Woodknowledge Wales welcomes UK Government’s policy paper
On 11 December, following significant collaboration between government and industry representatives from across the supply chain, UK Government published their Timber in construction roadmap [1] for England.
This policy paper aims to support the expansion of low-carbon timber construction in the UK, reduce embodied carbon in the built environment, drive investment into tree planting, forest management and domestic supply chains and create industry jobs. It introduces a framework to implement the UK Governments commitment to increasing statutory tree and woodland cover in England to 16.5% by 2050, the Net Zero Strategy [2], the England Trees Action Plan [3] and the 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan [4].
In her foreword, Rebecca Pos, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Nature states: “Alongside increasing tree planting rates, we need to make good use of the timber arising from the trees we grow, both hardwood and softwood. We have identified that increased use of timber in the construction industry would make a significant difference to stimulate demand for domestic planting stock in England.“
“Increasing our home grown supply of wood, importantly, will reduce our reliance on imported timber. More and safe use of timber in construction will be a key step in supporting the forestry and wood processing sectors to grow and innovate, creating new green jobs and helping level up rural economies,” wrote Pos.
“The TIC Roadmap is a welcomed step forward for England’s timber industry and it is great to see moves to increase supply of home grown wood and reduce import reliance,” said Gary Newman, CEO, Woodknowledge Wales.
Seven priority themes outlined
The document outlines the opportunities and barriers to the use of timber in construction in England, centred around seven priority themes:
- priority theme 1: improving data on timber and whole life carbon
- priority theme 2: promoting the safe, sustainable use of timber as a construction material
- priority theme 3: increasing skills, capacity, and competency across the supply chain
- priority theme 4: increasing the sustainable supply of timber
- priority theme 5: addressing fire safety and durability concerns to safely expand the use of engineered mass timber
- priority theme 6: increasing collaboration with insurers, lenders, and warranty providers
- priority theme 7: promoting innovation and high performing timber construction systems
Woodknowledge Wales’ response
“While this policy paper is a step in the right direction, there is no mention of timber in construction as a Greenhouse Gas Reduction (GGR) solution and links to the circular economy need to be stronger,” said Newman.
The built environment is responsible for approximately a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Timber in construction is an impactful, low cost, and technically ready GGR solution [5]. Large buildings using timber and engineered timber products can store up to 400% more carbon when compared with concrete constructions.
“The paper states that UK Government will ‘work with industry to explore options to reduce carbon emissions associated with timber construction at “end of life” and encourage greater circularity in the supply chain’. However, Government and industry commitment to increasing circularity remains weak, despite the evidence [7] that, in the short term, circularity will do more for climate change mitigation than tree planting,” continued Newman.
Quoted in a recent press release from Confor [8], Dr Eilidh Forster of Bangor University said, “Any climate change strategy must be supported with planting scenarios that have duration, under which we moderate the way we use wood, not just using more but by doing more with the wood we already use. At its heart must be a vision that everyone can buy into, including [agreement] on the role of forestry in a circular bioeconomy.”
In response to the new Roadmap, Newman continued: “Likewise, the paper asks industry to ‘improve the quality of timber environmental product declarations (EPDs) by 2028 including through creation of a new, free to use timber EPD database being developed by Timber Development UK’. There also needs to be UK Government commitment to the development of a completely independent and well-governed database for all construction products and materials to eliminate data cherry-picking in embodied carbon calculations.”
Other points of missed opportunity Woodknowledge Wales experts wish to highlight include the lack of any mention around the development of a joinery supply chain or any exploration of government-backed insurance to encourage construction of low carbon, biogenic and/or timber buildings.
“Might, for example, there be room for a government-backed joint initiative with insurers, similar to FloodRE, to overcome the risk industry’s aversion to timber buildings and make innovative low carbon buildings more affordable for clients, developers and property owners?” asks Newman. [8]
“Finally,” said Newman. “It’s great to see the connection between the UK forest and the use of timber in the built environment and we look forward to a dramatic increase in the production and use of home grown timber in UK construction.”
Further reading
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/timber-in-construction-roadmap/timber-in-construction-roadmap#ministerial-foreword
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/england-treesaction-plan-2021-to-2024
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-improvement-plan
- Greenhouse gas removal methods and their potential UK deployment, 2021, BEIS
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-removal-methods-technology-assessment-report - E J. Forster et al, Circular wood use can accelerate global decarbonisation but requires cross-sectoral coordination, Nature Communications, 25 October 2023, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42499-6
- Greenhouse gas removal methods and their potential UK deployment, 2021, BEIS
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-removal-methods-technology-assessment-report - https://www.confor.org.uk/news/latest-news/progress-towards-uk-net-zero-goals-is-way-off-track/
- https://www.floodre.co.uk/
