Skills shortage and lack of programmes to teach our future workforce how to build more sustainably, which techniques to use when and how to make them mainstream, and most importantly how to advance existing solutions to make the good stuff even better. Two sides of the same coin, repeated many times over, a real road […]
Developing a Welsh Wooden Windows Specification for Social Housing
On 5 May 2020 in the midst of a national lockdown with most joinery businesses closed, 15 participants from across the joinery sector kicked off a Welsh Government funded two-year programme to develop a Welsh wooden window specification for social housing with an online workshop. Welsh joinery industry passionate to act Activities setting up the […]
Why can’t I get thermally-treated Welsh timber?
Timber can be modified by a variety of methods to enhance properties and change appearance. Modification using temperature is relatively simple and extensive trials using Welsh timber have been undertaken, but so far the process has not been developed commercially in Wales. Why can’t I get thermally-treated Welsh timber? This was a question raised by […]
Construction & Whole Life Carbon. An Overview.
The construction sector is a major contributor of carbon emissions. Pressure to respond to the climate emergency means that decarbonisation is a priority for everyone who has a stake in construction. But where to start? By James Moxey, Woodknowledge Wales, 6 May 2020 Organisations considering a decarbonisation strategy that aims for low carbon or even […]
On the path towards a high-value forest nation. Forestry, biodiversity and land use.
Probably the most intensely debated questions at our 2019 BIG Debate during WoodBUILD circled around forestry and land use, and how to move the agenda for a high value forest nation forward in the current system. As part of our series of follow-up interviews on the Big Debate, we invited Jon Travis, Welsh Government; Dominic […]
A very brief history of deforestation and forest management
Deforestation and the need for sustainable forest management techniques take their roots in earliest human development. Dainis Dauksta presents a brief history from axe and lightning to high-tech solutions bred in Silicon Valley. Observation of natural traumatic events such as lightning strikes causing forest fires taught early hominids[1] to use fire as their principal landscape […]
Creating value for communities through woodland expansion
At the start of 2020, most commentators held up climate change as the biggest threat to humanity, a title now sadly usurped by the coronavirus pandemic. Before this very imminent health threat stole the headlines, an unlikely coalition, from the UK Climate Change Commission (UKCCC) right to the US leading climate change denier and peddler […]
HGHP Update for March
As a government funded research project, we need to be accountable for the progress we’re making across the different work packages. The second review of the Project took place earlier this month and we are awaiting feedback and recommendations from the independent review team on how best to achieve results for the remainder of the […]
Research project sparks interest in woodland creation among social housing providers
We are currently in the process of finalising the outcomes of research exploring how housing associations might intervene in the forestry and timber supply chain to stimulate afforestation and the home-grown supply of construction timber. This research, part funded by Natural Resources Wales, Woodknowledge Wales and a group of Welsh housing organisations, identified a real […]
NRW become member of Woodknowledge Wales
NRW have become the latest organisation to join Woodknowledge Wales growing alliance. Our membership now consists of over 40 organisations from all sectors of the timber supply chain from housing clients at the demand end, down through the complete supply chain to land-use and forest management organisations. NRW have a substantial influence on the Welsh […]
