Gary is the Chief Executive of Woodknowledge Wales and co-founder and board member of the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (a materially agnostic membership alliance that champions sustainable, healthy and circular construction products and business models). Gary is a construction engineer by training and early career. After completing a wood technology masters, Gary spent some formative years at the at the BioComposites Centre in Bangor as a researcher where he became inspired by the technical possibilities of bio-materials. In 1995, Gary established a fully integrated hemp and flax processing plant in North Wales and contracted the growing of industrial fibre crops on farms in England and Wales. Over the following 20 years Gary was responsible for developing and manufacturing a range of bio-products including horticultural and automotive nonwovens, hemp particleboard and hemp fibre insulation supplied through B&Q.

Contact Gary at: gary.newman@woodknowledgewales.co.uk