European rural areas will boost when their natural resources constitute the basis of innovative and sustainable value chains with a high positive economic impact. In this sense, forests constitute an asset that provide not only ecosystems and biodiversity, but also a valuable and sustainable raw material, “wood”. Wood is consumed by various sectors, including one of the most “raw materials” demanding sector, the construction. The BASAJAUN project is a puzzle composed of 1st and 2nd transformation companies, research organizations, associations and public bodies that are focused on maximizing the forest value through its use in wood construction. Its main goal is to optimize the wood forest resources to enable the construction of a medium sized building (16 dwellings with 4 floors) with the lowest possible forest hectares – that will depends on the tree species and the forest local peculiarities (climate, surface, ..). The whole process will be optimised to maximize the consumption of wood products from the forest (solid wood, fibers, veneers, bark, sawdust, etc.). For this purpose, a) innovative wood-based construction materials (thermal insulation, composites, varnishes, SIPs) and systems (structure, facades, floors, walls, roof and fixings) will be developed and upscaled, b) two full -scale demo buildings (Finland and France) that use those products will be constructed, c) digitalization of the whole construction value chain (from forest to building) will be done and d) the rural development impact will be studied at regional level. The environmental impact of the products of these value chains will be assessed as well. Besides, to assure a sustainable impact of the project a novel thematic platform to integrate the stakeholders of the wood region with urban areas will be developed. Besides, BASAJAUN leverages the previous results of successful projects where the innovative materials and systems were designed at laboratory and semi-industrial scale.

ICEBERG will make significant advances in the uptake of the circular economy in the building industry through the development of innovative circular reverse logistics’ tools and high-value secondary raw materials production technologies to establish market confidence and acceptability of recycled End-of-Life building materials (EBM). ICEBERG aims to design, develop, demonstrate and validate advanced technologies for the production of high-purity secondary raw materials (>92%w) through 6 circular case studies (CCS) across Europe, covering circularity of wood, concrete, mixed aggregate, plasterboard, glass, polymeric insulating foams and inorganic superinsulation materials. ICEBERG will generate cross-cutting integrated smart solutions that encompass three innovative circular reverse logistics’ strategies: an upgraded BIM-aided-Smart Demolition tool; a novel digital EBM traceability platform; and Radio Frequency and QR based identification system. ICEBERG will develop novel technologies for the recovery of EBM, which include: hyperspectral imaging (HSI), machine-learning software and robotic manipulators to increase sorting efficiency of mixed aggregates; an integrated crushing, sorting and cleaning optimized system and fast pyrolysis and purification processes for wood fractions; thermal attrition mobile unit integrated with LIBS and carbonation for concrete; hydrocyclone combined with HSI sorting and acid purification to increase the purity of recycled plasterboard; a combined process of purification and solvolysis for polymeric insulating foams; advanced hydrothermal and supercritical based processing of glass and silica containing waste. Circular design solutions for greater circularity of EBM and production of innovative circular building products with high purity and recycled content (30% - 100%) will be also implemented. ICEBERG will generate in the mid-term an economic benefit of 1758 M€ and 6265 new jobs by 2030.