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From garden sleeper to beautiful window. Challenging perceptions about Welsh timber

September 10, 2019 by admin

Custom Precision Joinery rose to the challenge laid down by Dainis Dauksta at a Woodknowledge Wales knowledge event on Developing the Welsh Joinery Sector – Barriers and Opportunities for Windows by offering to make a demonstration window from (1) local Welsh timber (2) to a specification acceptable to housing associations and (3) have it ready for WoodBUILD 2019. We were not disappointed!
This second knowledge event in our “Campaign for Wood Windows” looked at how the Welsh Joinery sector can respond to the real and growing demand from the social housing sector to supply wood windows and ultimately how the joinery sector can access home-grown timber to be used in making those windows.

Larch on planer showing straightness of the grain

Larch for the windows on planner. This photo shows the straightness of the grain after the first 20-30cm which can be removed.

During the event Dainis Dauksta (sawmiller, designer and consultant) had challenged perceptions that Welsh (and UK) forest plantations provide low grade softwood which is only fit for fence posts and biofuel. He urged us all to learn more and not to make the mistaken judgement that fast grown is always inferior to slow grown or that large ring width means low density. His talk illustrated how large Welsh logs which are currently being used in low value markets such as fencing and bio-fuel can provide high grade joinery timber.

The Timber

Two reject larch garden sleepers (2.4m*250mm*125mm) obtained from BSW were resawn (by Dainis Dauksta) into joinery sizes as specified by Custom Precision Joinery. The sleepers, which had been air dried were cut so that the juvenile corewood [1] was specifically sawn out and excluded from the final joinery grade product, this is because the core wood can have properties which are significantly different, and variable compared to the mature wood.

“Home grown larch is currently such an under-utilised joinery timber” said Dainis Dauksta who supplied the material used by Custom Precision Joinery. “High quality joinery grade timber is currently going into low value end markets which is such a waste of our resources.  This project showed just how easy it was to select and cut joinery grade timber from larch that was being sold as reject garden sleepers.”

Custom Precision Joinery checked the joinery grade larch on delivery and confirmed that it was fit for purpose. The scantlings where then conditioned in their workshop for two weeks before machining into the required profiles.

British grown larch is a moderately durable softwood with a colour that ranges from a light to dark brown heartwood to a white sapwood. It has a density of around 550kg/m3 at a moisture content of 12%.  When wet it has a tendency to distort but once dry it is generally stable.  Potentially large volumes of larch could become available in Wales because of the Phytophthora ramorum epidemic.  Larch is a very useful construction timber and larch grown in Wales can already be visually strength graded to C24.  It can be used for cladding, structural and joinery applications. High-quality stainless-steel fixings should be used to avoid corrosion of fixings.

The Windows

2 windows displayed on a table at a conference trade show

Two windows made by Custom Precision Joinery from Welsh larch and on display at WoodBUILD 2019.

Two windows were made at Custom Precision Joinery in Buckley, north Wales, they were the same design but had different paint finishes.  The windows were made to a design supplied by Coastal Specialist Ironmongery Ltd (also participants in our windows workshop). The design used was one which has already been approved as suitable for social housing.

“We are very pleased with how these windows turned out” said Colin Morris from Custom Precision Joinery. ”A large percentage of home grown timbers are generally of a higher standard than that of imported timbers. However, the Welsh supply chain is an issue for manufacturers in the joinery sector like us. But with the right investment and perseverance Wales has a unique opportunity to enhance this sector.”

What next?

Profile detail of window made by Custom Precision Joinery, fixtures by Coastal Specialist Ironmongery and paint finish by Remmers (UK) Lrd.

