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Joe Bradbury explores the true potential of wood

As the built environment moves towards becoming eco-friendly, buildingspecifier Editor Joe Bradbury posits the question – are we not seeing the wood for the trees in the quest for a viable green alternative?

The construction industry accounts for almost 7% of the economy in the UK and we hold a 10% share of total employment. However, with great size comes great responsibility and unfortunately – a very big carbon footprint. 47% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated from buildings and 10% of CO2 emissions come from construction materials. Shockingly, 20% of the materials used on the average building site end up in a skip. According to a 2011 report, in 2010 up to 4.3 million tonnes of timber waste was generated.

However, it isn’t all doom and gloom and reckless capitalism, as the construction industry has come on leaps and bounds over the past 20 years or so in a bid to make the industry a cleaner, greener entity. One area where vast improvements have been made is in the recycling and usage of wood in buildings. In 1992, less than 2% of all waste wood was recycled; 10 years later approximately 60% (2.8 million tonnes) of all wood waste generated in the UK was recycled.

The energy industry is also beginning to see the potential of wood for cleaning up its act. Because trees absorb carbon dioxide whilst they grow, burning wood for energy is considered ‘carbon neutral.’ In 2010 around 0.55 million tonnes of wood was used in energy generation. Some coal-fired power stations have had some of their boilers converted to accept wood and they burn more than 100,000 tonnes of recycled woodchip a year.

Remarkably, the future of wood in construction of buildings has reached soaring new heights recently as innovations in engineered timber could spell the beginning of a new era of eco-friendly wooden skyscraper design.

Despite wood in its raw form not being able to compete with the steel-frame design used in skyscrapers globally, a new type of super-plywood has been created that just might give steel a run for its money.

By gluing layers of low-grade softwood together to create timber panels, today’s “engineered timber” resembles Ikea flat-packed furniture rather than traditional sawn lumber and removes the height limits usually imposed on buildings with timber frames. Free from these constraints, ambitious architects are exploring the possibility of a next generation of “plyscrapers.”

Architect Michael Green has drawn up plans for a 30-storey, naturally grown tower for downtown Vancouver, which if built would become the world’s highest wooden building – an accolade currently awarded to London’s Stadthaus at nine storeys and the 10-storey Forte Building in Melbourne.

With China next on the list of countries suspected to implement timber skyscrapers into their cityscapes, it is definitely possible that we could one day be working in a building that began life as a seed.

However, there is still deep mistrust of timber builds en masse, with many considering them a tinderbox responsible for causing ravaging city fires such as the great fire of London, San Francisco and Chicago, to name a few examples.  Whilst historically fires have razed great cities to the ground, today’s engineered timber develops a protective charring layer that maintains structural integrity and burns very predictably. This means that it would actually be more structurally sound than steel, which warps drastically under intense heat.

NASA satellite photos of our planet help biologists calculate the number of trees there are on Earth. Whilst impossible to settle on a specific number, many professors agree that there are roughly 61 trees per person worldwide. It requires 22 trees to produce the amount of oxygen consumed by one person, with an acre of trees producing enough oxygen for 18 people. The forest loss is 49,421 acres per day, equivalent to an area twice the size of Paris – an alarming statistic when you consider the expanding population.

Obviously trees alone aren’t the answer to the construction industry’s environmental issues, however, through responsible usage and with the utmost respect it could help us edge further towards that cleaner, greener future we all need.

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Industry risks running out of timber soon if we don’t become more sustainable

A report commissioned by WWF finds that UK businesses must invest in sustainable forest management if they are to guarantee access to timber that their businesses rely on in the near future. Leading countries that supply timber to the UK are either at the point of expiry or running at a deficit as forest resources are used without adequate provision for sustainable timber supply.

However, the report highlights key benefits that will make the case for businesses to switch more rapidly to sustainable sourcing. These include:

  • advantages in regulatory positioning
  • easier raising of finance
  • added brand value
  • a more engaged workforce

It also gives manufacturers maximum scope for product development and provides retailers with a full range of tradable goods. These benefits can increase performance of the timber industry as a whole and ultimately aid the bottom line of all companies involved.

