Prefabricated for the environment and the wallet

Jonas Björk, technical salesperson at Lättelement, advocates for prefabricated building elements. He sees two important benefits: time savings and reduced environmental impact. Two extremely valuable advantages in today’s construction sector. 

Lättelement is a strong and expanding company in the heart of northern Sweden, and has been privately and locally owned since its establishment in 1979. Today, the company employs more than 130 people and annually manufactures, delivers and assembles more than 120,000 square metres of prefabricated building elements for roofs, walls and joists. 

Their customers are in the Nordic countries, and Lättelement supplies building elements for everything from small extensions to major projects such as stadiums, schools, industrial halls, hotels and hospitals. 

Jonas Björk highlights a current project that particularly interests him: 

– Docksta Sko is a well-established company that are investing massively in a new shoe factory, where Lättelement will supply roof elements and Masonite Beams' I-joist for the walls. I think it will be an incredibly good example of how smart, environmentally friendly and energy-efficient industrial buildings can be built in wood, he says. 

Image from Docksta Sko construction site

Explains benefits 

Jonas Björk has worked with prefabrication for over 15 years and now has a role where he works closely with customers to investigate enquiries, prepare quotes and create agreements.  

– Part of my job as a technical salesperson at Lättelement is to seek out new customers and projects with the ambition that they choose our product. There can be many different types of construction projects, both large and small, and simple and complex.

He has previously worked at Masonite Beams, among others, where one of his tasks was to find solutions for element and modular builders so that they could convert their production from solid wood to wood-based I-joists.

– I’ve taken this experience with me to Lättelement, where the main issue is explaining the benefits of prefabrication to customers. In today’s construction industry, flows and production times are very important, and this is where prefabricated components come into play. Lättelement’s ambition is to offer the highest possible degree of prefabrication.

EPD is a good tool 

–Another extremely important aspect of today’s construction industry is, as you know, sustainability. This extends to more and more stages in the process, says Jonas Björk. 

– It’s incredible that the market has finally opened its eyes to the 'green wave'. It has been going on for quite a long time, but I feel that until recently only a few developers had really adopted it."

He sees the new law on climate declarations for buildings as a contributing reason for the increased interest, as the law in turn imposes higher requirements on environmental product declarations (EPDs) for the products used.  

– Thanks to the EPD, the industry now has a tool that can really show the differences in environmental impact, depending on the choice of materials and components, he says. 

Lättelement has now developed an EPD model to which they can add all their products to create simulations.  

– I dare to make the claim that we have the world’s most environmentally friendly building elements. This is largely due to the elements' low dead weight, which Masonite Beams' lightweight I-joist also contributes to.

3D image of building elements from Lättelement

Part of the success 

From the very beginning, lightweight beams have been a component of Lättelement’s products.  

"Working with a light, resource-efficient product that contributes to a low U-value– thanks to the beam’s slim cut – has definitely been part of the company’s success," says Jonas Björk. 

He notes that the lightweight beam is such an important component of their products that there is close to daily communication between Lättelement and Masonite Beams. 

"This is an industry with rapid turnarounds, and if you don't stay on your toes, you can easily get left behind. So it's vital to work with continuous improvements in order to meet customers’ increased demands for quality and performance." 

You can find more information about Lättelement and their products here!