Welsh joinery manufacturers are achieving higher standards for sustainability than ever before, according to a new scheme.
Woodchain Wales is designed to show how sustainable production can contribute to the sustainable development targets set by the Welsh Assembly.
It also incorporates performance to industrial standards, like those of the BSI, and provides evidence of the economic benefits that can be gained from sourcing local products.
The key market for Welsh joinery products is social housing, explained Hywel Evans of Pren Cymru, and one of the scheme’s architects, said the key market for Welsh joinery products was social housing. “Millions of pounds are spent each year on construction and repair products outside Wales, so the money leaves our economy. Woodchain Wales is our response,” he said.
Joinery manufacturers who pass the scheme’s requirements will be free to use its label to show potential customers like housing associations their products meet certain standards of efficiency and customer service – and that money spent on their products will stay within the Welsh economy.
While the scheme is unusual in that it accredits a company and its products simultaneously, Mr Evans said its main innovation was its ability “to accredit groups of companies that want to work together to supply in high volumes”.
“Smaller companies can combine their strengths to compete for larger contracts, delivering quality products in any volume to social housing programmes anywhere in Wales,” he added.
