Reports
Unlocking climate, economic and social value through afforestation, sustainable forest management and circular wood use
A report summarising Home-Grown Homes research undertaken by Woodknowledge Wales, the BioComposites Centre and the ASBP that seeks to redefine the role of timber and other biogenic materials in construction
Continue Reading Using Wood in Construction as a significant Greenhouse Gas Removal Mechanism
New consolidation and recommendations report and Minecraft-based learning tool explore how education can support forest and timber careers
New report explores how the National Forest for Wales can boost timber supply for construction by supporting sawmills and sustainable woodland management practices
Continue Reading Opportunities for More High Value Timber from the National Forest
This report explores how woodland creation and timber use in Wales can enhance ecosystem services, supporting climate goals, rural economies and community wellbeing
Continue Reading The Ecosystem Services Impacts of Woodland Creation and Timber Products
Forestry and timber industries face a critical skills crisis. This report explores bold, collaborative action to regenerate careers, communities, and climate resilience across Wales
A building’s thermal performance is now as important an aspect of the building’s design and construction as its structure. Energy prices and climate change are often cited as the principal reasons for the increased energy and CO2 reduction standards required of our built environment. Less known is the fact that insulation can also play a major role in our health, safety, comfort and wellbeing.
Continue Reading Wood Fibre Insulation – Specification Guidance
What is the zero carbon timber housing solution for Wales? This document proposes a range of timber build solutions. Results are based on the analysis of an appropriate and future proofed definition for ‘zero carbon’, followed by design and calculation to develop an understanding of the quantifiable factors of embodied and operational carbon. Using a…
Continue Reading Zero Carbon Homes—Zero Carbon Timber Solutions for Wales
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…
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…
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…
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…
Continue Reading Timber Cladding—Specification Guidance for Social Housing
Making the right decisions for the benefit of a building’s long term performance and user experience can be compromised by cost, lack of experience, and poor understanding of timber frame construction. This guide aims to highlight some of the key points to consider along the pathway of designing, constructing and maintaining timber frame housing. These…
This guidance has been written for those wanting to both increase their knowledge of Embodied Carbon in the housing sector and to understand how to reduce it.
Building on the work of the UKGBC and LETI, the Home-Grown Homes Project have developed a graphical net-zero guide with a set of targets & principles that we believe are achievable within a Welsh context. The guide is aimed at helping developers, designers and manufacturers achieve net-zero whole life carbon. This means tackling upfront carbon,…
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
Continue Reading Sustainable Construction Timber – Ivor Davies 2016
