Presentation
The more than 1000 year old method, that of long, straight stems and ingenious craftsmanship forming buildings of logs, is still to be found in great numbers in the northern parts of Sweden. More than fifty percent of all buildings in the countryside are log-houses. In that area these buildings are part of everyday life - a natural feature of local and regional identity. At the same time those buildings are among the most distinctive in the built cultural heritage of Scandinavia

Using, preserving and re-using those characteristic houses, are important in the work on cultural heritage of northern Sweden. These investments serve to keep and develop the service industry and tourism in a long-term perspective. Through building conservation and professional training programmes, the skills of technique and values of the log-houses can be spread and firmly established. Thus, the qualities of the cultural heritage is maintained and developed in a positive direction.

Timmerdraget is a resource-centre for traditional log-house construction.

• Timmerdraget collects and records all traditional knowledge of log-housing construction and old forestry methods available in printed form and archives.
• In co-operation with researchers and the best craftsmen, a project aiming to develop the field of conservation, issues of materials craftsmanship- documentation will be carried out.
• Courses and training programmes are planned for the general public, craftsmen, consultants and antiquarians.
• Timmerdraget are establishing a network on IT-basis for the mutual development of knowledge concerning traditional wood skills. Timmernet
• The objectives are to obtain a national network, responsible for knowledge concerning traditional log-houses and plan to be a support and a driving force for the regional development.

Timmerdraget will be a resource for improvement in building conservation and for those wishing to develop new log-houses on a traditional basis. With deeper, professional skills, further steps towards better building conservation, a more complex and better quality production of new log-houses can be taken.

As for Timmerdraget, preservation and conservation has an obvious role in a lasting, long-term development of society. The traditional technique of building log-houses can also be a part in development work that create growth in the field of ecological, sustainable buildingings. The log-house tradition could be one of the starting-points for how we can build and settle in the future and how a new generation of wooden houses could be fitted into our cultural heritage.