According to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), using timber in construction is one of the best ways to reduce emissions from buildings.
Defra not only wants the UK to build more with timber, but also rely less on imports for the material. 聽Currently 80% of the timber used in the UK is imported.
Called , the document suggests that left to the market, the use of timber in construction will not expand because聽 not enough people want to use it. We will continue to have timber-framed low rise houses聽but getting developers to embrace engineered mass timber for taller structures or insurers to support the use volumetric wooden homes built in factories will not progress without government intervention 鈥� without government telling engineers and architects that they are using the wrong materials.
The document outlines the opportunities and barriers to the use of timber in construction in England, centred around seven priority themes:
- improving data on timber and whole life carbon
- promoting the safe, sustainable use of timber as a construction material
- increasing skills, capacity, and competency across the supply chain
- increasing the sustainable supply of timber
- addressing fire safety and durability concerns to safely expand the use of engineered mass timber
- increasing collaboration with insurers, lenders, and warranty providers
- promoting innovation and high performing timber construction systems.
The government鈥檚 justification for promoting timber is based purely on its sustainability credentials, not whether it is actually he best material with which to build from an engineering perspective. 聽It recognises the fire safety concerns and resistance from financial markets but this can all be overcome, it believes.
鈥淧romoting the use of timber as a building material is a key part of the government鈥檚 net zero strategy,鈥� said environment minister Rebecca Pow. 鈥淚t will innovate the economy, play a role in creating green jobs and also help meet our tree-planting targets.鈥�
All of the supply-side vested interests are behind the roadmap, including the Forestry Commission, the Confederation of Timber Industries (CTI), Timber Development UK (TDUK) and the Confederation of Forest Industries (Confor).
Timber Development UK chief executive David Hopkins said: 鈥淭imber construction has been recognised as essential to tackling built environment emissions by key advisory bodies such as the Environmental Audit Committee and Climate Change Committee. We are delighted to see the government action the recommendations of these bodies through the long-awaited Timber in Construction policy roadmap.
鈥淏y expanding low-carbon timber construction, particularly in the housing sector, we can decarbonise our built environment whilst simultaneously building high quality, efficient buildings. Expanding timber construction also offers a range of economic benefits, helping regions to 鈥榣evel up鈥� with green jobs, and creating localised manufacturing bases across the country which add value to raw timber products.鈥�
Structural Timber Association chief executive Andrew Carpenter said: 鈥淲e are delighted that the UK government has recognised the critical need to safely increase the use of timber in construction and we applaud the leadership that has been shown in setting this objective.
鈥淭he TIC Roadmap will be a beneficial driver in this effort, which is so vital to meeting the UK鈥檚 net zero carbon commitments, giving clarity and guidance to stakeholders throughout the construction industry. It has been a pleasure to participate in such important work and we look forward to continued collaboration between government and industry as we move to the next stage of implementation.鈥�
Confederation of Timber Industries chair Alex Goodfellow said: 鈥淭he 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.鈥�
鈥淗owever, there are areas of the report, particularly in relation to embodied carbon, which we feel need to be bolder. It is a shame to see the government delay action on this to 2025. The CTI will continue to work with all political parties in the long term, to ensure these positive commitments are both actioned, and in some cases, expanded.鈥�
The document was previewed by journalist-turned-farmer Jeremy Clarkson in his
鈥淓nthusiasts of this monobrowed neolithicism say that Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament has a wooden roof and I鈥檓 sure they鈥檙e right. But the Shard does not. And nor does that triangle thing outside the Louvre. We鈥檝e moved on,鈥� Clarkson wrote. 鈥淚 recently built a house which has a steel backbone, because when you use RSJs, you can have rooms which are bigger than a public convenience. And you don鈥檛 have to live in constant fear that the very skeleton of your house is being eaten by worms and could, at any moment, collapse on to your head.鈥�
Clarkson concluded: 鈥淭his is all so shoulder-saggingly dismal. It鈥檚 the sort of make-do-and-mend mentality that causes people to buy ready-made meals from the supermarket, rather than cook some actual food. Or buy a dreary hybrid. Or drink Starbucks coffee. I saw someone the other day wearing homemade wellingtons. And I thought: this was the country that created the Lightning interceptor.
鈥淎nd now, to achieve net zero and provide affordable houses for hard-working families in the community, we are going to be asking people to live in cabins, like flies, until one day, they are consumed by fire.
鈥淚 have a better idea. Let鈥檚 not. Let鈥檚 use stone instead because there鈥檚 a limitless supply. You鈥檙e literally standing on it every time you go outside. And it can鈥檛 be eaten by deer or squirrels or worms, and contrary to what Steve Barclay might think, it鈥檚 an environmental irrelevance because it鈥檚 inert. Plus, a house built from stone is usually pretty to look at, whereas a house made from MDF usually isn鈥檛.鈥�
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