Grown in Britain gains momentum

There is already talk about making the week - designed to create a sustainable future for the UK's woodlands and forests, and foster a wood culture - an annual event.

Parliamentary undersecretary Dan Rogerson joined GiB chairman Dr Peter Bonfield and Heal's chairman Will Hobhouse for the official launch, which showcased an English ash dining furniture range, made by UK furniture maker Benchmark.

Mr Hobhouse said Heal's was "committed" to working with GiB and the Woodland Trust to help grow a greener economy using local materials to create "outstanding" home-grown design.

Hardwood sawmiller Vastern Timber was among a long list of timber companies holding events. Its open day scheduled at its Wootton Bassett mill was aimed at showing architects, specifiers and others how it processes British hardwoods and answering questions about UK hardwood specification. "We want the demand," said director Peter Barnes. "That's why we are joining in."
The UK's largest home-grown sawmiller, BSW Timber, hosted a group of 28 delegates from across Europe on Tuesday, in advance of the International Softwood Conference in Edinburgh on Thursday.

"The GiB campaign comes at a critical time for UK producers - both to highlight the importance of timber to the UK and to galvanise industry and government support for British forestry and forestry products," said BSW Timber chief executive Tony Hackney.

TRADA marked the week by making its new wood information sheet, Specifying British-grown timbers, free to download from www.trada.co.uk for a limited period.

"This new wood information sheet will be a great help to designers and contractors in not only selecting the right timber species for the job, but also selecting the one that gives the most benefit to the UK forestry industry by specifically identifying those species that are grown in Britain," said Charlie Law, of BAM Construct.

The Forestry Commission, England's biggest timber supplier, is also behind the campaign. "What's often missing is the connection between wood, our woodlands and sustainable timber forests," said Sir Harry Studholme, chairman of the Forestry Commission.
The commission and InCrops held a networking event to show how co-operative working could improve profitability. The event, which included latest thinking on new wood products for construction, was aimed at the forestry sector, timber product manufacturers, retailers, designers, architects, engineers and builders.

The launch of the National Coppice Federation in London on Wednesday also provides a unified voice to the coppice sector.