SAWA Rotterdam © Ossip
Scaling up timber construction
in social housing
Building homes in wood is one of the most impactful ways to take climate action and protect forests.
HOME for the future
HOME for the future is an ambitious initiative focused on scaling up timber construction in social housing. By promoting the use of sustainable, certified timber, the project helps reduce carbon emissions, protect biodiversity and support responsible forestry. As part of the EU LIFE programme, HOME for the future provides practical resources and education for professionals in the built environment, including a free online course on sustainable timber construction.
Creating timber homes means building a better future—for people and for forests.
Our goals for the social housing sector
Timber Construction in Transition: Where Do We Stand?
This event brings together housing providers, policymakers and industry experts to reflect on the current state of timber construction in social housing. We explore recent developments, practical experiences and the next steps needed to scale up circular, bio-based building as part of Europe’s climate-neutral future.
Forests & HOME for the future
Building homes with wood is a powerful step toward climate action and forest protection. By choosing FSC-certified timber, you add value to forests, encouraging restoration and sustainable management through certification.
Forests are vital for society, offering clean water, fertile soils, and carbon storage. In FSC-certified forests, these essential ecosystem services are carefully safeguarded, ensuring a sustainable future for both people and nature.
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![A stack of raw, labeled wooden planks in a warehouse, with workers wearing blue hats and shirts in the background.]()
Expand LCA data
We stimulate the use of timber in social housing by facilitating new and improved Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data for frequently used timber products in the construction sector. The data will be accessible through the national environmental databases in the Netherlands and Denmark.
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![A young fox standing in a grassy field with pink flowers and lush green bushes in the background.]()
Redefine value
We lobby for the integration of full sustainability aspects such as biodiversity, circularity and stored carbon in environmental impact calculations, in order to evaluatie the true impact of the use of building materials.
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![Group of people wearing yellow safety vests standing and listening in a modern kitchen and dining area.]()
Building with wood course
We developed a course for social housing corporations to increase their knowledge on building with timber. The course modules vary from fire safety, to acoustics, contracting, total cost of ownership (TCO) and more.
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![A group of people gathered outdoors, listening to a man speaking and holding a book or binder. The scene includes trees and a building in the background.]()
Capacity building
To close the knowledge gap on constructing with timber, we built a network of ambassadors in the social housing sector. It takes many different stakeholders to change the conventional ways of building. Join us!
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![Four people are sitting around a laptop in a meeting room, engaged in a discussion. The table has notebooks, papers, and a few disposable cups.]()
Educate future generations
Our free MOOC, developed with TU Delft and VIA University College makes high‑quality knowledge on timber construction accessible worldwide. With 5,000+ learners and growing, we’re preparing the next generation of project leaders to build with wood—responsibly and at scale.
Join us
HOME for the future is a consortium is FSC Netherlands and Denmark, Centrum Hout, Lister Buildings, TBI Woonlab, TU Delft and VIA University College. We are always looking to expand the list for collaborators in the social housing sector to take building with timber to the next level.
