In recent years there has been a growing interest in, and recognition of, the benefits of using more wood fibre in construction, in the UK and globally. The common drivers behind this are the environmental credentials of sustainably sourced wood, especially as a natural means of locking up carbon, its weight to strength ratio and the potential for reuse and recycling.
In fact, wood has become so popular that some are forecasting that global demand for sustainably sourced wood products may quadruple by 2050.
All of this is playing out in the UK and raising intriguing questions about the future for UK timber production.
In essence, there is a short-term opportunity and a long-term challenge. The long-term challenge – of fibre supply and timber security, has to be addressed urgently as forests take time to grow, while the shortterm opportunity is that fibre supply is set to grow faster than current consumption over the next 15-20 years.
The big prize, if we can address the longerterm challenge of timber security through action now, is that we can also unlock more investment in the short-term as investors will have greater confidence about long-term fibre supply.
Currently, the UK is the second largest net importer of wood products in the world after China – around 80% of wood consumed here is imported.
Quite rightly the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments want to encourage the greater use of wood in construction, and they also want to avoid making the UK ever more reliant on imports – timber security. The solution is to increase domestic production and facilitate more of that to enter the construction / house-building sector. Is that what’s happening?
Up until recently, other than in Scotland, I would say not a huge amount, but there have been encouraging signs.
In the last two to three years Confor has successfully promoted an apparently simple message in England – the forestry and wood using sector is an industry and with appropriate policies the businesses within it can contribute positively to the rural economy, help tackle climate change and deliver a wide array of complementary benefits for society.
This sea-change in attitude has resulted in high profile developments such as the UK government’s Timber in Construction Roadmap (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/timber-in-construction-road-map-2025), which aims to increase the level of wood fibre (sustainably sourced imported and home-grown) used in UK construction and to support an increase in the planting of wood producing forests in England to supply future construction markets.
This Roadmap also feeds into the UK government’s ambitious 1.5 million housing target and provides a great opportunity for the timber frame market to increase its share of the new build market. I am sure that the Structural Timber Association (STA) is laser focused on that aim.
We are also hopeful that another opportunity may arise through the Department of Education’s Gen Zero research project to develop an ultra-low carbon building standard for schools. There are already a number of excellent timber rich prototypes in situ.
One of the beneficial outcomes of the publication of the Roadmap is that three key trade associations (Confor, STA and TDUK) are working collaboratively to implement the Roadmap at pace. We have agreed on a simple common message in relation to the Roadmap; we need to increase the use of timber in construction and increase UK timber production for the construction sector. For those wishing to know more about the progress of the Roadmap this can be found on the Confederation of Timber Industries website.
The Welsh government has also stepped up to the mark, recently publishing a Timber Industrial Strategy (https://www.gov.wales/timber-industrial-strategy) in collaboration with industry. It too focuses on increasing the use of timber from Welsh forests in construction and maintaining future timber supplies. In Scotland, there has been a similar focus for some time through Scotland’s Forestry Strategy and Roots for Further Growth (https://forestryscotland.com/wpcontent/uploads/2021/12/roots-for-furthergrowth-november-2018-1.pdf ), the industry’s strategy for economic growth in the wood supply chain.
For UK wood producers there is a big and immediate opportunity – to increase demand for home-grown construction products such as C16 sawnwood and panel board products, utilising the increased amount of wood forecast to be available to the late 2040s.
The large UK sawmillers are currently working with Confor and TDUK to develop a knowledge transfer campaign to improve construction professionals’ understanding of the potential structural uses of home-grown C16 in the RMI and new build markets. If successful, the focus will be expanded to other home-grown wood-based construction products in the coming year. You will hear more about this in the weeks ahead.
In a timely initiative, the Forestry Commission has recently run a Trees to Timber Campaign highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of planting trees specifically for production, absorbing carbon as they grow and locking that up in long-life construction products.
A new 50-year UK softwood production forecast is due to be published later this year which will provide a more up-to-date insight into future availability. I think it is safe to say that the forecast will show that post-2040s, future softwood availability will be reducing rather than increasing over the following decades.
It is imperative, therefore, that industry and governments work together to take steps to increase future timber production now and make the UK more timber secure.
This can be achieved through a combination of actions that are highlighted in England’s National Wood Strategy (https://www.nationalwoodstrategy.co.uk/) including the following:
- Increasing the productive area of forests through a more targeted approach in delivering the 30,000ha per year new woodland creation target.
- Increase the resilience and productivity of our current forests.
- Invest in advanced tree breeding to accelerate the productivity of more than one species that can produce suitable timber for the construction sector.
These actions cannot be delivered overnight and will require significant public and private sector collaboration. Therefore, it is essential for future timber security and shortterm investment that delays are minimised and opportunities to accelerate progress are seized.
That is why Confor has brought together an Investors Forum to help identify key issues, which if they are resolved by working with the UK government, can unlock significant private sector investment in productive forestry in England.
There is now a clear ambition across mainland Britain to increase timber in construction and to increase domestic timber production. Early indicators suggest some positive progress is being made, but now is the time for the public and private sectors together to act decisively and accelerate progress – the benefits will be seen both in the short and longer term.
