In 2015, timber construction was used for 16.1% of the new buildings erected in Germany, and its share of the market is continuing to rise. Because of the refugee situation, among other reasons, there is a need for more housing. Business is therefore good for the construction industry, which is optimistic about its future. And timber and engineered wood products are enjoying ever-greater popularity. They have finally emerged from the shadow of other building materials, and rightly so. Besides their environmental advantages, modern wood-based materials have many favourable properties that make them especially well-suited for construction. For example, today’s versions help prevent fires from spreading and are acoustically insulating. More and more owner-builders, architects and contractors are therefore opting for timber and wood-based materials. There are now numerous timber houses that impressively illustrate astonishing capabilities of wood for realising a vast range of architectural possibilities.