It took 18 consecutive editions of Forum Bois (EBH) for the masonry walls of this battered city to fall and open to the wood which had made it rich in the Middle Ages.
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The German national situation is not very good and the statistics – never very precise due to regional fragmentation – count on a growth in the share of wood in a declining market. We already experienced this before and after Covid, this kind of regressive progression has not prevented Germany from building suddenly significantly less than wooden housing (14,000) than France (20,000). The problem being that the sector had relied too much on Fertighaus (high quality prefabrication) of individual houses.
The figures for 2025 confirm the trend, a record of “Holzbauquote” at 24.4% of housing authorizations but 15,000 in total. It would be necessary to add the other constructions, but to compare with France, how to do it? France counts non-residential in m2Germany in units and the renovation, no one really knows what it is made of.
Cologne, the dried-up Rhine is causing cruise ships to run aground, the German economic artery is seized up by the new climate. © Jonas Tophoven
Carbon
There wooden construction falls less than other types of constructionbut it is not because of environmental regulations like at RE2020. Although, the German market has become familiar with CO2 in its own way, via aid for projects that remain below 24 kg/m2 of eqCO2 built, but this aid is now interrupted. There remains class E for innovative works, a very good idea not often applied.
How to connect wooden posts and CLT floors with screws? Eurotec response. © Jonas Tophoven
Cologne and Brussels
Consequently, the Forum Bois de Cologne, version 2026closely resembles the previous ones, both in terms of attendance and the scope of the conferences. The catastrophic summer left no trace in the conferences or in the exhibition offerings. The European dimension, even Brussels and BENELUX, seems suspended for the moment. The efforts of the organizers are logically transferred to the 30th edition of the Grand Innsbruck Forum already complete. However, we are seeing an emerging interest in carbon calculation and even in biosourced materials, particularly raw earth. Hybrid construction, less present than in past years, is giving way to the demonstration of power of 3D wooden modular.
The high-tech of raw earth with WEM. © Jonas Tophoven
Modular
In recent years, in Forum EBH, and in Innsbruckthere was a lot of talk about 3D wooden constructions. In the wake of Kaufmann in Vorarlberg, who moved to Berlin, Timpla, by the Swiss Fertighaus specialist Renggli, also arrived, while Saint-Gobain took possession of Brüggemann with its two 3D module production sites and that other less impressive but close players like Derix created a dedicated hall for modules which particularly delight the Dutch market.
Professor Hermann Kaufmann emphasizes two needs, qualified labor, particularly for renovation, and the optimization of production processes. He doesn’t talk about the rain. © Jonas Tophoven
As is always the case with this market segment, you have to find volume on the one hand, and convince customers to do as little customization as possible. And we must mask their excessive regularity, by the facade and if possible by curves. Now it is also necessary to cover the cost of transporting the “empty” modules over very long distances, by truck, with the price of gasoline. However, it does not seem that the adage “think 3D, build 2D” wins. Modularity is found almost everywhere, in the serial renovations of facades, in the layouts which willingly combine the Elementbau (prefab 2D) with the Modulbau (especially for prefabricated bathrooms).
Technologies
There are several players in Germany who offer the prefabrication of window units with insulated sills and insulated wooden blind boxes. The German conceptual contribution is not very rich, it rather focuses on tools and chemical solutions that are always in advance. In terms of tools, the arrival of the guide for screwing long screws is obvious. THE Germans, world screw specialistsare now deploying increasingly impressive solutions, not only for mixed concrete floors on joists, but also as a wooden post junction between CLT floors.
The screwdriving guide, offered almost identically by several screw players, allows you to deploy the possibilities of screwdriving. © Jonas Tophoven
The Swiss, the Austrians and the South Tyroleans (Italian Upper Adige) bring their share of technology: humidity sensors from Sihga, but also from the German Pro Clima for other functions.
Mercato
Surprises like Knauf wood construction approach or Egger relate mainly to German production sites taken over as if to test them. Likewise, in the transfer window, Brüggemann, big name in wooden modulars, has left Saint-Gobain after a few years of rapprochement, while Fermacell leaves the former Australian asbestos group James Hardie, its pension funds pocketing a good capital gain in the resale to Holcim (doubling), where Fermacell will find Xella not as a subordinate but as a sister. A 12 mm plate which managed to get credit – 1.5 kg of CO eq2/m2 because of its infinite recycling (gypsum and cellulose). Good to know in France, where the decree of February 19, 2026 will come into force in June 2027 with all its often emissive encapsulation.
Streamers
The problem with heating integrated into systems is as follows: it is necessary be able to cool too, even in Germanybut it is not practical on the ground because of the risk of condensation. The walls and ceiling remain. WEM is one of those who propagate networks integrated into plates of raw earth, high technology as for France, earthen coating is already the end of the world. In fact, autonomous and wall-mounted cooling is not yet really thematic while heatwaves and low inertia of wooden construction invites it. However, this is exactly what France is expecting for the next International Wood Construction Forum in February 2027before the next overheating season.
The raw earth
In Switzerland, there was talk of testing the fire behavior of raw earth panels (with a little plaster) associated with wooden constructions but in the end, this did not happen. However, in Germany, Claytech has already fire tested a wall, a drop of water compared to the plaster’s HP. Elka has a process panel suitable for earth rendering. Fundermax followed suit with a pre-coated thin panel.
Another option is the unstabilized load-bearing wall, according to a German standard presented at Forum 2025 by specialist Heiner Lippe. Now, the first projects are being launched and their interest is obvious: supporting by protecting against fire and creating a protected inertia shutter, all in solutions with negative emissions. The zero carbon home is getting closer.
So far so close
Cologne, 3h15 by Eurostar to Paris, an increasingly abysmal language barrier (if not English), essentially identical concerns with a more industrial sensibility in Germany. Almost common places. L’Europe of wood and biosourced construction existswe meet it almost everywhere, at the Italian Klimahouse show, in the Wood Forums which extend from Spain to Scandinavia. But the single market is rigged. Six years that Lignotrend has been waiting for its French technical opinion for its ceiling, it’s truly scandalous. If it is necessary to do big bang standards, this is where we should start and not by unraveling RE2020 which is a source of French pride and allows us to stay in the industrial race.
Jonas Tophoven / © Jonas Tophoven
