Timber industry must market end use solutions

Speaking at the Plywood Luncheon Club Annual Shippers Lunch in London on Tuesday, Mr Hopkins said the timber industry needed to identify possibilities for timber.

“In its communications, the timber inustry has looked back to the forests far too much. We should be looking forwards, saying ‘that development should be done in timber’,” he said. “The concrete industry has no hesitation in thinking about a concrete future; the timber industry should be thinking in the same way.”

And Mr Hopkins reminded the audience of nearly 200, that to help the timber industry focus on architects and specifiers, Wood for Good had developed a life cycle assessment database for timber – the UK’s largest database for a construction material.

“So far the timber industry has been slow to use it but contractors, specifiers and planning departments are using it,” he said.

Wood for Good’s next move was to develop the carbon message in the interiors sector by setting up an interiors forum. “Interiors is an area we’ve ignored as an industry,” said Mr Hopkins. “Everyone focuses on newbuild and they forget that the interior of buildings is where you sell most timber and timber products in the UK.”

The campaign was also working with UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture, which wanted to learn more about timber products and their applications.

It was also focusing on next year’s “two big news stories” – the general election in May, where housing would be a focus for political debate, and the UN Climate Summit in Paris in November, where forests and forest products would be high on the agenda.

“The outcome of those talks is only going to make the rules tighter but through Wood for Good’s work we can demonstrate the role the timber industry plays in providing a solution for the C02 emissions problem, for emissions storage and can provide an income stream to keep the forests well-managed while also providing material for buildings and interiors,” said Mr Hopkins.