This project has shown that high quality joinery items can be made from Welsh timber that is currently being sawn and sold for low value garden sleepers. Just by grading and sawing that same material in a different way it has been transformed into a high value joinery grade timber.
Simple interventions like this could help develop the supply chain for Welsh timber and offer smaller sawmills opportunities to diversify and provide higher value products into the joinery sector. However, the demand for joinery products made from Welsh timbers need to developed. One way to do this is by working with housing associations and local authorities. This is being done through the Home-Grown Homes Project, led by Powys County Council which is exploring supply chain interventions to encourage growth of the timber sector in Wales.
At the end of the Home-Grown Homes Project a set of recommendations will be presented to Welsh Government with case studies to demonstrate how interventions could help improve the supply of Welsh timber to Welsh house building manufactures to build more and better homes.

Woodknowledge Wales would like to thank Custom Precision Joinery for offering to make these windows from Welsh timber and putting them on show at WoodBUILD 2019. We would also like to thank Coastal Specialist Ironmongery for their part in providing the specification for the window design and Craig Lovatt, formally of Custom Precision Joinery and now of Remmers (UK) Ltd for initiating the project.

[1] Corewood or ‘juvenile wood’ is found within the first 10–20 annual rings adjacent to the pith.

Filed Under: Case Study, Grading, Joinery, Processing, Resources, Welsh Timber Windows, Windows Tagged With: Building Elements, Case Study, Home Grown Homes, Processing

Cartrefi Di-Garbon

June 25, 2019 by admin

Comisiynwyd Woodknowledge Wales gan Lywodraeth Cymru I baratoi strategaeth ar gyfer integreiddio cadwyn gyflenwi diwydiannau coedwig Cymru ag adeiladu â phren oddi ar y safle. Mae’r ddogfen hon yn darparu cynllun gweithredu strategol ar gyfer trawsnewid y defnydd o bren adeiladu a dyfir gartref ar gyfer adeiladu tai a helpu i gyflawni dyheadau Deddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau’r Dyfodol.

Darllenwch yr adroddiad llawn yma.


Filed Under: Construction, Forestry, Foundational Economy, Foundational Economy, Home-Grown Homes, Housing, Manufacturing, Policy Briefing, Resources Tagged With: Construction, Policy Briefing, Whole Life Carbon

Zero Carbon Homes

June 20, 2019 by admin

Welsh Government commissioned Woodknowledge Wales to prepare a strategy for the integration of the Welsh forest industries supply chain with offsite timber construction. This document provides an action plan to transform the use of home-grown timber in house building and help deliver the aspirations of the Well-being of Future Generations Act.
Read the report here.

Filed Under: Construction, Forestry, Home-Grown Homes, Housing, Manufacturing, Policy Briefing, Resources Tagged With: Construction, Policy Briefing, Whole Life Carbon

Grŵp Cynefin video about benefits of building with timber

January 21, 2019 by admin

Video from Grŵp Cynefin explaining the benefits of choosing to build with timber. In this video see the project under way at the former Buckley Medical Centre, in the town centre. The £2.2m two-storey timber-framed building will comprise 14 two- and ten one-bedroom apartments and is being developed in partnership with Flintshire County Council.

Filed Under: Case Study, Construction, Housing, Manufacturing, New-Build Tagged With: Case Study, Construction, Home Grown Homes, Structural Timber

Home-grown Timber Construction

June 6, 2017 by admin

Cwrt Rhos Fynach, Rhos on Sea

Quality homes designed, constructed and built from Wales’ woodland resource by local companies, to meet our housing needs – surely a win, win, win for our economy, environment and society?
Cwrt Rhos Fynach, Rhos on Sea was designed by Cru Architects, for Wales and West Housing Association to meet the needs of Conwy Borough Council in North Wales. Housing up to 26 residents in 11 flats, it was constructed and built by Williams Homes (Bala) Ltd using home-grown timber.

