World’s largest wooden city to have 2,000 homes, 7,000 offices. The project will become an international showcase for sustainable urban development, with 7,000 office spaces and a new high school opening soon.

Stockholm Wood City, dubbed the world’s first “five-minute city,” is ahead of schedule. Construction, which began in October, is set to provide 2,000 new homes by 2027.

Swedish property developer Atrium Ljungberg, behind the project, expects to deliver a unique urban development that will showcase sustainable and livable design.

The project aims to demonstrate how cities can blend nature and sustainability. In an interview with Time Magazine, Håkan Hyllengren, Atrium Ljungberg’s business development director, emphasizes the concept, saying, “We can tell the story about how to build a liveable city, how to add nature into the city and build something sustainable.”

The project’s size and scope have led Hyllengren to call it an international showcase. The aim is to build the world’s largest “mixed-use” wooden neighborhood, with apartments, office spaces, and educational facilities.



A new era of wooden construction
The buildings in Stockholm Wood City will feature cross-laminated timber, a material that’s easily sourced from the vast forests in Scandinavia. With 70% of Sweden covered by forests, wood is a sustainable choice. Sweden was also the first nation to mandate reforestation in 1903, which has led to a continuous supply of timber. “We don’t have a problem where we will run out of wood,” says Hyllengren. “We’ve actually got more forest now than we had 100 years ago because we replant.”



Cost considerations and efficiency
While engineered wood is 10% more expensive than steel or concrete, Atrium Ljungberg finds it to be cost-effective in other ways. Hyllengren explains that pre-assembled wooden building parts reduce labor costs, as they don’t require mixing or drying like concrete. “By building so much faster than when we build with normal concrete, we can reduce the [project] time,” he says. This not only saves money but also allows tenants to move in earlier and start paying rent sooner.


Rapid progress and future growth
Stockholm Wood City is moving quickly. With one new floor added every week, the project is growing faster than anticipated. Initially planned to start in 2025, construction began months ahead of schedule. The project will offer 7,000 new workplaces and 2,000 homes by 2027. The goal is to create an urban development that prioritizes human well-being through sustainability. Annica Ånäs, CEO of Atrium Ljungberg, says, “We want to lead the way for the next generation of urban development projects, placing human well-being at the center.”

Source: interestingengineering.com