As the international market for timber will change in its dynamics in the next decades, without urgent action UK businesses who have failed to adequately plan for continuity of their timber resource could be left exposed with fewer commercial options.

Depleting sustainable resources

The implications are far reaching with WWF’s Living Forests report series concluding that global demand for timber is expected to triple by 2050 due to an increase in demand of wood and paper products from growing economies and populations. At the same time this report’s analysis indicates that:

  • Brazil has only 16 years of timber forests remaining, South Africa 7 years, Colombia 12 years, Mexico 9 years, Nigeria 11 years, Thailand 9 years and Pakistan 10 years.
  • Primary forest is being depleted at an alarming rate in many forested countries, the most extreme examples being Nigeria, losing 99% of primary forest, and Vietnam 80% since 1990 – a loss of almost 2 million hectares in these two countries alone. This has a huge impact on the biodiversity and other important forest ecosystem functions.
  • In the UK by 2050 less than 22% of the timber will originate from Britain.
  • All the UK foresters interviewed for the report expressed grave concerns over the future of domestic softwood supply.

The report also sets out how sourcing timber from sustainably managed forests, will help protect the natural environment as forests not only provide timber but also supply a range of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, water provision, flood prevention, erosion control and biodiversity. Securing long-term supply of timber from sustainably managed forests, will help protect wildlife and ecosystem functions residing in these forests, as well assisting in securing wider social benefits, and is also a contributor to the bottom line of businesses utilising timber as a resource, which currently is as yet widely unaccounted for as a benefit, only as a cost.

Julia Young, Global Forest and Trade Network Manager for WWF-UK commented “Committing to sustainable timber sourcing isn’t just an added bonus, but is something that any timber dependent business must be investing in if they want a healthy and resilient business that will survive. This report sets out important areas in business functions where benefits are likely to accrue, but are not accounted for when making decisions about the overall cost benefit of sustainable sourcing. We can no longer rely on our usual sources of timber as unsustainable practices are having devastating consequences on forests, and we face a real danger of not having enough timber to satisfy our growing population needs.

“Businesses need to review how their timber is sourced if they want to secure supply for the future, and in keep timber prices stable. This will have tangible business benefits of sustainable practices including advantages in regulatory positioning, easier raising of finance, brand value and an engaged workforce. It also gives manufacturers maximum scope for product development and provides retailers with a full range of tradable goods. These business benefits can increase performance and ultimately aid the bottom line.

“The UK Government must lead by example and address sustainable forest use in the urgently upcoming 25 year plan for nature.”

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Is your timber legally harvested?

Designer furniture retailer Lombok has become the first business to be fined for breaching regulations introduced in 2013 to prohibit the importing and sale of illegally harvested timber.

Lombok was convicted and fined £5,000 plus costs after pleading guilty at the first hearing.

The company failed to exercise the required due diligence when placing an artisan sideboard on the market, imported on 1st June 2016 from India.

A previous breach of the relevant regulations had earlier been identified and led to a Notice of Remedial Action being served on Lombok on 28 April 2015; this was followed by a warning letter dated 7 October 2015 when the company failed to comply with the notice.

On 20 October 2016, officers visited Lombok’s central London showroom and found the required due diligence checks had not been made for an artisan sideboard for sale that had been imported from India.

When convicting the company District Judge stated these offences are “important”, addressing environmental concerns, biodiversity concerns, and public confidence that companies do not endanger those. Companies are required to mitigate the risk of illegal logging. Lombok had failed to exercise due diligence when importing the artisan sideboard, with their previous failures an aggravating feature, though in mitigation they had reacted proactively.

Taking into account their mitigation and credit for an early guilty plea, Lombok was fined £5,000, plus a victim surcharge of £170 and prosecution costs of £2,951. The total of £8,121 was ordered to be paid within 28 days.

Mike Kearney, Head of Regulatory Delivery Enforcement, said “The Government’s Regulatory Delivery team will take action against businesses that persistently, deliberately or recklessly fail to meet their legal obligations.

“Lombok failed to change their practises in response to our advice and so, given the impact of illegal logging, a criminal prosecution was appropriate. I am pleased that Lombok is now improving its supply chain monitoring.”

