What can reduce your blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels while at the same time improving air quality through humidity control and help fight climate change through storing carbon?
This Australian based report from 2015 looks at the health and well-being benefits of wooden interiors in houses, business, places of learning and healing. The report examines literature and empirical studies that assess the benefits of using wood in an indoor environment as well as reporting the results of the attitudes of Australians towards using wood.
Read full report here.
Other Resource
ASBP – The Multiple Roles of Insulation
This Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) briefing was published on the ASBP website in 2018 as is part of a planned series of ASBP
industry briefing papers aimed at generating a greater understanding of the roles and capabilities of natural fibre insulation (NFI). The aim of these briefing papers was to enable industry to deliver better buildings designed to take advantage of the significant building performance benefits of NFIs.
Read the full report here.
Think Forests – Ireland
Forest Industries Ireland (FII) is placing timber and forestry at the heart of Ireland’s rural economy.
FII is a new organisation that brings together companies from across the forestry and timber supply chain, from forest owners and forestry companies, to timber processors, wood product manufacturers, and renewable energy producers. With a combined turnover of over €800 million, the industry is a major player in the rural and national economies.
The industry is enjoying a period of major capital investment, market buoyancy and substantial growth in wood supply. These three elements will underpin growth for the industry that will see it double in size in the next two decades.
Read the full report here.
Roots for Growth. An economic strategy for Scotland
An economic strategy for Scotland’s forest and timber technology sector to 2030
The Scottish forest industries sector has an ambitious plan to double the economic contribution of their sector from £1 billion to £2 billion by 2030. The Scottish Timber Technologies Industry Leaders Group have now created a strategy which maps a path for delivery. This strategy further highlights the urgent need for a government backed industrial strategy for wood in Wales. In Wales we seem to be strong on aspiration and intention for forest industries development but found wanting when it comes to strategy and implementation. Woodknowledge Wales believes we should follow Scotland’s example.
Read the report here.
The Purpose and Role of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate
The Purpose and Role of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE)
The Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE), that is land owned by Welsh Government and managed by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for us – the people of Wales, represents 6% of land area in Wales – or 126,000 ha. This represents 40% of the total Welsh forest resource.
The majority (84%) of the WGWE is made up of conifers, important species for the housing construction sector. In 2016 /17 the WGWE supplied 840,000 cubic meters of sustainable managed timber, making it the largest supplier of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) certified timber in Wales.
The document, The Purpose and Role of the Welsh Governement Woodland Estate, sets out the four key principles about the good that the WGWE will deliver over the next 25 years. The four key principles are:
First principle. That it is a woodland estate, and the land should remain as woodland, and that the woodland area on the estate should be bigger in 25 years than it is today.
Second principle. That the estate will continue to be using the UK Forestry Standard as the benchmark, with commitment to retain the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification labels for the products of the woodland.
Third principle. The estate should work for all the people of Wales. Manged so that there is collaboration with others, especially with communities and those who have an interest in woodland and natural resources, to support the well-being of Wales.
Fourth principle. The estate should contribute to prosperity for all people in Wales and there should be reinvestment of income from the woodland estate in its sustainable management.
Read more here.
Video explaining why wood windows last longer than uPVC
In this video Dr Gill Menzies of Heriot Watt Univeritys, Edinburgh, explains why wood windows last longer than uPVC.
https://youtu.be/EExH3nrlZuI
Timber properties of noble fir, Norway spruce, western red cedar and western hemlock grown in Great Britain
The softwood processing sector in Great Britain has been built around the use of a very small number of timber-producing species – predominantly Sitka spruce. The recent increase in outbreaks of host-specific tree pests and diseases has led to an interest in diversification, through planting a wider range of tree species, to mitigate any risk to the softwood resource. However, there is a lack of evidence about how this diversification will impact on the future merchantability of timber. This Research Note investigates the structural timber properties of noble fir, Norway spruce, western red cedar and western hemlock grown in Great Britain and compares the results with published values for British-grown Sitka spruce. The study was carried out using timber from even-aged plantations growing in a range of latitudes representative of productive conifer forests. Twenty-seven trees per species were felled, processed into structural-sized battens, kiln dried and destructively tested in a laboratory according to current European standards. Characteristic values of mechanical properties and density were determined and indicative yields for different strength classes were calculated. The results showed that all of the species investigated can produce structural timber, but that western red cedar has the least desirable properties for this purpose. Some further work is under way in order to investigate the effect of rotation length on the timber properties of these species.
FCRN026 research note
Climate Impact Of Constructing An Apartment with CLT
Climate impact of constructing an apartment building with exterior walls and frame of cross-laminated timber
— the Strandparken residential towers
Summary report, carried out by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology and targeting an apartment building constructed almost entirely of wood. The project’s main report (IVL report No B2260) is entitled “The construction phase’s climate impact. Life cycle calculation of the climate impact and energy use of a newly produced energy-efficient residential building in concrete with wooden frames” (in Swedish).
The LCA focuses on an eight-storey apartment building with exterior walls and frames of cross-laminated timber and an additional souterrain floor. The souterrain floor is made of concrete and includes a basement and parking spaces. Folkhem acted as entrepreneur and property developer of the Strandparken wooden houses complex in Sundbyberg, a suburb of Stockholm. Completed in 2013, these are the tallest apartment buildings with wooden frames in Sweden.
Embodied Carbon: Developing a Clients Brief
Embodied Carbon: Developing a Client Brief – UK GBC
With the increasingly successful reduction of operational energy (and thus carbon emissions)
in the built environment, the industry’s next challenge is to reduce the carbon intensity of the
structures themselves (embodied carbon). We know that clients will play a critical role in this
work as what clients ask for, the supply chain works to deliver. UK-GBC also understands that
embodied carbon is an area that many clients are just beginning to address.
This guide is designed for those who need to write effective briefs for commissioning their
first embodied carbon measurements, but who may be at an early stage of embodied carbon
knowledge. It is not a how-to guide for measuring carbon, or which method or tools should
be adopted.
This guide been written by the industry, for the industry. The guidance provides
straightforward information on how to develop a brief and ‘get the job done’. For those
looking for greater depth of knowledge, there is Supporting Guidance with links to further
detailed information.
UK-GBC EC Developing Client Brief has been led by a team at the UK-GBC,
supported by a specialist working group. At key points in the development process the guide
has gone to wider UK-GBC member review (primarily with clients). UK-GBC would like to
thank all those who have contributed to this new guide.
“UK-GBC’s vision is of a built environment that is fully decarbonised. This has to include both
embodied and operational carbon. As operational carbon reduces, the relative significance
of embodied carbon increases. So we will continue to advocate for embodied carbon to
become a mainstream issue in building design, construction and maintenance. Indeed, we
will be encouraging our client members and other clients in the industry to create their own
embodied carbon briefs by making effective use of this guidance.
Also, through our work with cities and other local and national authorities, we will be
encouraging the assessment of embodied carbon within the public sector planning and
procurement process.”
Julie Hirigoyen
CEO, UK Green Building Council
Making the Grade
The aim of this guide is to encourage greater use of UK grown hardwoods. It provides information on the range of quality available from our sawn hardwood timber and highlights the special features of UK grown hardwoods that are often difficult to obtain from imports.
Making the Grade