Despite wide recognition of their value, plantation forests are critically misunderstood and undervalued in Wales. Plantation forests comprise around 7% of the planet’s forest area whilst sustainably supplying over 50% of industrial roundwood. This report looks at myths and tropes around home-grown timber and considers research results from wood science and socio-economic aspects across planting, forest management, timber grading and processing.
Modern British sustainable forest management techniques were established 150 years ago and are still appropriate for efficiently growing construction grade softwoods. Exemplar stands of high grade Douglas fir in north Wales grow some of the largest conifer trees existing in Europe. Older conifer stands across Wales have great potential to produce high grade joinery softwood. Sitka spruce forests are routinely denigrated, nevertheless over 95% of Welsh spruce sawlogs can be graded to strength class from C16 to C27 because of Sitka spruce’s high strength to weight ratio. Yet, quality is regularly used as a weasel word in order to reinforce negative views about Welsh homegrown softwoods.
The FAO reported in 2013 that current trends in European forest management could result in an over-supply of wood from broadleaved species, as well as a shortfall of coniferous timber. Planted forests are exposed to socio-economic risks due to governance failures. These risks comprise a weak or inadequate forest policy framework including insecure investment conditions.
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Resources
Wooden Windows-Specification guidance for timber windows
Windows provide an outlook on the world. They help set the tone and character for a building and the area in which it stands. Windows define natural lighting levels and thermal comfort essential for the wellbeing of residents. They offer sound protection and keep homes safe from intrusion. Windows are an essential part of the building fabric and as such contribute to a development’s overall energy performance.
Modern factory-finished timber windows have a better environmental performance than any other window material. They have a longer service life and lower whole life costs than uPVC windows. Wooden windows can be repaired and recoated throughout their lifetime and are the best option for achieving zero carbon buildings. They can be sourced from local manufacturers using home-grown timber and support economic recovery in Wales.
The multiple benefits wooden windows deliver over their life-span in terms of maintenance, durability, embodied carbon, and other social and environmental aspects make them excellent value for money.
This document provides information for specifiers and procurement specialists working on social housing projects. It is designed to help with the specification of low-carbon timber windows in a social housing context. It provides performance criteria and indicates what needs to be considered to achieve these in practice. Windows are an essential element of the building fabric and should not be discussed in isolation. They should be considered very early in the design process when deciding what build system to use.
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More and Better Home-Grown Timber—The role for a consolidator
What might a business plan for the supply of home-grown timber to the Welsh housing sector look like, if it is to be closely integrated with the ownership and management of the timber resource in Wales?
Additional capacity in the sector has been identified in three key areas: secondary processing capacity; in undermanaged forestry and woodland; and a vast potential for greater tree planting in Wales, for a range of drivers.
This outline of a proposed business plan builds upon a previous analysis, which identified low integration between the supply and processing of Welsh timber, against the increasing demands of the construction sector. In order to deliver a reliable supply of timber, consolidation is required at a point in the supply chain. This could be achieved at two basic levels, either/or by stock of sawn timber collected from a number of small or medium mills, or consolidation of roundwood at a saw log level feeding predominantly one larger mill. The options for investment in both are discussed in this document. The authors seek not to decide at this stage which is better or worse, but to outline the conditions under which each would be viable.
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More and Better Home-Grown Timber—The financial case for existing landowners to plant woodland
From the TV presenters of Countryfile to the ever-escalating claims of political parties in the last UK elections, it seems everyone wants to plant more trees. Reasons vary from carbon capture, amenity, and biodiversity to production of usable timber, as do levels of ambition.
Amongst the most widely quoted targets, The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) say that UK needs 30K Ha of new woodland a year to 2050 as part of a suite of land use changes to meet the UKs commitment to become Zero Carbon. This afforestation is predicted to account for the largest share of the forecast £39 Bn cost, the majority of that being spent on land acquisition. This presumes that either we expand the public estate or encourage land acquisition by external investors.
Experience from solar and wind farms suggests that this will be expensive, slow, and unpopular with some existing landowners, particularly farmers. Nonetheless there is considerable pressure on farmers from Brexit and existing financial challenges particularly of upland farming are severe in Wales.
Based upon the above, our approach is to solve two problems together. Woodland creation for a range of benefits, providing the means for farm transformation, while avoiding the expense and social disruption of land acquisition.
Promising lower costs of delivered woodland and a wide range of associated benefits, the approach has much to recommend it, subject to its financial viability.
This report reviews opportunities and challenges through the lens of financial viability.
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Home-Grown Homes Project—A study for improving the Timber Construction Supply Industry in Wales
The purpose of the Home-Grown Homes project has been to identify and test out interventions that could have a transformative impact on the Welsh timber construction supply chain and on the delivery of low carbon social housing in Wales.
Housing, timber manufacturing and forestry are distinct areas of activity. This project is an exploration of how these three overlapping areas of our economy and society can be drawn into more purposeful alignment.
The project partners have worked closely with a network of organisations across the supply chain and house builders, including 12 Welsh housing associations. Specific actions to improve the business case for tree planting and management on farmland in Wales aimed to create options for re-deployment of farmland to improve productivity and to cope with inevitable reductions to farm incomes post Brexit.
This report identifies which supply chain interventions may be most effective and how they might be applied through regulation or other means.
In addition to the project report, other important outputs have been created that capture the learning from the project activities and support ongoing market driven development of the housing, timber manufacturing and forestry sectors in Wales.
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In addition to the project report, ▸▸ practical tools and guidance have been developed for social housing developers, architects and engineers, timber frame manufacturers and wood processors, forestry managers and land owners. A full list of project outputs can be accessed on the ▸▸ project background page.
