How Paris used the Olympics to promote wooden buildings

Established in 2018, the France Bois 2024 project is an initiative to promote greater use of wood within various industries, but the construction sector plays a key role. It is particularly noteworthy that the France Bois 2024 project is jointly funded by private and public pockets, with the participation of CODIFAB (Professional Committee for the Development of French Furniture and Timber Industries) and the national interdisciplinary organisation France Bois Forêt. This shows that wooden buildings are also supported at state level in France. After all, a law requiring all new public buildings to be at least 50 per cent made of wood or other natural materials came into force in 2022.

And why is this initiative linked to this year’s Olympics? This is primarily because the general thrust in organising the Paris Games is to achieve the smallest possible carbon footprint in line with the Paris Agreement. And since for each Olympic Games a large number of new buildings need to be built not only for sports, but also for the accommodation of athletes or for various cultural events, wooden buildings represent a great potential in reducing the environmental impact of the whole Olympics.

“The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are an opportunity for the timber construction and development industry to showcase its capabilities, skills and environmental and social credentials to commissioners and the general public in France. They are also a fantastic opportunity to create an international reputation for the French timber industry and to increase the share of timber in the construction sector,” the project website says.

1. Developing technical recommendations for the main contractor of the Solideo Paris Olympics as well as public and private clients to increase the share of wood in construction projects. 2. This enterprise brings together companies from the wood industry in France and helps them to participate in the implementation of various projects within the framework of the Olympics 3. Education and training of wood sector professionals. This goes hand-in-hand with the government’s drive to increase the overall share of wooden buildings – and to do this, the supply chain needs to be strengthened, sufficient materials need to be secured and large numbers of people need to be trained to operate the entire industry. Collaboration between the forestry and construction industries is key to efficient processes and ensuring environmentally friendly timber. Great emphasis is also placed on innovation and the introduction of the latest processes and technologies.

Because these steps are hard to grasp and almost invisible to the public, the initiators of the France Bois 2024 project have also pushed for wooden constructions to receive significant attention in this year’s Olympics. It is not surprising that the only new stadium built for the Paris Games is a wooden structure, despite the fact that it is an indoor swimming hall. However, wooden structures have also been used in other places, especially in the construction of the Olympic Village where the athletes will stay during the Games or for the construction of temporary pavilions. Given all these efforts, it is likely that the Summer Olympics will be a watershed event in the development of timber buildings for the whole of France. Their legacy will not only be that the Olympics can be held with an emphasis on environmental friendliness without the need to build expensive stadiums that will deteriorate after the Games, but also the presentation of France as a world leader in modern wooden buildings.