Timber Resources solves Environment Agency greenheart problem

A Hampshire timber merchant and sawmiller has secured a contract with the Environment Agency (EA) to recycle greenheart and ekki timbers into new sea defences on the south coast of England.

Timber Resources International Ltd, based near Liphook, said the EA had found it difficult to find a company to mill the 70m³ of timber, typically 225x225mm sections and up to 6m long, because of the hardness of the species.

“They could not get anybody to touch it because the wood is so hard and may have possibly had metal in it,” said Timber Resources managing director Robin Carter.

The wood had been stored by the EA for years but remained unused.

Timber Resources, using its own designed mobile milling equipment and specially developed Stellite-tipped blades from Edwards Precision Saw Services, has agreed to cut the timber into 50mm-thick planks for use on sea defence projects on the south coast.

Mr Carter has experience in cutting dense species; during the 1990s he spent many years in Africa and South America working on community sawmilling projects for the British government.

Usually, most of the company’s wood is sourced from local estates. Some 90% of its wood, much of it oak, is Forest Stewarship Council certified.