As students return to classrooms this September, a quiet revolution is reshaping how we build for education.

Around the world, mass timber kits are enabling faster, healthier, and more sustainable schools-designed for learning and built with high carbon-storing materials that will serve the next generations of thinkers and creators.

For the mass timber architects and engineers leading this transformation, the results speak for themselves. At Stora Enso, we've supported over 500 education infrastructure upgrades and new builds across 21 countries. From the remote landscapes of Iceland to the urban dynamism of Singapore, our Sylva kit-of-parts has proven to be ultra-practical and adaptable for building schools. Through precision-engineered timber solutions, we're helping shape the future of education - one school at a time.

Here are a few of our favourites from the past year-each one a lesson in what's possible.

GenZero: Standard parts, standout schools

Following the 'concrete crisis' in 235 UK schools, the UK government is exploring the wider use of mass timber in school construction. The 'GenZero' initiative includes a pipeline of projects and is committed to utilising prefabricated CLT (cross-laminated timber).

And the good news. Even though these schools are built using the same standard kit-of-parts, they're anything but cookie-cutter in appearance. Each one is thoughtfully designed to reflect its local surroundings-and many are earning serious recognition.

Take the Haileybury SciTech Centre, for example. Delivered by B&K Structures, it's been at the heart of several 2024 award wins. It won the 'Sustainability Award' in the Buildings category at the Wood Awards and was named 'Education Project of the Year' at the Offsite Awards. Engenuiti and Integral Engineering picked up the 'Engineer of the Year' award for their role in the project, and Haileybury Independent School was awarded 'Client of the Year'-both honours presented at the Structural Timber Awards.

These accolades not only celebrate the project's design and performance but also highlight the growing role of prefabricated timber systems in delivering high-quality education buildings.

Less labour, more learning

One of the most inspired new schools in France has to be Alice Milliat, designed by forma6, because it was the first school to utilise cutting-edge technology by incorporating robotically coated mass timber elements right from the factory. Even the stairs were prefabricated and arrived on-site ready to install, streamlining the entire process.

Like nearly all school projects, the timeline was tight. But thanks to the pre-coated elements, installation could begin immediately-no need for on-site labour to finish surfaces or arrange large-scale dry storage.

Another smart move was OBM's use of Sylva CLT Rib Floors and Roofs. These rigid composite members enabled a more open and flexible design. With fewer beams and columns needed, EDEIS could engineer beautifully open, light-filled spaces for students to learn and grow.

Built to last, built in weeks

Schools in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) have long known how the aesthetic of wood creates a strong connection to the natural world, contributing to lower heart rates and better school life, while enabling high-speed construction. But, our partners, HOLZ KOGLER GmbH & Co. KG took this to the next level when they realised a four-storey Kinderbetreuung (out-of-school care) facility in just three weeks in the Bavarian town of Veitshochheim.

Engineering education

And VERBUND Austria's leading energy company and one of the largest producers of hydroelectricity in Europe, also took the DACH reputation a step further, creating an entire campus for apprentices from wood at their Lerlingscampus by local mass timber specialist, Ing. Pochhacker GmbH.

Carbon-storing heavyweights

Maatulli School and Kindergarten, designed by Fors Arkitekter, along with Archus AS' Sunn Barnehagen in Norway, aren't just the kind of schools you'd trade your lunch money to attend-they're climate-smart, carbon-storing powerhouses in the Nordics.

Maatulli, a village-like campus of five timber buildings, uses mass timber construction and integrates nature into every corner, from its circular green courtyard to its adaptable learning spaces, sequestering 1,846 tonnes of carbon dioxide, winning the People's Choice Award in Finland.

And LAG Entreprenor AS' Sunn Barnehagen avoided 728 tonnes of greenhouse gases by choosing Sylva CLT instead of non-renewable construction materials. That is equivalent to powering about 90 average European homes for one year, based on EUROSTAT's estimate of approximately 8 tonnes of CO2e per household annually from electricity and heating.

Educational architecture with real climate returns

These schools are just a glimpse of what's already possible. We've included many more inspiring examples in our references, but the takeaway is simple: the shift to a post-extractive construction sector isn't aspirational-it's happening.

For those choosing to build in wood, the benefits are proven: healthier spaces, smarter learning environments, and significantly reduced carbon impact-all measurable today.

And with a transparent forest-to-frame value chain, these projects show how sustainable sourcing, manufacturing, and design can work together to reduce carbon impact. The results are measurable today-through rigorous carbon accounting. Not in 2030. Not in 2050. Right now!