Fruits of the forest

You would never guess that the unassuming block of flats in Ilford, Essex, was a world-beater.

At first glance, the block (pictured above right) seems like any of the other gleaming new blocks of affordable housing that are springing up in towns and cities across Britain. Yet none of those can claim, as Westside Apartments can, to have been lauded by Greenpeace as “the future of construction in the UK”.

The environmental group loved it so much that it made a promotional film on the site last summer to show to MPs. Westside’s claim to fame? It is the world’s first building to be fully certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC).

Although the FSC demands that at least half of the timber used on a project comes from sustainable sources (independently verified by the FSC), this pilot project went further – 100% of the timber used came from sustainable sources. The fact that Westside is the first scheme in the world to receive the FSC’s certification may seem surprising, particularly given the recent publicity on building more environmentally sustainable housing. But Fraser Steele, managing director of Perth-based Glenalmond Timber, which supplies only FSC-approved timber, says there is a simple reason for this. “No one is doing it because many don’t know it’s possible and no one is twisting their arms to do it,” he says.

“It is so simple to do this. If the government pushed for this and housebuilders and contractors started demanding wood from sustainable sources, then it would be a win-win situation.”

He adds that it is all about the “chain of custody” – essentially, this means not only using FSC-approved timber but also being able to track it through the supply chain to prove it came from a sustainable forest. This sounds relatively straightforward and has obvious marketing benefits, so what does the team behind Westside think?

Up for a challenge

Andy Suttle is the construction director of developer Hollybrook, the firm behind 73-home Westside before its recent sale to affordable housing provider Tower Homes.

He admits that constructing a building with 100% FSC-certified timber was not what he initially set out to achieve.

“It evolved in reality. We were doing a timber-frame development for this anyway but then got involved with the FSC and they told us about their pilot project.

We like a challenge and so decided that we would do this.”

Suttle adds that for him and his colleagues, however, there really is only one question: how much extra does it cost? “This has been the first thing that everyone has asked me,” he says. “But the truth is that the total cost of doing this fell within our budget for the scheme. Sure, some of it was slightly more expensive, but we dealt with this by specifying slightly less expensive materials elsewhere.

If others have got the will to do it, they should just get on and do it.”

So for housebuilders who are keen to go green here are five steps to follow:

1 — Contact the Forestry Stewardship Council

“This should be your first port of call,” says Steele. “They’ll give you a list of suppliers that you can use as well as some independent certification agencies who will check your supply chain.” These agencies are important as getting hold of FSC-approved timber is no longer that difficult – the issue is being able to guarantee to homebuyers that it is from a sustainable forest. “With this chain of custody, if we wanted, we would be able to take people all the way back to the side of the road by the forest where the tree was felled,” says Steele. BM Trada is the leading firm in the UK that carries out this auditing process. It costs about £600.

2 — Find out what is involved

The auditing agency will outline how to obtain certification for your scheme. Steele says that if an organisation has already adopted the ISO 9000 approach to purchasing, then having its chain of custody approved will be “a walk in the park”. Areas that BM Trada will examine include your supply agreements; how you place orders; and how you control the entry of goods to your site. This shouldn’t take longer than a day at your headquarters. The next step is for the other stages in the supply chain to be checked right back to the logger. It is already quite common for saw mills and importers to have FSC accreditation.

3 — Decide how far you want to go

The FSC scheme provides two options: you can either have an individual scheme audited and approved or you can have your entire organisation audited and be awarded a unique chain of custody identification that will allow you to advertise FSC accreditation on any scheme.

“We did it on a scheme-by-scheme basis for Westside,” says Suttle. “But we are considering doing it permanently and we are using this approach on another scheme in Basildon.”

4 — Talk to your suppliers

In a report this month, the Timber Trade Federation said 56% of wood and wood products imported into the UK was certified. However, it found that these products were specifically demanded by housebuilders and contractors in only one in 10 orders. John White, chief executive of the TTF, says: “Our customers need to be more explicit about their requirements for certified wood. It is, after all, customer demand that will pull certified wood through the supply chain.”

Suttle adds: “When we initially spoke to our suppliers, not everyone had a full chain of custody. But it was like spreading the gospel and now everyone is converted to it.”

5 — Police your site

Hollybrook managed to use 100% approved timber by having a single entrance to the Westside site and ensuring the security guard checked every delivery ticket of timber goods. “If something came in that wasn’t specifically labelled FSC, it would go into quarantine. If it couldn’t be verified, we’d send it away,” he says. This strict message was also reinforced at each site induction and at weekly contractor meetings.