As we mark World Environment Day on 5 June, it’s a good opportunity to explore how timber frame suppliers are contributing to a more sustainable and eco-friendly construction sector. The government is actively supporting a drive toward the greater use of timber for housebuilding and other purposes to help meet ambitious net zero targets.
There are many environmental advantages to using timber over other traditional building materials such as steel or concrete. Embodied carbon from the construction and refurbishment of buildings is responsible for about 20 per cent of build environment emissions in the UK, according to the UK Green Building Council.
Embodied carbon means the emissions associated with the materials and construction process throughout the entire lifecycle of a building or structure. Structural timber has the lowest embodied carbon of any other building material, and this includes less waste and emissions generated during the construction phase.
Part of the reason for this is that much of the construction process takes place in a controlled factory environment. Here’s a closer look at the advantages of this for the environment, business, and society.
Precise manufacturing methods
In traditional building projects, the cutting and shaping of materials generally takes place on-site, which often results in over-ordering and lots of offcuts being discarded. Off-site timber frame construction uses digital modelling tools such as CAD to precisely design the structural components, which means that timber can be cut to exact measurements.
This greatly reduces the amount of surplus, and offcuts are usually repurposed or recycled. This process is easier to manage and implement in a controlled factory environment, resulting in far less waste and greater sustainability.
Quicker build times
Timber frame components arrive on site pre-assembled or flat packed for ease of assembly. This results in quicker build times and reduces energy consumption, which translates into lower carbon emissions from heavy plant machinery. It also means fewer deliveries and disruption to the surrounding environment.
Another advantage of rapid build times is a lower risk of damage to materials through adverse weather, accidents or rework to correct mistakes. This in turn leads to less spoilage and waste.
Less need for on-site storage
Storing materials at a building site is a high-risk process: they can be targeted by organised crime gangs, spoiled by bad weather, or damaged through double-handling (having to move the materials more than once because they were delivered to the wrong location).
Off-site production means that the materials can be delivered as when they are needed, greatly reducing the need for storage. This minimises the risk of spoiled materials and unexpected delays. It also helps to keep costs predictable and timescales on target, reducing the risk of cancelled or severely delayed projects.
Supporting sustainability and meeting regulations
Timber is a renewable resource when harvested from responsibly managed forests, and can help to support green building certifications such as BREEAM. Planning authorities and clients are setting increasingly stringent environmental standards for new build projects, and using more structural timber can help to meet these and future-proof building projects.
Improved local environment quality
Building sites can be hugely disruptive to the local community, generating a lot of extra noise, traffic, air pollution and adverse visual impact. Often this goes on for months or even years, sometimes at unsocial hours. This impacts residents, businesses, schools and services.
The use of off-site timber generates less waste, which means fewer deliveries, fewer piles of unsightly rubbish and overflowing skips, and helps to keep the whole site cleaner and tidier. This benefits the local community and environment, and reduces the potential for time-consuming complaints and disputes.
Timber is part of the solution
The increased use of timber in construction in the UK is certain, as it is supported by government policies, environmental organisations, developers and housebuilders, architects and designers, and most importantly, by clients and the wider community. As the government pledges to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029, we can expect to see a surge in demand.