Velodrome's timber success

The Olympic Delivery Authority set up a timber supplier panel to help achieve its objective that all timber used should come from known legal sources with supply chain evidence. By procuring timber through panel members, the contractor could eliminate the risk of being supplied with illegal and un-sustainable timber. The panel comprised 16 firms that had been pre-approved by the ODA.

It galvanised its members to educate the supply chain on what is required to supply timber that is demonstrably legal and sustainable.Nowhere was this more crucial than the velodrome. Siberian pine was specified for the track timber. The ODA and the project team worked closely with Arnold Laver & Company to source 56km of Siberian pine that met the specification and also fulfilled the requirement to have a full chain of custody. This involved contractors checking unique identifying numbers for each wood shipment were carried from forest to site.

The 5,000m² of western red cedar timber that clads exterior of the velodrome, and the 1,100 timber cassettes that cover the roof were supplied by Wolseley, which provided robust documentary evidence that the timber met ODA requirements.