British architects are keen to specify more timber. But, critically, they also want to know that they’re not going to face an environmental backlash if they do.

This came through loud and clear at one of Timbmet‘s architects’ courses on “Specifying timber from well-managed forests” held at its Timber Centre of Excellence training base near Oxford.

Timbmet says the courses, jointly run with Greenpeace, have been well subscribed since their launch, and the day TTJ attended was another full house. Besides architects – who can count the training as part of their Royal Institute of British Architects continuing professional development programme – they attract a range of other specifiers, such as representatives of housing associations and local authority planning departments, designers and joinery contractors.

Not a fad

Timbmet’s ‘certified timber solutions’ manager Dr Mike Packer began the course by stressing that concerns over forestry and timber sustainability were not a transitory fad.

“It’s estimated that the developing world has lost about 9% of forest area in the last 15 years and pressure on remaining areas for construction and agriculture will inevitably grow,” he said. “At the same time there’s a growing realisation of the inherent value of forests in terms of timber production, their contribution to the general environment, to biodiversity and as a source of plant-derived drugs. This is the forests’ ‘natural capital’ which is estimated globally to provide ecosystem services, such as soil maintenance, regulation of water cycles and pollination, to a value of US$5 trillion a year.”

Concerns about forest management and preservation, added Dr Packer, were reflected in ever-stricter government timber procurement rules, pressure for certification from environmental groups and international biodiversity agreements.

“There is also an increasing tendency in the investment community to steer clear of ventures that aren’t environmentally sound,” he said. “Corporate responsibility is taken increasingly seriously and environmental performance is a key element.”

To underline the PR dangers of getting procurement wrong, Dr Packer pointed to the government’s discomfiture over Greenpeace protests at Cabinet and Home Office building developments in London where it was claimed uncertified timber and plywood were used.

On the positive side, he added, getting environmental specification right could bring business benefits. “It can be good PR and even help increase market share.”

Popular myths

Dr Packer also tackled “popular environmental myths”. “The most common is that using tropical hardwood is inherently bad in environmental terms and softwood is good. That is erroneous. There are tropical hardwoods that are fine to use, so long as they are from certified, sustainably managed forests, and equally softwoods which are illegally, unsustainably felled.”

&#8220You may not be able to deliver a certain timber certified under a certain scheme. It’s about setting priorities and being committed to using legal timber from well managed forests”

Dr Mike Packer, certified timber solutions manager, Timbmet

Timbmet also uses the course to highlight the availability of lesser-known alternatives to rare or endangered hardwoods, but course participant Peter Ross, an engineer from Ove Arup, said that architects were concerned about the performance of such species.

“If we don’t have reliable technical information, we won’t use them,” he said.

Dr Packer responded that Timbmet provided specification data on all its timber and later led course participants on a tour of the company’s stocks to look at some of the lesser-known species.

Specifications

After a brief profile of the Forest Stewardship Council from its UK construction industry advisor Beck Woodrow, chartered environmental surveyor Jackie Nickson discussed the importance for specifiers of ensuring that contractors follow their instructions on timber sourcing and use. “Your specification has to be very tight, stipulating Forest Stewardship Council-certified material, or its equivalent, and you have to do your homework. Given current availability of certified timber, you may have to work to longer lead times or think about alternatives to your original species choice.

“You should work through a hierarchy, first opt for FSC timber, and if you can’t get your preferred species, an FSC-certified alternative. Next look at other certification schemes. The risk here is that they may not cover the same ground. Primarily ensure they’ve got the legality area covered. Finally, you might look at sources supported by local or national environmental audits.”

Dr Packer urged specifiers to draw up their own list of questions to “check that certification schemes are up to scratch”. “They must be unambiguous. Simply using the word ‘sustainable’ is meaningless.”

Certification

In open discussion, the issue of the relative merits of certification schemes was raised.

Mr Ross said that the construction industry felt it was being “directed fairly strongly along the FSC path”. “That limits choice and I’m sure we’d all like to learn about other schemes.”

Dr Packer, while pointing out that Timbmet stocked both FSC and Pan European Forest Certification timber, said that there were no “objective means to compare” different schemes. “But we should soon have an objective set of principles and criteria drawn up between the World Bank and WWF, which is intended to set out what is credible and acceptable. Using this, Timbmet will independently assess the merits of a selection of certification schemes.”

He added that even with this in place, specifiers would still have to make judgments. “You may not be able to deliver a certain timber certified under a certain scheme. It’s about setting priorities and being committed to using legal timber from well managed forests.”