Egurtek 2026 will bring timber construction, architecture and building professionals together at Bilbao Exhibition Centre on 28 and 29 October, with its Technical Sessions focusing on fire safety, heritage restoration, habitability, comfort and pre-industrialised building systems. The 11th edition of the International Forum of Architecture and Construction in Wood, organised by Baskegur, the Basque Timber Association, will address technical challenges surrounding a renewable and sustainable material that is increasingly being used to respond to climate and social challenges. Across four sessions, the programme will examine approaches intended to combine safety, comfort, efficiency and new building systems.
The timber construction session will focus on timber architecture and fire, with Cristian Maluk, technical director at DAMA Engineering Consultants, examining analysis and design methods, risk mitigation strategies, prescriptive and performance-based design approaches, case studies and recent research. Another session will address the restoration of the former Convent of the Discalced Carmelites, also known as the Convent of San José, in Zumaia. The 17th-century building has been converted into a Cultural Centre by ZETABI Arkitektura Bulegoa in collaboration with TECNALIA and Gipuzkoa Provincial Council. The project combines conservation work with improvements in safety, energy efficiency, sustainability and accessibility, with representatives from the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council, ZETABI Arkitektura Bulegoa and TECNALIA sharing their experience of the intervention.
Habitability and comfort in timber interiors will also feature, with Matxalen Acasuso Atutxa and Paz Martín Rodríguez discussing the habitaTU guide and approaches to living spaces in homes, residences and hotels in the Basque Country. They will examine timber’s role in creating healthier and more comfortable indoor environments, including natural humidity regulation, while also highlighting industrialised construction and dry-assembly systems. A further session will examine distinctive building envelopes and the industrialisation of timber façades, focusing on the coordination and planning required for pre-industrialised construction systems. Examples include the elliptical oak curtain wall at Bodegas Faustino in Oión and the radiata pine curtain wall at the KNEM Building in Barcelona, which combines walkways with an outer aluminium double skin.
Beyond the Technical Sessions, Egurtek 2026 will include the Congress, Exhibition Area, Egurtek Awards ceremony, Innovation Workshops and networking activities. For the first time, the forum will also host WORKinn, a space connecting companies and professionals across the forestry-timber and building sectors. On 29 October from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., participating companies will present vacancies, recruitment processes, in-demand profiles and the skills expected to be needed in the coming years. The programme is organised by Bilbao Exhibition Centre with support from the Basque Government’s Department of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries and sector partners including Baskegur, the Basque-Navarre Official Association of Architects, the Bilbao School of Engineering/University of the Basque Country, Infoedita and Tecnalia.