Samenvatting

Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT) is an environmentally friendly construction ma-terial which is suitable to replace concrete and steel in mid- and high-rise build-ings. The global usage of CLT is expected to grow annually by 12.6% until 2027. Due to a housing shortage as well as the tightening environmental regulations an increased use of CLT seems likely in The Netherlands. Here we expect the number of wooden residential buildings to rise by around 20% every year until 2030. This could require an annual production of 250.000m3 to 500.000m3 of timber.

We conclude that it is feasible to add The Netherlands to the list of CLT pro-ducing countries. Setting up a factory including land and the building can cost anywhere from 14 to 40 million euros. On an annual basis such factory can pro-duce between 20.000m3 and 100.000m3 of CLT for 400 to 2.000 apartments. To guarantee international price competitiveness a production capacity of at least 50.000m3 seems to be needed, while a larger highly automated facility of nearly 100.000m3 would better suit the Dutch context.

Because of the limited availability only a part of the required timber for a fac-tory can realistically be of Dutch origin. Creating new Dutch production forests is not economically viable as the forest industry in the Netherlands is already barely profitable and the acquisition of land too expensive or time consuming. It could be beneficial to locate a factory in the vicinity of a Dutch production forest, how-ever a logistically strategic position for importing timber seems more important.