This prosecution was brought by the Insolvency Service Criminal Enforcement Team on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Regulatory Delivery team.

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UK timber shortage risk – industry response

Window Solutions response to an article we published last month entitled “Industry risks running out of timber soon if we don’t become more sustainable” posing the question: is PVC-U a more natural choice for windows as the sustainability of timber is called into question, or can the industry rebound?

Dear Editor,

On 11 July, you ran an article entitled ‘Industry risks running out of timber soon if we don’t become more sustainable’, which talked about the findings of a report from the WWF and the need for businesses to commit to sustainable timber sourcing to guarantee supplies for the future and keep timber prices stable. For the windows industry – and those specialising in wooden doors and frames – the report heralds an important warning which must not be ignored.

The world’s raw materials supply is being outstripped by growing global demand, and businesses everywhere must commit to using less. In the past, PVC too has faced similar challenges in supply and demand and we had to adapt quickly to survive.

We started small, recycling trade off-cuts more than 15 years ago. It’s relatively simple to recycle PVC and when used with new polymer, it can be given a new lease of life. Some reports suggest that PVC can be recycled up to 10 times in its lifetime, so future new polymer use could be significantly less if we recycle and reuse it more.

Our commitment to sustainability and using our resources more carefully has since expanded over the years – not because of the threat of another material supply crisis but because we needed to futureproof our business. We have invested more than €50m in new technology and facilities to ensure that more than half of our products will be made using recycled materials by 2020. Our ultimate goal is to use up to 100 per cent post-consumer waste in the core of our profiles.

At this year’s Fit Show, we launched our new co-extrusion profile, which uses new and recycled PVC together. For the replacement of first generation PVC-U windows, co-extruded profiles offer a closed loop process as the windows being taken out of a property can be recycled and reincarnated as new windows.

Our past resource crisis actually made us a better business committed to sustainability, and I hope that our timber counterparts in the windows industry will react and rebound in a similar way. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. Perhaps in the future we will see new wooden frame designs, which use less raw materials or take advantage of recycled material. This will be good for the progression of the market, new product development and this all benefits our customers.

The windows industry may yet come out of this timber crisis stronger, leaner and greener.

Yours sincerely,

Gareth Jones,
Marketing & Technical Director – Window Solutions at REHAU

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Be safe, sound and secure behind a modern, traditional timber entrance door by Mumford & Wood

Most of the oldest buildings in the country, those that we have all admired and enjoyed – from castles and palaces, to places of learning, prayer, contemplation and recovery – have magnificent doors made from timber. Today these national treasures, protected and cosseted with the help of private trusts, public ownership and a stream of funding to support regular maintenance, look every bit as imposing as they did when they were crafted.

This cannot be said of the cheap imports, mainly from the Far East, that were much needed to support the explosion of property ownership in the 1960s through to recent times. For those who did, and can still, purchase their local authority house at a fine discount, ownership encouraged investment in new doors and windows. The market research carried out by the British woodworking industry in the late 1970s, when Taiwanese imports were at their highest level, identified that UK home owners typically paid an average of £50 for a new front door, a stark difference to their West German counterparts who would pay in the region of £3000.

“This prompted an industry-funded campaign aimed at the private home owner to invest in a new timber entrance door, made in the UK, named: What a Difference a Door Makes,” says Roy Wakeman, CEO, The Performance Timber Products Group. “The campaign was hugely successful and while it didn’t see off all the cheap imports the consumer became educated about the benefits of a home-produced timber door and willing to spend more. By the mid ‘80s the market peaked at 3m units and had a value of £400m.”

Inevitably the bubble burst, brought about by the plastic revolution and campaigns selling the virtues of double glazed fenestration with low pricing and so called ‘authentic, classic design’. By 2000 the timber market share was lost in windows alone, by some 80%, in favour of plastic. Timber doors however retained a higher share as the consumer was attracted to the greater security of timber and its performance.

More recently the industry has seen the rise of composite door constructions where modern materials have been used to make up the door core; this has then been covered with an external finish of thermal plastic; glass-reinforced plastic, GRP; and even wood fibre-based boards. These products have performed and today account for more than half of the UK market, now measured at £600m with growth of more than 5% per annum.

