A Beautiful Relation – Railway Station and Forest in Landquart - March 2010

A networking project like IN2WOOD helps to discover real treasures and to understand their local conditions. The partners were impressed by the Grisons way of combining continuity and future with individuality...

before even entering the office of Graubünden Holz and learned more during the meeting (Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz NRW (DE), PROJEKTkompetenz.eu (AT):

The  cluster management Graubünden Holz is located in the new Landquart station building. It strikes the eye as a modern timber construction with a beautifully clear-structured, silvery-grey wood facade which integrates precisely into the surroundings: the station operations of the Rhaetian railway, the small town of Landquart, and the nearby mountains where the timber for the station was grown. Everything fits - the modern Rhaetian engines displaying their heraldic animal, the Grisons capricorn, the everyday railway station scenario with ticket offices, shops and underpasses and the remnants of the old 19^th century station (wood architecture, of course!) which are still in use as warehouses. A historical train waiting for tourists (see slideshow).

The cluster manager of Graubünden Holz, Michael Gabathuler, explains the story behind this eye-catching and successful cooperation between wood and railway competence: After a disastrous deforestation in the 19^th century, an institution had been installed to take over sovereign duties and  to supervise sustainable forest management: the cantonal wood department (Amt für Wald). In 2000, a wood competence agency was founded within the strategy “Holz Futuro” to promote and improve the sustainable use of the resource wood: Graubünden Holz. After five years of hard work building up the regional network, Graubünden Holz managed to convince the railway administration to build the new station in Landquart as a future-oriented timber construction. This project was carried out in an exemplary way with participation of many local actors along the value added chain (sawmills, timber construction and engineering experts, community forestry Igis-Landquart) and using local wood resources (ca 1600 m³ round wood). The visibility of the project is exceptional – all partners profit in their own way. Wood appears in a surprising context and the city of Landquart surprises visitors with a unique and very attractive station building.

Since 2005, the Landquart wooden railway station has often served as a best practice example for timber construction. The use of timber for public (and other) buildings is now part of the standard repertoire. Meanwhile, timber construction is strongly promoted by cantonal policy: a new energy law has been launched which includes guidelines and recommendations for energy efficient timber construction. Funding measures complete the package, leading to a growing professional engagement of carpenters in cooperation with young architects for modern wooden buildings.

On national level in Switzerland, Graubünden Holz cooperates with the umbrellla organisation LIGNUM. With increasing intensity during the last ten years, LIGNUM engages in strategy development, adaptation of building guidelines (in particular e.g. the revision of fire prevention regulations in 2005) and policy consulting. The effective representation of joint interests is of great importance, in particular with regard to the strong presence of the agriculture stakeholders.

Grisons was the first canton to establish a structured cluster management for the forest-based sector – St. Gallen, Bern and Appenzell followed. The level of organisation in Grisons has reached a certain maturity and Graubünden Holz is now taking up activities directed to internationalisation. IN2WOOD provides a platform to exchange ideas within the respective regional stakeholder networks. In this context, know-how and regional best-practice examples like the Landquart wooden station shall be transferred to the project partner regions and beyond.