Benefits Of Using Home-Grown Timber
The Rhos on Sea project demonstrates that in Wales we have the raw materials and technical capacity to create a modern high performance and sustainable built environment. The project presents a model that if repeated all over Wales using a multitude of offsite techniques[1] available to clients would transform the quality and sustainability of the built environment and create additional economic and social value. This projects gives more confidence to an emerging Welsh industry that aspires to supply both the Welsh and English markets.
Wales has 13.8% forest cover. The European average forest cover is 37%.  Increasing the forest cover of Wales would be good for bio-diversity, water, air, amenity, flood prevention and soil health. It could also supply a sustainable construction resource for our future generations.
85% of timber used in construction is imported.  This means that there is a substantial market demand to enable expansion of the UK timber industry.  Increased production of home-grown timber is good because:

  • It improves the balance-of-trade,
  • It creates employment – particularly in rural areas
  • It encourages forest planting, which is good for the environment.

Increasing forestry and increased construction timber form part of climate change mitigation strategies.  Forests provide a permanent carbon store. When timber is used in long life applications such as a construction beam, a carbon store is then created in buildings. Both forests and construction timber can be accounted for in a way that helps Wales meet its climate change commitments.
The Rhos on sea projects contributes to climate change mitigation in 3 key ways. (1) The high performance housing reduces operational energy consumption. (2) The use of homegrown timber creates carbon store that can be quantified and accounted for to help Wales meet its climate change commitments. (3) The indirect stimulation to forest planting is a further benefit, although difficult to quantify.
The Rhos on Sea apartments demonstrate that home-grown timber is suitable for use in modern timber frame construction. The project demonstrates that with a motivated client, it is entirely possible to construct modern affordable high performance Welsh houses in a way that stimulates the development of Welsh businesses and the local timber industry and creates confidence about future demand.
[1] Open panel, closed panel, pre-insulted panel, volumetric etc.

Filed Under: Case Study, Housing, New-Build, Resources Tagged With: Case Study, Construction

Professor Callum Hill’s update on the positive environmental impact of wood 2016

December 21, 2016 by admin

In a review of the environmental impact of wood products, leading Welsh wood scientist, Callum Hill shows that timber products lock-up more carbon than is used in their production. The study also shows that generic embodied carbon data quoted from independent databases such as the Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) tend to underestimate the benefit of wood.

Download

Filed Under: Construction, Resources, Timber, Whole Life Carbon Tagged With: Building Elements, Structural Timber, Technical Briefing, Whole Life Carbon

Welsh Softwoods in Construction – Revised edition, March 2016

February 27, 2016 by admin

This research was undertaken by Woodknowledge Wales to identify the range of timber construction systems or techniques that are available for use in Wales and to identify the extent to which Welsh-grown softwoods could be utilised in their production.
Download

Filed Under: Construction, Forestry, Grading, Manufacturing, Processing, Resources, Technical Briefing, Timber Structures, Timber Systems, Welsh Timber Tagged With: Building Elements, Processing, Structural Timber, Technical Briefing

The Woodknowledge Wales Manifesto for Wood – March 2016

February 27, 2016 by admin

This ambitious manifesto seeks to describe what needs to be done in the timber and wood products sector and some of the benefits Woodknowledge Wales can deliver.
Download

Filed Under: Construction, Forestry, Housing, Manufacturing, Resources, Timber

Homegrown Timber in UK Construction – Case Studies, Volume. 1

February 27, 2016 by admin


The projects showcased here represent a snap-shot of what’s happening throughout the whole of the UK, but with an emphasis on projects in Wales – from housing to retail, simple homes and social housing to high end self-build, as well as offices and schools.
Download

Filed Under: Case Study, Construction, Housing, Joinery, Manufacturing, New-Build, Projects, Resources, Timber Structures, Timber Systems, Welsh Timber Tagged With: Building Elements, Case Study, Construction, Structural Timber

Sustainable Construction Timber – Ivor Davies 2016

February 25, 2016 by admin

FC Scotland have released a new publication by Ivor Davies, Sustainable Construction Timber – Sourcing and Specifying Local Timber. This is an invaluable new tool that will help clients understand how to procure homegrown timber.
Download

Filed Under: Construction, Design & Specification, Guidance, Housing, Procurement, Resources, Timber, Timber Systems, Welsh Timber Tagged With: Design Specification, Processing, Structural Timber

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