Security and robustness has been achieved by the strength of the door core together with good ironmongery. Today this will contain espagnolette systems that can lock all three leading edges using shoot bolts, or hooks, with a central controlling arm handle.

A national standard for security has existed, along with test methodology to BS7950, which values security, thermal performance and weather resistance to regional degrees of exposure. A police-recommended standard and marketing tool for the private housebuilding sector, Secured by Design, has prevailed for more than 30 years and is frequently a standard requested by designers, architects and developers responsible for new developments.

Only last year the new Approved Document Q Building Regulations was introduced for the new-build sector which demands even greater security standards for doors and windows. The security standard demanded by Building Regulations, to which products are tested, is known as PAS24 but prior to this all products must be tested and rated for weather and air tightness to meet BS6375 (Parts 1 & 2).

“While the requirement to meet Doc Q applies to new buildings only, existing home owners will want these security benefits applied to replacement products for the upkeep and maintenance of their properties as well as for major refurbishments and extensions,” says Roy Wakeman. “Current research suggests that the major driving force for home owners when purchasing new doors and windows is security and energy conservation.

“It comes as no surprise that the timber door, complete with all the appropriate ironmongery, factory assembled and finished, is now leading the way again to dominate the choice for new door designs and mechanics that more than satisfy today’s demanding standards.” Products manufactured by Mumford & Wood entirely in Great Britain all meet the very highest standards demanded today.

Timber is the most versatile of all materials and can be easily finished with modern water-based paints or stains, chosen from a huge range of colours and shades. These modern finishes now come with life time warranties for the complete door set, with maintenance cycles at a very minimum, and the paint itself is expected to last up to eight years before re-decoration is needed.

Composite door cores, using urea or phenolic forms, are not exactly the best products to satisfy today’s demanding consumer who knows all about active carcinogens and the toxicity of chemically-based products. For complete peace of mind it is far better to use a sustainable and naturally-replacing material, such as timber, to ensure that our children’s children grow up in a safe, sound and comfortable environment behind modern timber windows and doors.

Modern timber engineering techniques and water-based, friendly finishing treatments, do make timber the material with the very greenest credentials.

More product information is available at www.mumfordwood.com where the new product brochure, Aftercare Manual and detailed CAD drawings, NBSPlus and NBS BIM files can be downloaded.
Please also visit www.ribaproductselector.com for detailed product specifications. The company is a registered supplier on Constructionline www.constructionline.co.uk. Alternatively call the Mumford & Wood sales team on 01621 818155.
Follow us on Twitter @mumfordwood or facebook.com/mumfordwood for the latest company news and updates.
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G-frame engineered timber and hybrid structures

G-frame Structures specialises in the design, supply and installation of engineered timber and hybrid structures. A designer of bespoke solutions, G-frame Structures offers a direct route to a complete hybrid package working with a palette that includes Cross Laminated Timber, Glulam, Laminated Veneered Lumber. We are also able to meet your other structural solutions using more standard construction materials through our sister company Murform Ltd.

Involve us early in the design stages and we’ll help you to make savings from the outset and deliver your project ahead of programme with safety first and inside budget. We can also advise and help you to interface with a range of other systems, we are able to design and install timber cladding panels and insulated render as part of our water proof envelope package.

Known by our partners and clients for our hands-on approach to problem solving and fast, efficient delivery, the G-frame team brings a high degree of multi-disciplinary expertise and a commitment to building lasting relationships which leads to repeat business. We provide solutions across the range of building types including social and private residential, education, public access and workspace. Recent projects include the new Moneypenny HQ in Wrexham by AEW Architects, 150 London Road by Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects and Graveney School 6th Form Block by Urban Projects Bureau which has recently won two awards at the 2016 RIBA London Awards.

All wood products are PEFC or FSC certified.

For more information please email Joe Hall at j.hall@g-frame.co.uk, call us on 01525 288022 or visit www.g-frame.co.uk.

G-frame Structures will be at VISION 2016 at Earl’s Court on 7 & 8 June – come and see us on Stand Number 105
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