London-based timber merchant T Brewer & Co Ltd says it is having to “police” the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) certified timber policy after it had to convince a contractor that certified wood was needed for its project on the Olympic site.
The ODA, which has made a commitment to use 100% legal and sustainable wood products for the Olympic construction project, has thanked T Brewer for raising the matter and said it was investigating the incident.
But T Brewer director Keith Fryer said the incident raised big questions. “Why were uncertified timber products heading for the ODA site? Why was no advice given to the contractor? It is up to the ODA to set clear instructions, not wait for us to do their policing for them.”
He said a sub-contractor came to T Brewer wanting 100x200m treated softwood and 24mm marine plywood for a construction to allow trucks to cross the railway line at the Plaza entrance of the Stratford Olympic site.
The project had been specified in steel but because of rising steel prices had been changed to timber.
“At no time was any request made for chain of custody or any environmental accreditation whatsoever,” said Mr Fryer.
T Brewer warned the sub-contractor it was in danger of creating a problem on the Olympic site. The sub-contractor then checked with the main contractor who advised “that they had no knowledge of any certification requirement. The key issue was time – get the materials here ASAP.”
T Brewer specified PEFC-certified treated Finnish spruce plywood and timber to resolve the matter and the materials were delivered on July 7.
“At present it is clearly only by manual intervention by suppliers that uncertified timber products will be stopped from arriving on site – that is worrying,” said Mr Fryer.
He also said it was “unbelievable” that timber products would not be offered at a planned on-site merchanting operation at the Olympic site.
“Surely this would be an ideal method of resolving ‘panic’ requirements, to save contractors going off site and purchasing small quantities of uncertified material? The ODA has to realise what the real world is like. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the problems they are going to face.”
An ODA spokesperson said the incident demonstrated “the challenges the industry faces” and highlighted the importance of the Timber Supplier Panel in meeting its sustainable timber policy.
“We are still in the process of procuring the Timber Supplier Panel but it will be established later this year in time for the increase in construction activity.”
Timber Trade Federation chief executive John White expressed disappointment that contractors and sub-contractors were unaware of the ODA’s timber policy.
“It is to T Brewer’s credit that when they found out their customer was working on an Olympic project they insisted on supplying certified only material.”
Mr White said the trade, represented by Wood for Gold, will continue to hold detailed and meaningful discussions with the ODA about enforcement.
Meanwhile, the TTF has called on its members to tighten up on chain of custody documentation to maximise the use of timber in construction.
