School buildings of wooden structures, most of which have been replaced by concrete buildings may be under the spotlight again as the government is promoting the merit. Ministry of Education will compile lists of timber school buildings nationwide in order to offer examples to school owners, while Land Ministry is now preparing technical standards to be published by this fall based on the revised Building Standards Act that allows to build three story wooden structures more easily.
Many school owners and operators find comfortable environment of wooden structures suitable for students. 20% of all school houses built in 2012 has timber structure and the rate is increasing year by year. However, most of these wooden school buildings are small-sized and there have not been many records of large-scaled buildings of timber.
The Building Standards Act amended in May eased the restrictions of three story wooden schoolhouses. With the result of fire experiment, one-hour fire-resisting construction is now approved by the law. (2014/07/11)