Timber and CLT in premium construction — why developers are returning to timber
For decades, timber in multi-family and office construction in Poland functioned as a finishing material, not a structural one. That is changing. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has returned to the game as a load-bearing element, and construction has started on Poland's first timber office building. For premium developers this is not an ecological gesture, but an answer to three pressures at once: the carbon footprint, the taxonomy and tenant expectations.
What CLT is and where its concrete-comparable load capacity comes from
CLT is a multi-layer panel made of boards stacked crosswise — each successive layer rotated by 90 degrees and bonded. The cross-grain arrangement takes up stresses in both directions, giving stiffness and load-bearing capacity close to reinforced concrete structures at a low weight. The panels are prefabricated and cut to the design, which shifts a large part of the work from the building site to the factory: assembly is faster and quieter and generates less waste. A market caveat: Poland still lacks large production plants — most of the material is imported from Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, which affects cost and schedule.
Legal and fire-safety limits in Poland
This is where the main brake lies. The Technical Conditions (building regulations) divide buildings into low-rise (up to 12 m / 4 storeys), medium-high, high and high-rise. In practice, fully timber buildings can be built in Poland up to around 12 m — in the low-rise class. The material itself is not defenceless against fire: during a fire the outer layers of timber char and form a protective layer that slows the burn, and the structural engineer designs the cross-section "for charring". The problem lies in classification and non-combustible (NRO) requirements, not in the physics of the material. The draft amendment to the Technical Conditions signals the removal of some barriers — but only for selected building classes (scope and timing to be confirmed).
Completed projects as a trend signal, not promotion
UBM Development is building Timber Park in Warsaw's Poleczki Business Park — the first timber office building in Poland, designed in line with the EU taxonomy and for LEED Platinum certification; construction starts in 2025. In Europe the scale is larger: UBM is completing Timber Peak in Mainz (12 storeys), while records are being set by hybrid structures — Ascent in Milwaukee (25 storeys) and Vienna's HoHo Wien (24 storeys). The common denominator is technical: above a dozen or so storeys, timber is combined with concrete cores and steel frames — hence the dominance of hybrid solutions.
The carbon footprint — the real argument
The strongest reason for the return to timber is environmental and financial. Concrete has a heavy carbon footprint, and steel accounts for around 7% of global emissions. Timber stores the carbon captured as the tree grows and reduces the fossil energy needed to build. The designers of Ascent estimate an offset of around 7,200 tonnes of CO₂ (a designer's estimate, not an independent audit).
What it means
For a premium developer, timber is today a realistic but narrowly defined option: it works excellently up to 12 m and in hybrid structures. Three questions before deciding: whether the height class fits within the regulations, where the material will come from and on what timeline, and whether a lower carbon footprint genuinely opens the door to green financing. If the answers are positive, timber becomes an advantage you can cost on the spreadsheet.
An editorial piece by Method Press based on public industry sources, market data and legal acts. Current as at the date of publication — data, regulations and deadlines may change.