Rise in the number of Residential and Commercial construction projects drives the Glued Laminated Timber Market: Cognitive Market Research

Glued Laminated Timber Market Overview

Product Overview and Scope of Glued Laminated Timber

Glued laminated timber is commonly known as glulam. It is a type of structurally engineered wood product commonly used for beams and columns in residential and commercial applications. It typically consists of several parallel layers of small pieces of lumber stacked and it is glued together under a certain pressure to make a large timber structure. It is also widely used for structural components such as arches of mid to high-rise buildings and affixed side-by-side to form panels. Along with this, it serves as the primary material for major load-bearing structures such as bridges, canopies, and pavilions. Glued laminated timber offers several benefits including durability, cost-effectiveness, and high versatility. These are also resource-efficient since they replace huge, old-growth timber with relatively small pieces of timber to produce a wooden part. Another benefit of glulam is product availability and variety in size and shape. 

In addition to this, one of the design advantages of Glulam is the ease of bending into the desired curve shape and into long lengths. Commercially available glue-laminated wood comes in lengths of 30 meters and cross sections ranging from 45 mm x 45 mm to 250 mm x 1800 mm. Nowadays, consumer preference is increasing for wood-based construction owing to its extensive benefits and advantages. Glulam is considered a sustainable building material because it is made from renewable resources wood. Sustainable building materials are becoming more important as worries about climate change and environmental effects increase. Traditional building materials with higher carbon footprints like steel and concrete can be replaced with glulam. The factors contributing to the rising demand for Glulam include its sustainability, strength, design versatility, fire resistance, cost-effectiveness, and expanding acceptance of the material within the building sector.

Glued Laminated Timber Market – Global Industry Analysis

Market Drivers

• Rise in the number of residential and commercial construction projects

The rise in the number of residential and commercial projects is a major driving factor contributing to the growth of the glued laminated timber (Glulam) market. Builders refer collectively to all types of laminated beams or other laminated structural wood materials such as glued laminated timber. Glulams are versatile construction materials used widely in commercial and residential projects. Glulam is gaining huge attention for being used in applications such as vaulted ceilings and designs with large open premises. Four appearance grades such as framing, industrial, architectural, and premium glulam are used when professionals looking into a combination of structural and aesthetic attributes. This includes a range of architectural applications, including education facilities, churches, offices, and homes. For example, China, the US, and India drive construction industry growth. 

Glued laminated wood is a highly innovative building material. It is stronger than steel and has greater strength and rigidity than wood. Increased design value, improved product performance, and cost competitiveness make laminated timber the perfect choice for projects ranging from simple beams and headers in residential construction to high arches in dome roofs.

Construction spending in the U.S. (2018-2022)

Source: Cognitive Market Research

Manufacturers develop project-specific product solutions to meet the complex requirements of modern timber construction architecture. For example, the construction projects developed in the U.S. in 2021 are valued at nearly USD 1.6 trillion. In 2021, 1,337,800 housing units were built, which constitutes an increase of 4% compared to 2020. All these factors contribute to the growth of the glued laminated timber (Glulam) market.  

• The rising trend toward using sustainable building material
• Rising demand for timber

Global Glued Laminated Timber Revenue and Market Share (%) by Regions (2018-2023)

Global Glued Laminated Timber Revenue (USD Billion) by Regions (2018-2023)

Related Reports

• Cross-laminated Timber Market
• Mechanically Fastened Cross-Laminated Timber Market 
• Odd Layers Cross Laminated Timber Market
• Tropical Timber Market 
• Mass Timber Market
• Timber Decking Market
• Timber Wrap Market 
• Timber Plants Market

Global Glued Laminated Timber Revenue Market Share (%) by Type in 2022

• Modified Melamine resin Type
• Phenol Resorcinol resin Type
• Polyurethane Type

Global Glued Laminated Timber Revenue by Segment

Global Glued Laminated Timber Market by Application

• Residential
• Commercial
• Others

Global Glued Laminated Timber Revenue Market Share (%) by application in 2022

In 2022, the residential segment has gained the largest market share. This is attributed to glued laminated timber (GLT) providing excellent structural properties, such as high strength, stiffness, and dimensional stability. Due to these qualities, it is a good choice for residential buildings, where it may be applied to roof structures, beams, and columns. GLT offers reliable load-bearing capacity and allows for larger open spaces without the need for intermediate support columns. The insulating qualities of glulam can save homeowners' energy expenses and boost a building's overall performance. Thus, the demand for the residential segment is increasing in the global laminated timber market.

Global Glued Laminated Timber Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis

Stora Enso Oyj

Stora Enso Oyj Company Basic Information, and Sales Area

Business Segment/ Overview:

Stora Enso Oyj is engaged in the manufacture and marketing of newsprint, book paper, magazine paper, fine paper, consumer board, industrial packaging, and wood products. The company has a presence in Europe, South America, and Asia.

The company operates in different divisions such as the packaging materials division, packaging solutions division, biomaterials division, wood products division, forest division, paper division, and others. Furthermore, the company provides a wide range of products such as bio-based chemicals, bio-based materials, biocomposites, corrugated packaging solutions, formed fiber, lignin, market pulp, mass timber construction, other packaging products, paper, paperboard materials, pellets, services, specialty papers, and wood products.

Impact of COVID-19

The outbreak of Covid-19 has declined the supply of paper markets. This is due to retail stores advertising less during lockdowns, consumers buying fewer newspapers and magazines, and printing less when working from home. In 2021, for the first half of the year, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to affect demand and prices negatively, while during the second half of the year, demand improved in line with economic recovery. At the same time, the industry was hit by significant increases in input costs, scarcity of paper for recycling, and demand exceeding production capacity for some paper grades.

Investment in Research and Development

Research and development costs incurred and charged to income for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020 were USD 88.15 million and USD 107.49 million respectively.

Stora Enso Oyj R&D Investment (USD Million) (2020-2021)

Glued Laminated Timber Product Types Specification

Business Strategy

Stora Enso has engaged in digitalization in forest operations to manage the forests from anywhere through digital services and solutions. For instance, the company combined high-quality forest data and customer insight to provide efficient and sustainable digital wood purchases as well as to offer other sustainable forest management services for the forest owners. In addition, the company implemented predictive systems using artificial intelligence to develop high-quality products and allowing to take pre-emptive measures before precious raw materials are wasted.