LAB Wood pilots data transfer solutions for timber construction with local companies

As part of the EUwood Network project, LAB University of Applied Sciences has launched data transfer pilot projects in cooperation with companies operating in the Lahti region, focusing on wood product production chains, timber construction and building information modelling (BIM). By defining and documenting good practices for information exchange and streamlining related processes, collaboration between stakeholders can be improved, clarity in data delivery and communication increased, and design errors reduced.

As part of the project, the following pilot projects have been launched:

1. UPM Plywood Oy, Sweco Finland Oy and LAB are examining the utilisation of machine‑readable construction product data in structural design. The aim is to investigate whether integrating product data can improve the way structural designers define requirements.

2. Vertex Solutions Oy, Parmaco Oy and LAB are exploring IFC‑based data transfer between the architect and the element designer using the Vertex BD software. The objective is to enhance the prefabrication and element design of timber structures based on an IFC reference model by defining an efficient data transfer approach.

3. VVR Wood Oy and LAB are examining the transfer of architectural models to structural and prefabricated component design by utilising IFC‑compliant building element models. The use case aims to address challenges related to the use of IFC‑based models and to improve their usability as input data for element design, among others when using the ArchiFrame tool.

The key objective of the pilots is to solve data transfer challenges related to model‑based timber construction identified by the participating companies and to generate insights into good practices associated with the selected use cases. The pilots focus on the prevailing BIM‑based working method in which model‑based information is exchanged using the open IFC standard.