The "Roadmap 2010 for the European woodworking industries" is an action launched by CEI-Bois on the initiative of its chairman, Mr Bo Borgström.
This Roadmap study was launched with the aim of:
producing an updated analysis on key factors and challenges affecting the European woodworking industries;
identifying the opportunities for the sector;
describing the ideal position;
producing an action programme for the European woodworking industries towards 2010;
within the general vision of "Wood and wood products to become the leading material in construction and interior solutions by 2010".

The final aim of this study is the establishment of an action programme targeted to the industries, their associations and the authorities.

Within the Roadmap action, work was performed on different areas, such as:
Environmental analyses and wood and fibre availability;
Market developments on European and non-European markets;
Barriers to an enhanced use of wood in Europe;
Perception analyses.
Summaries and preliminary conclusions from work in these various areas and the general conclusions drawn from the action overall, finetuned in discussions with key players in the European woodworking sector, can be found in the preliminary conclusions.

Increased use of wood for building purposes
The social-democratic parliamentary group in the Nordic Council proposes harmonization of building provisions in the Nordic countries for the purpose of increasing use of wood.
The aim is to increase use of wood for building housing units all over Europe and thereby to increase local processing of wooden raw materials in the Nordic countries.
More than 700 000 housing units are built in Europe each year. More than half of them are single-family houses. Only 10 - 15 per cent have wooden frames and less than 5 per cent of multi-family houses have such frames. In many European countries the ecological qualities of wooden house frames are recognized. This offers potential markets for the Nordic countries that have long standing traditions as builders of wooden houses.
However, there are obstacles against strong and effective joint action by the Nordic countries. National building provisions are more or less restrictive. For that reason the social democratic group requests harmonization of building provisions for the purpose of creating a common effective platform on the European market.