The approval of the MC and Luisa Avanzo clones by the Spanish and European standardization bodies is the result of the work of the partners and associates of the European LIFE Wood for Future project led by the University of Granada.

This historic milestone will give a boost to the use of poplar as a material in sustainable industrialized construction.

This represents the achievement of one of the most important objectives of the LIFE Wood for Future project.

Granada, August 22, 2024

The Spanish Association for Standardization (UNE) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) have recently approved the inclusion of poplar clones MC and Luisa Avanzo of Spanish origin in the list of sawn timber suitable for structural use in buildings. This recognition, a historic milestone for the poplar sector, means that architects and developers can now use this wood with full guarantees of efficiency and safety without the need for additional laboratory tests, and that industrial glulam and cross-laminated timber products made from these clones can be certified with CE marking.

This recognition is the result of a long and complex process in which the European project LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el futuro, led by the University of Granada (UGR), has played a key role, through its partners and associates: the Andalusian Wood Research Unit of the UGR (UIMA), the Poplar Producers Group of Granada Marjal, the Confederation of Organizations of Foresters of Spain (COSE), the Structural Wood Engineering Platform (Pemade) of the University of Santiago de Compostela, the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (Ifapa) of the Andalusian Government in Granada and the research group Construction with Wood of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM).

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aniel F. Llana, a member of the UPM’s Construction with Wood research group, led by Professor Francisco Arriaga, explained that to achieve the standardization of Spanish poplar wood of these species, representative samples were taken and boards were obtained from the six most important producing areas in Spain, two in the Ebro basin, two in the Duero basin and two in the Guadalquivir basin in Granada, one of them from the Luisa Avanzo clone, exclusive to this area of Andalusia.

The tasks of wood acquisition, cutting, transport, sawing and drying in the six locations throughout Spain were directed by Dr. Francisco Rescalvo, of the UIMA-UGR, with the collaboration of the Riojan company Bosques y Ríos, Marjal and local sawmills in each area.

The mechanical tests of these boards were carried out by Yaiza Fuentes-García, a doctoral student at UIMA-UGR, at the Pemade facilities in Lugo, under the direction of Professor Manuel Guaita, director of the research group, and with the collaboration of the staff of this laboratory of the University of Santiago.

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uentes-García, who is working on his doctoral thesis on this subject, explained that the recognition of these poplar clones by the Spanish and European standardization bodies will boost the use of this type of wood in construction, since architects will not need to demonstrate the material’s qualities – tensile strength, stiffness and density – as long as the wood meets the specifications assigned for this species. In this way, professionals could avoid conducting laboratory audits, thus saving time and money.

“The idea is to give poplar added value as a technical wood in the form of glulam or cross-laminated timber,” said Fuentes-García, who has a degree in building engineering and specializes in architectural rehabilitation and acoustic engineering.

UGR professor Antolino Gallego, coordinator of LIFE Wood for Future, said that this recognition “allows the poplar sector to enter high-growth markets such as industrialized construction with a low carbon footprint and high energy efficiency”.

“We already have the ‘Spanish structural wood’ seal and any architect will be able to demonstrate to their clients that poplar is officially a safe wood for their buildings. Now what is missing is to have an industry that transforms the wood into structural products. We are working on it,” he recalled, referring to the creation of the IberoLam Timber&Technology spinoff, the germ of the first structural wood industry in southern Spain.

“The people of Granada, along with our partners and associates of the LIFE project, should be proud to have caused this recognition not only in Andalusia but in the whole state,” he stressed.

Alberto de la Torre, architect and secretary of the Association of Producers Marjal Chopo, has been convinced that, given the growing demand for wood construction in recent years, this standardization “will produce an increase in the prescription of poplar structural wood use in buildings by a greater number of architects”.

De la Torre is confident that the standardization of MC and Luisa Avanzo will promote the development of this crop rooted in the province of Granada, which captures CO2 from the atmosphere, creates islands of biodiversity in agricultural areas and combats depopulation through the creation of green jobs in forestry work.

The manager of the foresters’ organization COSE, Patricia Gómez, has recalled that, until now, poplar wood was mainly used in the unrolling industry to manufacture plywood, packaging or pallets, while its structural use was “practically non-existent in Spain, due to the lack of classification regulations in resistant classes”.

“The standardization comes just at a time when we are organizing and professionalizing ourselves as producers to offer the industry a high quality wood and place Spain as an example of good forest management and sustainable plantations,” Gómez congratulated.

On standardization

The Spanish Standardization Association (UNE) is the body designated by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness as the Spanish representative in the international ISO/IEC and European CEN/CENELEC bodies, as well as the national standardization body of ETSI.

The Spanish UNE committee has approved a visual quality FEM through the Spanish standard ‘Visual grading of sawn timber for structural use. Hardwood timber’ (UNE 56546-2024), while the European committee ‘Timber Structures. Solid Timber. TG1 Task Group for Grading and Strength Properties’ (CEN/TC124/WG2/TG1) has approved the assignment of strength class T10 (EN1912).