CFE to further accelerate timber & hybrid construction market with Isabelle De Bruyne as new head of Wood Shapers.
Since the launch of Wood Shapers, CFE Group has built a solid track record of iconic bio-based buildings with 215,000 m² delivered or underway. Ongoing flagship projects for clients such as KPMG, Linklaters, SD Worx and BNP Paribas Fortis confirm the Group’s strategy. Today, CFE aims to further accelerate the market with the appointment of Isabelle De Bruyne as managing director of Wood Shapers, the Group’s own bio-based competence center.
A strong track record of flagship projects
Today, CFE’s portfolio of bio-based buildings counts more than 215,000 m² of projects delivered or in the process of being built. Projects include iconic buildings such as Gare Maritime in Brussels North and Monteco in the Brussels European Quarter – both developed by Nextensa –; Wooden, co-developed with IKO Real Estate in Luxembourg; Van Laere’s headquarters in Baarbeek in Antwerp; and Wood Hub, CFE’s own headquarters in Brussels. Also, beyond Belgium and Luxembourg, the Group has gained valuable experience with large-scale projects in the Netherlands, a market that is more mature in wood-based construction.
Key to the Group’s success is its own competence center Wood Shapers. In support of CFE’s real estate and construction companies, it provides them with the necessary expertise and design capabilities for the end-to-end design and delivery of low-carbon timber and hybrid bearing structures.
With the appointment of Isabelle De Bruyne as Wood Shaper’s new managing director, the Group aims to further advance the market.
“Timber and hybrid construction should be on every developer and architect’s mind today. We have clearly shown it can be both the economic and ecologic winning solution. The carbon savings are considerable and, combined with other energy-saving techniques, bring us a long way in our clients’ net-zero transitions.”
– Isabelle De Bruyne
Doubling bio-based volumes by 2030
CFE’s current pipeline is testimony that forward-thinking brands are consciously choosing for bio-based construction. Current ongoing developments such as the new headquarters of KPMG - part of the Kennedy Park development in Luxembourg –, the new headquarters of SD Worx in Antwerp, and BNP Paribas Fortis’ new Client House in Antwerp developed by Triple Living all reflect this shift.
“Our ambition is clear: to double the volume of bio-based projects carried out by the Group by 2030. While it remains very difficult to predict where the market will land — current studies estimate European growth rates anywhere between 10% and 20% depending on the source — one thing is clear: our clients increasingly choose to create lasting value.” – Isabelle De Bruyne
Making bio-based construction mainstream
Key in making bio-based construction mainstream will be the adoption of the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) framework. Expected to become mandatory for all new buildings in Belgium by 2028, this tool objectively assesses the environmental footprint of construction materials, thereby considerably increasing the measurability, transparency, credibility and therefore adoption of bio-based construction.
“We have already contributed to a significant share of large-scale timber and hybrid buildings in what remains a relatively young market. Now it’s time to make bio-based construction top of mind across the industry. Achieving this requires collective action as sector and clever frameworks like LCA.”
– Isabelle De Bruyne