Kowalczyk: Wooden houses are no more expensive than brick houses

Wooden houses are no more expensive than masonry houses? / © 123RF / PICSEL

The Senate did not bring Friday amendments to the law creating the company Polskie Domy Drewniane. The bill is now waiting for the signature of the chair. Initially, state forests were to enter society by transferring their land as social capital, the use of which in the spatial development plan was classified as residential construction. The amendment, according to which the LP will not participate in the creation of the company Polskie Domy Drew (DP), was accepted after the objections were submitted by representatives of foresters. After the exchanges, the company will be formed by the Ochrony Środowiska Bank and the National Fund for the Protection of the Environment and Water Management

PAP: Minister, are you satisfied with the changes made to the the law on Polish wooden houses? I am really sorry that the state forests have not entered the Polskie Domy Drew (PDD) society. In my opinion, Lasów's participation in the DDA would enhance their image – they are lands that are not needed, can not be used for afforestation, are transferred to construction as part of the Plus Plus program

ecologists resulted from a poor understanding of the idea of ​​the act. The land that forests should bring to the company as a co-author of DP is a tertiary issue. Their number was small. During the work on amending the law, local governments expressed their willingness to participate in the program and to transfer land for timber construction.

PAP: Is the construction of wooden houses no more expensive than traditional brick construction?

HK : There are many myths associated with this topic The construction and maintenance of such homes are expensive and the buildings themselves are flammable. The wooden construction is not more expensive than the brick. Its advantage is also the short period of investment implementation. Building a wooden house usually takes about 3 to 5 months and is possible almost at any time of the year. There are many companies on the market that specialize in wood construction. The companies that could build such large-scale homes are a dozen. Through the creation of the company, a Polish market will be created for them. They will not have to export products or prefabricated house elements from the country, but it will be in Poland.

The wood whose houses will be built will of course come from state forests. Construction companies will place orders for this material and will buy it in Lasów. As a result, wood used in construction will most often come from Poland.

Let's also look at this in the context of the Plus Plus program scale. This program consists of m.in. on repeatability. If a certain project is created, it will not be used solely for the construction of a house, but also for subsequent investments. It will be the production on a larger scale, then the costs will definitely decrease. Companies in the case of such large orders are ready to apply appropriate discounts. Thanks to this, these houses can be even cheaper than brick houses, but certainly not more expensive.

I would also like to point out that these homes will be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Living in a wooden house will be more economical in the long run. Maintenance costs are significantly lower than those built with traditional technology. The materials and technology used are the origin of energy-efficient buildings

PAP: Polish legislation does not have a precise definition or criteria for energy efficient construction. Will such standards emerge?

H.K .: In fact, there have not been such standards so far. Until now, it has been built on the basis of European standards. Therefore, the Ministry of the Environment has implemented work on the introduction of Polish standards. However, it will not be new. It is simply a technical implementation of European indicators in the legal system in Poland.

In addition, the investments that will be created with the participation of the company Polskie Domy Drewniane will be built on the basis of a special law on housing. All standards regarding the removal of roads, schools, kindergartens and urban transit stops will also be preserved with these investments

Wooden houses will also be covered by an additional system introduced by another act

PAP: the law states that the companies will rise to 50 million zlotys, or could it be of a larger amount?

HK: If we want to start a business with greater momentum, we need to bring in the right amount of funds. Shareholders are willing to offer a company much larger than the company's share capital. BOŚ said 40 million zlotys, and NFOŚiGW – 60 million zlotys, which means that this would represent twice more than expected in the law. We are very pleased with such a great involvement in this project.

PAP: When can you start a business? When are the first contracts and houses?

H.K. : The company should be created in about 2-3 months from the coming into force of the law. I think it will be in October. Then, the first contracts will start to be signed. I think we will build the first homes in the first quarter of 2019. I am confident that they will be very interested.

Katarzyna Fiuk and Michał Boroń spoke