UK Government publishes Timber Construction Policy Roadmap

The policy roadmap is split into priority themes which look to identify both the opportunities and barriers to timber construction in England, including improving data, promoting timber, boosting skills, and addressing fire safety.

The roadmap comes after a significant amount of work by the Confederation of Timber Industries (CTI) to advocate for timber, including a policy report - Timber in Construction: Barriers and Solutions - as well as political site visits, and APPG engagements.

CTI members, Timber Development UK, and Structural Timber Association, feature heavily in the roadmap, having worked with government and industry partners in the Timber in Construction Working Group over the past 12 months.

“This roadmap is a cast iron commitment to increasing timber use in the UK and is a pivotal moment for our exciting, low-carbon industry,” said Confederation of Timber Industries Chair Alex Goodfellow.

“As we stated in our recent APPG report, the government must provide both effective environmental regulation and market incentives to expand timber construction in the UK.

“The roadmap provides a solid foundation in achieving this aim, setting out real intent from the government to tackle the barriers to timber construction. 

Mr Goodfellow said it was a “shame” other report areas were not bolder, particularly in relation to embodied carbon.

Timber Development UK CEO, David Hopkins, credited the Government with its “firm commitment” to expanding low-carbon timber construction in the policy document.

“By expanding low-carbon timber construction, particularly in the housing sector, we can decarbonise our built environment whilst simultaneously building high quality, efficient buildings,” he said.

Mr Hopkins said the document should be viewed as a good start rather than the finished article.

Structural Timber Association CEO Andrew Carpenter, applauded the leadership that has been shown in setting the objectives in the document.

“The TIC Roadmap will be a beneficial driver in this effort, which is so vital to meeting the UK’s net zero carbon commitments, giving clarity and guidance to stakeholders throughout the construction industry,” he said.