"Historically, wood has been the most widely used building material, but in the last century, with the arrival of new technologies and industrial development, the use of wood in construction declined rapidly because concrete and steel offered greater opportunities to build very complex structures and reach record heights," describes Olga Feldmane, Director of the Construction Policy Department at the Ministry of Economics (EM). However, the use of wood in construction is currently growing rapidly worldwide, and given the requirements for CO2-neutral construction solutions in several European and global countries, it has already been made mandatory in public procurement, and the use of wood is also being demanded in international construction tenders. It is also important for Latvia to build competence and capacity in both the use of wood in construction and the production of high value-added wooden building materials and products, so as not to lose competitiveness in both domestic and export markets, the EM representative adds.

"Latvia has strong traditions in the construction of private wooden houses, which are single-family dwellings or can be described as low-rise buildings, but for a long period, multi-storey or public buildings were historically built from other materials," explains Mārtiņš Ķeņģis, Director and Chairman of the Board of SIA "Skonto Prefab" and Board Member of SIA "Cross Timber Systems", regarding the slow change in mindset.