Toby is a structural engineer with a diverse career engineering everything from oil platforms and concert halls to handbags.  He established the successful TALL Engineers in 2005 that went on to build a reputation for providing practical yet technically sophisticated and holistic solutions to diverse projects in the built environment and concentrating on design from first principles, with the firm increasingly concentrating on timber as a structural material.  Having sold this firm, in 2020 Toby established Allt Environmental to atone for past carbon sins and to address the urgent need to decarbonise the built environment especially in relation to embodied carbon. 

Since Allt was established Toby has mixed project work, research and consultancy, with a focus in understanding the environmental impacts of timber in construction.

Flora Seddon is a Researcher at Bangor University. Her Masters focuses on ‘adding value to, and scaling up farm forestry through collective and collaborative management’. Collective management of dispersed small-scale farm woodlands will be essential for addressing societal demand for timber which is set to triple over the next thirty years. Flora will explore how geographically dispersed farm woodlands can be managed collectively to overcome the scaling issues of farm-level timber production and how forest products can be collaboratively marketed. She will focus on the UK (and Wales specifically) but draw on examples of collective management of small-scale forestry abroad.

John Sweeny is chair of the small sawmillers community of practice.

Born in Ireland, John grew up in Wales while still spending most of his childhood summers on his grandparents’ small dairy farm in Southern Ireland. There he found his connection with the land but also witnessed first-hand the impact of intensified agricultural over the years. As an adult, he served in the Air Force for seven years, then spent five years in the Arctic and Antarctic regions where navigating through the glacial meltwaters opened his eyes to climate change. He turned to forestry so he could continue to work out of doors and now focuses on work that allows him to contribute to decarbonisation and positive change for future generations.

Heddwyn Bye is a Researcher at Bangor University. His Masters focuses on quantifying the value of farm woodlands for timber products and carbon using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, or ground-based LiDAR). Trees growing in woodlands on farms are a potentially valuable, yet underutilised source of timber. Heddwyn will first evaluate traditional methods of measuring or estimating the value of these trees. He will then apply recent LiDAR scanning developments to develop more efficient and accurate methods to quantify the value of these trees in terms of timber products and carbon.

Thomas Henderson is a Researcher at Bangor University. His Masters focuses on Life cycle analysis-based modelling of ‘Welsh timber’ incorporating environmental burdens and ecosystem service impacts. This project will use LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) based modelling to assess the ecosystem service impacts of entire timber product systems, considering where and when the supply and demand of these benefits are distributed along the value chain. Thomas will analyse different options for new woodlands and value chains, and by incorporating a range of ecosystem services, could inform a regenerative approach to timber industry expansion.

Sarah M Lawton is the Communications Manager for Woodknowledge Wales, working for the individuals, communities and businesses involved in the purposeful development of the nation’s forest industries. Sarah is passionate about collecting and sharing stories with the power to drive real behavioural change. She is always excited to help specialists add accessibility to scientific case studies or develop structure around anecdotal narrative. She also loves to dabble with technically innovative content styles.

Anna Dauksta is the Forestry and Timber Project Manager for Woodknowledge Wales.
Anna is passionate about creating a future where individuals, communities and businesses across Wales and the UK have a deeper understanding of the vital part forestry and timber can play in improving the sustainability of our built and natural environments.
Anna has had a varied career working in a range of environmental and educational roles including Aberystwyth University, Tir Coed and A Greener Future. She is committed to helping people and the environment during a time of ecological and economical crisis.

Chris is an independant specialist forestry advisor for WKW. He has over 35 years’ experience of woodland management in Wales previously working for Forestry Commission Wales, Forest Research and Natural Resources Wales. Chris has specialised in understanding and using silviculture to enable the development and management of resilient and sustainable woodlands. Critically he is able to provide the knowledge that links the trees Wales grows, the environment they grow in and the products from the woodlands.

James Moxey has a background in academia working at the University of Manchester and the University of Wales. He was Director of the Creative Industries Research and Innovation Centre based in Swansea. He has been the Director of a number of Welsh Government sponsored knowledge transfer centre projects, managed feasibility studies and overseen R&D collaborative projects with Welsh companies. His main focus is enterprise and innovation which means securing funding and providing leadership for innovation projects with a focus on SME growth.

Specialist Advisor (Wood Science)

Dainis is MD of Wood Science Ltd, consultant and researcher for WKW and a visiting wood science lecturer for City and Guilds London School of Art. Dainis has worked in the field of forestry and design of timber structures for more than 25 years. With Woodknowledge Wales, LCRI and BRE Dainis has completed over 10,000 hours of research and published six major reports which demonstrate the potential for and desirability of using homegrown softwoods in construction. Dainis has co-authored the book “New Perspectives on People and Forests” with Eva Ritter.

Email: dainis.dauksta@woodknowledgewales.co.uk