Timber is an organic, non-toxic and naturally renewable building material.
Although deforestation worldwide remains a significant issue, it is not caused by the European construction industry, which mainly uses softwood.
Over 90% of all wood consumed in Europe is sourced from European forests.
UK timber frame uses 99% European softwood.
The more wood we use, the more our forests grow, because in Europe we are committed to planting more trees than we harvest.
Every year our forests grow by over 3,500 square miles – equivalent to an area the size of Cyprus.
Forests act as huge carbon sinks. The total carbon sequestered in Europe’s forests are over 9.5 million tonnes. UK forestry and timber industries have an important role to play in this.
There is no more sustainable building material than timber.
| Eco-friendly homes |
A typical 100 square metre two-storey detached timber frame home contains 5-6 cubic metres more wood than the equialent masonry house. Consequently, every timber frame home saves about 4 tonnes of CO2 (about the amount produced by driving 14,000 miles).
In addition to these CO2 savings, the operational cost of a house can be reduced due to timber’s thermal efficiency.
If all UK houses built since 1945 had been timber frame, then over 300 millions tonnes of CO2 would have been saved.
Most wood products, from timber frame systems to joinery, can help designers and developers improve their EcoHomes ratings.