Building Performance Evaluation Guide
New homes often fail to meet low-energy targets, and to satisfy residents with fundamental issues such as ease of use, summer comfort and energy costs. There is little Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) happening routinely on projects to close the performance gap. A step change is needed to transition to net zero carbon while making our homes comfortable, healthy and enjoyable.
This guidance is aimed at housing clients, and anyone interested in Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) who want to evaluate and improve the performance of homes.
Its purpose is to provide an introduction to applying BPE in practice on projects, with:
- Information for clients and project managers to gain an overview of the benefits of BPE, what the main BPE techniques can do, how to procure it, and the main activities to plan throughout a project from design to occupancy
- Guidance on the main BPE techniques available
- Tools for day-to-day use on projects, complemented by more detailed guidance, examples and references.
This guidance recommends a “core” BPE scope for clients and project teams wanting to understand and improve the performance of their homes. This provides a holistic look at performance, including people, the indoor environment, fabric performance, energy use and water use. It highlights how BPE techniques can work together, and the interactions between energy performance, people, and the indoor environment. It limits the involvement of experts and expensive equipment. Instead, the aim is to embed building performance throughout the project stages and empower project teams to deliver high performance.
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Cover image: © shutterstock.com / NDAB Creativity
Serious About Green?—Building a Welsh wood economy through co-ordination
Why would it be beneficial for Welsh society to build a wood economy? The ‘Serious about Green?’ report takes a closer look and analyses the economic and social parameters.
The report is authored by the team at Foundational Economy Research, led by Karel Williams. It brings together the Woodknowledge Wales forest industries agenda with foundational economic thinking. In a world without silver bullets, we believe the report provides a frank analysis of where we are now, and how a transformative journey to a socially just wood economy can be coordinated.
There’s no doubt this is a challenging agenda. Wales is a sheep, beef and dairy nation and Wales is a steel nation. These activities are deeply ingrained in our cultural identity. They may have been rational activities for the past century but are not well-aligned to the low carbon needs of 21st Century Welsh society. Forestry is.
Furthermore, Wales has a landscape, soil and climate suited to forestry. Well-conceived forestry can address both the biodiversity crises and the climate emergency, whilst providing an industrial resource with which to build and retrofit the low carbon homes of the future.
The report offers insight and stimulating ideas to policy makers, business leaders and citizens interested in a sustainable future for Wales.
Interested in being part of the journey towards a wood based foundational economy? Get in touch to join the dialogue on how to build a foundational Welsh wood economy.
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Carbon Storage Contract
The future building stock is the most effective and most immediate opportunity for carbon reduction and long-term carbon storage. By creating a new economic model for monetising the carbon reduction and storage capacity of the future building stock, the use and specification of low-carbon and carbon-storing materials could be incentivised.
Woodknowledge Wales have been working with providers of a voluntary carbon marketplace that pairs business buyers with building projects that demonstrate meaningful carbon reduction and carbon storage (30+ years). To demonstrate the viability and potential economic incentive, we have developed this exemplar carbon storage contract based on a recent social housing development in Llanbedr, Wales.
The goals are:
- To change the financial equitation for developers, architects, engineers, and builders to use more low-carbon and carbon storing building materials.
- To enable businesses to achieve their carbon reduction goals by purchasing reliable, verifiable, and asset-backed carbon reduction and storage contracts (CRSCs).
The building industry has adopted EN 15978 as the platinum standard for quantifying CO2 avoidance and CO2 storage which allows this mechanism to work internationally.
For further information, please get in touch: info@woodknowledge.wales.
Capturing Carbon: Investing in Woodlands—An Options Analysis for Welsh Housing Associations
New woodland creation is one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing carbon emissions and offsetting our nation’s carbon footprint. The combination of an undersupply of our own timber in Wales and the ambitions of Wales and the Welsh Government to create new woodlands means that an organisation interested in creating new woodlands can play a pivoting role in combating climate change.
Woodlands have proven an attractive alternative asset for long-term investors, as they provide the opportunity to benefit from the value of a naturally growing commodity and the security of ownership of the underlying land. Woodlands have multiple benefits and these can be reaped in a way that makes a financial return for the investors.
A very new and interesting market is the trading of carbon. The sale of carbon credits allows landowners who create new woodlands to increase their financial returns by selling both timber and non-timber products. Government forecasts suggest these values could rise five-fold over a 40-year period which will have a significant impact on the profitability of a woodland creation project.
This document explores three investment options for Housing Associations
- Creating woodland by acquiring land.
- Creating new woodland through novel collaboration with the public sector e.g. NRW, Local Authorities etc.
- Acquiring existing woodland.
Timber Cladding—Specification Guidance for Social Housing
Timber cladding has become increasingly popular, mainly for its sustainability credentials and low environmental impact: It has a low carbon footprint as it requires less energy to produce than any other construction material and helps lock carbon into the building fabric. It is made from renewable material – wood – and can be reused, recycled or used as fuel at the end of its service life. Timber cladding is widely available from sustainably managed forests and can be sourced locally.
With correct detailing, proper installation and appropriate materials, timber cladding will provide a long lasting decorative and functional façade to any type of development, new build or existing stock.
This document provides information for specifiers and procurement specialists working on social housing projects. It is designed to help with the strategic selection of timber cladding as an external rainscreen in a social housing context. It provides performance criteria for specifying timber cladding and indicates what needs to be considered to achieve these in practice. The document highlights performance benefits across a range of intended design outcomes and is designed to help ensure that timber cladding is used appropriately. Timber cladding should not be viewed in isolation and should be considered very early on in the design process when specifying details and deciding on what build system to use.
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