Nearly half of the UK’s total carbon emissions within our borders can be attributed to the construction, operation and maintenance of our built environment (49%). We are in a climate emergency. We need to tackle these emissions now.

Using timber we can reduce the carbon emissions from existing building stock, turn our cities into a form of carbon capture and storage, and support vast carbon sinks in our rural areas by growing trees.  We can transform our concrete jungles right now by using existing business models and proven technology. We do not need to wait for the future.

Timber is already a £10bn supply chain in the UK. It provides economic prosperity in every region of the UK, green employment, thousands of healthy, safe, warm, and beautiful low-carbon homes, and is helping create a sustainable construction industry. Help us make construction sustainable now.

Right now we have an opportunity.  

We need to build more homes. We also need to make our existing home more efficient homes, and to reduce demolition. Timber can allow us to meet these needs and rapidly decarbonise our built environment.  This is because wood is a naturally renewable material which:

1. Sequesters carbon in forests as trees grow.
2. Stores carbon in harvested wood products.
3. Substitutes for carbon intensive materials such as steel, concrete and plastics.
4. Drives Sustainable forest management leading to greater growth.
5. Contributes to a Circular economy as wood products can be reused, recycled and recovered for low-carbon energy at end-of-life.

NEW BUILD

“While the 20th century may have been defined by steel and concrete, in the 21st we must live in greater harmony with nature, and create a stronger forestry and timber industry which works together with our planet.” | David Hopkins, a director of the APPG for the Timber Industries.

Using timber reduces the carbon emissions from construction in three main ways. It acts as a form of carbon capture and storage, as the carbon dioxide sequestered by trees is stored in the wood product created for the product’s lifetime. It increases the number of trees grown in sustainably managed forests, which helps to sequester even more carbon dioxide. And it displaces carbon-intensive materials to reduce the carbon footprint of a building.

We must create a foundational shift in the way we build, the quality of our homes, how we move around our cities, and the landscapes around them if we are to create a low-carbon future. At the centre of this shift will be our architects, designers, and engineers, and a low-carbon material revolution. We can build new and low carbon right now using timber.

RETROFIT

“More than 80% of the buildings we have right now will still be here in 2050, and these buildings urgently need to be retrofitted if we are to meet our climate goals. However, the materials from which we forge this transformation should not come from the same carbon-intensive petrochemical materials which got us in this situation in the first place” | TBA

Timber lends itself as a material to the retrofit revolution which the UK must embark on in order to meet our climate targets. Just as with new build, wood products used to improve and extend the life of buildings are renewable, replenishable, low-energy, and act as a form of carbon capture and storage. This means wood products used in retrofit offer far lower embodied carbon as compared to their petrochemical alternatives.

As timber is a lightweight material it allows developers to extend existing buildings in unique ways, reducing the need for demolition. Together with wood’s unique cellular structure, which makes it 10 times more insulating than concrete, and 400 times more so than steel, it is an excellent material for improving the operational efficiency of buildings.