Lindbäcks Bygg sustainably builds affordable homes by using wood as its main resource
Started more than 100 years ago in the small village of Kallfors, Sweden, Lindbäcks Bygg (Lindbäcks) is a family-owned business and Sweden’s leading company in the industrial production of apartment buildings. At the core of the business is the commitment to industrially construct homes using wood from the forests of Norrland in Northern Sweden. Thanks to its advanced technology and LEAN production philosophy, Lindbäcks builds homes in a resource-efficient, climate-friendly, and cost-effective manner, all while ensuring a high level of safety on site. This approach allows the company to adapt closely to customer preferences and offer customised complete solutions with a diverse range of architectural styles.
“Lindbäcks was established in 1924, making us 101 years old this year. Owned by the Lindbäcks family for four generations, we are Sweden’s largest manufacturer and constructor of multi-storey wooden houses and apartments. In fact, we rank as one of the largest apartment builders in Sweden, even beyond our focus on wooden construction,” opens David Sundström, CEO. “We operate semi-industrially, with our factory model evolving significantly since joining the European Union in 1994. That year, Swedish regulations regarding wooden housing were reformed, enabling us to construct buildings taller than four storeys. By 1999, we had begun producing apartments in volume, making us the first in the world to build them that way. Our goal has always been to make housing more affordable. Unfortunately, like the UK, Sweden has seen little progress in producing cheaper apartments. In 1971, the equivalent cost of a square metre of apartment was comparable to the price of a litre of milk. Compared with the early 1970s, the price of constructing apartments is four times higher than other consumption goods, indicating a significant decline in productivity within our industry.
“To address these challenges, we are leveraging our know-how from other industries that successfully utilise industrial processes and applying those principles to construction. In 2018, we inaugurated Europe’s largest factory dedicated to producing apartments in high volumes, making it one of the most digitised and automated facilities in our field worldwide. We have since decommissioned our older factory and sold the production line to Canada, where they are trying to follow the same journey that we undertook in the 1990s and early 2000s,” he continues.
Positive environmental impact
Specialising in wood-based construction offers many advantages, not only in terms of efficiency but also sustainability, as David explains. “The first key advantage is environmental. Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air as they grow, so this greenhouse gas becomes embedded in the tree. When we use the tree for construction, the CO2 remains stored in the wood and in the building, preventing its release back into the atmosphere. As part of the structural elements of a house, the carbon remains stored until the building is eventually demolished. Moreover, using wood as a construction material requires less effort for groundwork and reduces the use of concrete and other materials. This approach minimises landfill waste and is beneficial for the local environment, further demonstrating one of the biggest advantages of building with wood: its positive environmental impact.
“Another benefit is that wood is much lighter than other construction materials, especially concrete. This lighter weight facilitates the construction of volumetric units; we can build apartments of any square meterage in a single volume. Each volume has to adhere to specific dimensions to comply with transportation regulations, as they cannot be too wide to navigate public roads or railways. Thanks to its lighter weight, wood allows for a more industrialised approach to construction, thereby reducing production costs. Consequently, this helps lower rental prices, making housing more affordable for communities. Additionally, the construction process with wood is quieter, which is particularly important in densely populated areas, as it helps to avoid disturbing local residents. In Sweden, Canada, and other Nordic countries, we have a lot of forests, which provide significant employment opportunities for local communities involved in wood harvesting. This fosters economic growth in places that typically have fewer job prospects. Creating value from our forests is essential. In the European Union, there is ongoing discussion about how to manage forests as carbon sinks. To effectively store carbon dioxide, it is crucial for forests to continue growing; otherwise, their carbon-storing capabilities diminish. Therefore, we must use our forests wisely and maintain their biodiversity through sustainable practices,” he expands.
Thoughtful design
Thoughtful designDavid goes on to highlight some of the projects Lindbäcks is currently working on, which best demonstrate the efficiency and versatility driven by its focus on wood as a resource and its industrialised construction approach. “At the moment, we are producing elderly care homes and high-end apartments using a volumetric construction system. These apartments span nearly 100,000 square metres, representing the upper tier of Sweden’s new builds. Additionally, we are constructing affordable housing in various communities across Sweden with the same system, which requires us to be quite flexible in our approach. Prioritising architectural design is crucial, as we cannot simply create a wooden box and place it on a piece of land; we need to understand the needs of the municipality and the local community. It is essential to ensure that each building fits into its community and surroundings.
“Furthermore, thoughtful architecture is extremely important if we want to make houses that remain sustainable over the decades. I want to emphasise that our industrial construction system makes it possible to build a diverse range of buildings, including elderly care homes, high-end apartments and affordable housing. This versatility is a testament to the effectiveness of our approach, showing that we are on the right track to creating positive change in local communities. Notably, we can build quite tall structures, with our tallest reaching 13 storeys. However, our typical projects usually range between six and eight storeys, which aligns more closely with the standard apartment sizes in Sweden,” he ends.