland on this scale — planned for more than a thousand flats — designed using prefabricated timber-frame technology. In this procedure, environmental credentials were not an add-on but part of the assessment: the organiser, Polskie Domy Drewniane, also vetted teams on prior projects that reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The winning concept envisaged 51 buildings with flats ranging from roughly 30 to 90 sq m.

Certification as hard proof, not a declaration

The second pillar of the specialisation is environmental certification. The practice has experience with the three leading systems — LEED, BREEAM and HQE — and, importantly, backs it up with specific buildings. An office building on Traugutta Street in Warsaw, where the practice worked as a multidisciplinary co-author, achieved BREEAM Excellent certification. A class-A office building at Jana Kazimierza 34/37 holds LEED Gold certification. In the public-use segment, confirmation of this direction comes from a school complex in Marki, recognised with a Polish Green Building Council award. These are three different systems and three different typologies — proof that the practice's environmental competence is not confined to a single niche.

BIM as a digital efficiency workshop

The technical foundation of this work is the BIM methodology. Building information modelling allows more precise planning of material use, coordination between disciplines, clash detection on screen before it happens on site, and control over the construction process. Combined with timber prefabrication, this forms a coherent system: the digital model translates directly into components manufactured off-site, which then arrive at the construction site ready for assembly.

What this means for the premium market

For the premium developer market, the conclusions are concrete and measurable. Environmental certification raises an asset's value and liquidity and makes it easier to finance in a segment where institutional investors increasingly look at ESG criteria. Prefabrication shortens the schedule, so capital is tied up for less time. Timber answers growing regulatory pressure around the carbon footprint of buildings and the requirements of the EU taxonomy. Chmielewski + Partners shows that these elements can be combined within a single design practice — from a certified office building, through a public-use facility, to a precedent-setting timber housing estate.