Planning

Housing Sustainability Matters Number 5 - Sustainable Timber

Construction and destruction

Timber is a great construction material. Strong, elegant, healthy, and potentially infinitely renewable. Much of the timber used in UK construction comes from well-managed Scandinavian and Canadian forests. The danger lurks deeper in the forest, where species evolve, where scientists make medical breakthroughs, where the ecosystem cleanses air and water, where people have lived for hundreds of thousands of years trading in forest products and living off the land. More than half of the UK's imported timber is thought to be illegal. It often comes from these ancient forests. Lives and life is destroyed. It may never come back. This is the dark side of the equation.

Good wood

The FSC brand which you can see on products available in chains like B&Q tells the consumer that the timber has been sustainably managed. It stands for 'Forest Stewardship Council'. Whether it's shelving, a new door, furniture or construction materials, timber products are available which you can be sure haven't had a negative impact. And when wood is good, wood is very, very, good.

Can't see the wood for the trees?

The London Borough of Lambeth recognises the FSC brand as the most effective sustainable timber certification. The other scheme Lambeth recognises is PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). There are lots of other schemes, mostly industry groups, but the thing to know is that only the FSC are truly independent.

Lambeth Forest

Hardly. Lambeth is 91% urban, that is, concrete, tarmac, bitumen... But the London Borough of Lambeth wants to make a difference to the global environment and the world's peoples. As members of the WWF's Forest Trade Network, Lambeth are working to stop the procurement of timber and other forest products of a destructive origin. Many people have responsibility for purchasing products, and whether that is paper, furniture or buildings, we can all make a difference by requiring FSC certification. Help is always available from the Environment Team.

Run of the mill

The UK's first ever FSC Chain of Custody project, Fairfax House in Angell Town, Brixton, became the first independently verified construction project to use FSC timber in 2002. Chain of Custody means that at every step, from the forest to the building (or finished product), every company that handles the timber must be audited by the FSC, and independently certified. To achieve this, Porchfern, the main contractor for Fairfax House became the first UK contractor to become FSC certified. Now, in 2005, the new Warwick House is nearing completion. Warwick House aims also to gain Chain of Custody, and to achieve this both Sandwood Design and Build and Global Timber Frame Ltd have become certified. In the future, we want all construction projects to have Chain of Custody certification.

Pulp fiction

Many large companies we buy forest products from, such as tissue paper, continue to plunder ancient forests unnecessarily. Don't assume the industry is behaving responsibly unless you have proof.

Policy and policing

We have a Sustainable Purchasing of Timber Policy
that all employees and contractors need to adhere to.