Earth Day is a reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging individuals and organisations to come together and take action for a healthier planet.
As a socially responsible business, with over 30 years’ experience in the industry, we are committed to providing innovative solutions for our clients that, in addition to a host of other benefits, help to reduce the impact to the environment.
But within our own business, we continually strive to achieve the highest environmental standards, regularly exceeding legislative and industry requirements. We are committed to continually reviewing our working practices and environmental performance - including the transportation of materials - to reduce our carbon footprint, whilst working towards the government’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
By investing in modern machinery, our waste is kept to a minimum, but any offcuts are fed into our on-site biomass system, which generates heating for our offices and factory.
All our timber is sourced from sustainably managed forests and from suppliers which hold either or both FSC (Forest Stewardship Council UK) or PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certification – which ensures their environments are managed responsibly and sustainably.
And whilst deforestation remains a global issue, our business is not impacting upon this significantly as we source and use renewable softwood. On average, five trees are planted for every mature tree harvested in these forests.
The forests also act as 'Carbon sinks', absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in the wood. Harvesting a tree does not release this embodied carbon back into the atmosphere - it remains ‘locked’ in the timber, until the end of its physical life. And while this carbon is safely embodied in our timber products, the new trees that are planted absorb and store yet more carbon as they grow.
Older trees absorb much less CO2 than those in the earlier stages of growth, so these new replacement saplings actually enhance the CO2 reduction of the forests, as they are continually renewed.
This all contributes to an overall carbon footprint for timber that is relatively small. For each single dry ton of timber that is produced, around 1.8 tons of CO2 is removed from the atmosphere.
Already widely accepted within Scotland - and becoming more prevalent in England – is the understanding that the increased use of timber in construction, is integral in the movement towards a cleaner and more sustainable construction industry.
This is because:
Timber is an organic, naturally renewable building material. It is carbon-neutral - even when allowing for transport to the point of manufacture.
Timber frame has the lowest CO2 impact of any commercially available building material as well as the lowest embodied carbon. Choosing timber frame over traditional masonry can achieve a 20% reduction in embodied carbon on a build.
Timber offers exceptional energy efficiency performance. Over the lifetime of a timber frame home, net energy consumption could be over 25% lower than a standard brick build property.
As a market leader in the production of timber frame structures, we will continue to invest in our products, people and processes as part of our commitment to a greener future.
