The Regional Timer Award was originally intended to be presented every two years. Then Corona intervened.  

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The next award is therefore only planned for 2023. Since the last award ceremony took place in Innsbruck Austria, the next award will be presented in Germany.

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The Regional Timber Award will continue to be organized in the original partner body of "Carbon Smart Communities" with the partners from Austria, Italy, Slovenia, France and Germany. New partners are added, such as Luxembourg, and other countries are also very welcome.

The "Carbon Smart Communities" network will be continued as a European network under the leadership of the partners Holz von Hier (HVH) resp. Low Carbon Timber (LCT).

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The continuation of the award and the municipal network takes place as originally, in close coordination with the municipal umbrella organizations of the respective countries.  

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In addition, the network and the award should continue to be coordinated with European bodies such as EUSALP and increasingly with the European Commissions for climate protection, construction and regional value creation.

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The concept behind the award is to be expanded and supplemented by aspects in the area of guarantees of origin and life cycle considerations that are important for the European Union (EU).

Conditions of the Award

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The award honors outstanding construction projects. Public institutions, municipalities, districts and property developers who build, procure and advertise buildings and objects made of verifiable (no self-declaration) wood of short distances (e.g. with HOLZ VON HIER (HVH) resp. LOW CARBON TIMBER (LCT) certificate or comparable) are nominated.

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Group of participants

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Municipalities and districts as well as other public institutions are cordially invited to participate.

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Categories

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The prize is awarded in the following categories based on wood and other renewable sources raw materials:

(1) Municipal or public construction

(2) Interior decoration and furniture

(3) Landscaping and landscape design (example bridges, towers, etc.)

Selection of the award winners

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After the end of the submission period, a national jury evaluates the applications in phase 1 and forwards 10 selected applications to a European jury, which in turn selects 3 winners per country. All validly submitted applications are displayed on a website in the form of a map with a brief description.

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Evaluation criteria

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The national juries and the European jury evaluate the projects based on the following uniform criteria:

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(1) CO2 savings of the building (currently 40 points) - the award is about gray energy, gray CO2

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Here are some innovations that will be reported in the course of 2022/2023. For example, the calculation of the CO2 savings in embodied energy and embodied CO2 in the building is based on defined, country-independent benchmarks. This procedure is slightly stricter than the original one. The benchmarks are defined with a European working group. However, since the goal is to open up the carbon market for the municipalities via the buildings, this is important.

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The country representatives of HVH / LCT or and other designated partners in the participating countries from which municipalities apply support the calculation of the CO2 savings according to a defined, transparent procedure.

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(II) Environment and Resources (previously 40 points)

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Here are some innovations that will be reported in the course of 2021.

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(II) Innovation and transferability (previously 20 points)

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Innovation: Innovation has so far been understood in the award as the increase and the quality of new ideas that have been successfully implemented. Innovation could take place at operational level or in relation to the political framework. Transferability: in the award, previously successfully implemented measures in construction and procurement that can be repeated by others and serve as a learning example were considered transferable.

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Many aspects remain the same here, but some innovations that have resulted from changed European framework conditions should also be included. This will be reported in the course of 2022/2023 until the announcement.

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Prices and other benefits

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The winners from all regions will be

(1) The award winners will receive an award and a beautifully framed certificate, and the award winners will be publicized in relevant media and through a brochure introducing the award winners. The award winners are included on the European platform Timber Wiki and promoted as a European municipality with a role model function in timber construction.

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(2) The award winners will be invited to an international award ceremony, which will take place within the framework of a relevant European forum (it is not yet clear which this will be for 2023).

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(3) The award winners receive support from Holz von Hier and its partners in the participating countries for the inclusion of the award-winning buildings in the Voluntary Carbon Market or regional climate certificates.  

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Next award

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Probably 2023. This will be done in coordination with all country partners and the respective leading organizations of the municipalities in the respective countries.  

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We'll keep you up to date.

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