It is a fact that over the last 50 years, the world has lost 50% of its forest cover. The destruction of tropical forests is second only to energy generation as a source of global ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions and, in the four years up to 2010 alone - according to the government-commissioned Stern Review - will make a greater contribution to climate change than every single flight in the history of aviation to at least 2025. Belatedly, we are all beginning to accept that deforestation is a significant contributor to global warming - and also has the potential to have a devastating impact on communities, species and ecosystems around the world. In some countries as much as 80% of the timber is harvested illegally and this often involves both the destruction of protected forests and the violation of human rights.
Unsurprisingly then, following the UK Government’s directive of April 1st., 2009 that only legal and sustainably sourced timber products can be specified for Government-linked work, there has been a noticeable change in the timber procurement policy of those manufacturers who supply the UK social housing sector.
The directive insists that central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies now procure timber and wood-derived products originating either from legal and sustainable or FLEGT-licensed* (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) or equivalent sources. Sustainable timber is harvested in such a way that each tree removed is replaced by another tree, either naturally grown or planted. But it is also about ensuring that there is no ecological damage to other species and the forest maintains its biodiversity, its climate and water cycles.
As the result of growing availability, it is now a relatively simple matter for British manufacturers to find well-managed forest sources of softwoods under reputable, certified schemes. But finding tropical hardwood veneers with equally verifiable credentials is not quite as simple.
One manufacturer in Shropshire however, has a head start over competitors in finding a suitable supplier, as it started the search some time ago.
Paul Hetherington, Managing Director of Pendock, a division of Alumasc, explains “For a long time, education and social housing have been key markets for us. So, when local authorities began to accept the need to adopt responsible timber procurement policies - to combat illegal logging, promote the use of wood from truly renewable resources and to mitigate climate change - we were fully supportive even though we realised it was bound to have a significant effect on our business.”
“We need a sustainably grown species with a reliable chain of custody for the manufacture of high-specification plywood - which we use in the fabrication of our pipe-boxing profiles, column casings and other interior finishing products. We began looking three years ago when the requests for verification of sustainable practice first started.”
“At that time, we were buying our profiles and casings from a European manufacturer. We realised even then, that the plywood used in our products needed to be compliant with the Government’s planned timber procurement policy. But when we looked for documentation from our suppliers, it became obvious that they could not satisfy the evidential demands that we wanted - and were soon to be needed.”
The plywood that Pendock use in the manufacture of their pipe-boxing and column casings is constructed from high-quality, tropical hardwood rather than more commonly available softwood. Hardwood plywood is generally used for decorative purposes and has a face ply of wood from broad leaf trees. Softwood plywood is generally used for construction and structural purposes and the veneers are usually of wood from needle-bearing trees. But plywood produced from softwood cannot achieve the stability required by Pendock. The internal forces to which the plywood sections are subjected (for example, during the manufacturing process of column casings with curves of diameters as small as 250mm) are likely to split softwood ply. The resulting profiles then have to withstand these stresses in order to maintain these curves, without movement or distortion, for their entire service lives - which can sometimes span several decades. Again, it could not be guaranteed that softwood would be able to provide the required stability. This then, was the start of Pendock’s search for a supplier who could offer the right kind of hardwood veneers produced under a chain of custody with Forest Stewardship Council certification or similar.
Paul continues: “A year ago, it seemed that we had achieved our goal when the forest company identified, was told its saw mill had to be separately accredited.”
“We had decided to make the switch from importing profiles to setting up our own production facility. We began the FSC accreditation process and worked in tandem with a reputable importer to source and obtain FSC certified supplies of tropical hardwood for ply manufacture - and we invested £1.5 million in an extension to the Pendock factory here in Telford, Shropshire. This involved the acquisition of bespoke machinery able to carry out the lamination process, bond the final melamine surface finish to the boards and achieve the accuracy we required in the bending of the finished profiles.”
One surprising fact to emerge as a result of Pendock’s discussions with key clients and other organisations during the transitional period, was that many large contractors have far more enlightened, rigorous and structured environmental policies already in place than many local authorities and other public bodies. In fact, the first major contract for FSC certified column casings supplied by Pendock, was for a commercial office development in London by Balfour Beatty.
Paul Hetherington sums up saying “By manufacturing our own product from known certified sources, we have effectively taken control of our plywood supply chain. We are using up stocks of old material which does not have suitable chain of custody documentation and are rapidly phasing out all non-FSC material. I anticipate that all of Pendock’s product range to which the government’s directive applies, will be fully compliant by December of this year.”
“The substantial investment in our own manufacturing facility has been a major change for us but is very much in line with the responsible, environmental policies of Alumasc, our parent company. Because it is grown, managed and harvested legally, the FSC-certified material is 15% to 20% more expensive than tropical veneers carrying no chain of custody. But the move away from the importing of a finished product to the implementation of our own undertaking of a ‘value-added’ process means that the commercial reality is, in fact, a much lower price rise for our customers.”
Alumasc Interior Building Products, the company behind the Pendock range of pipe-boxing profiles, column casings and other interior finishing products, was awarded FSC certification by BM TRADA Certification on 25th June 2009.
Pendock’s achievement in such a relatively short time, is a testament to a pro-active approach in embracing the construction industry’s rapidly accelerating green agenda. In meeting the UK Government procurement criteria, companies ensure that an adequate chain of custody controls are in place to ensure that any material (timber or wood-derived product) is independently verifiable either from a legal and sustainable source or from a FLEGT-licensed* or equivalent source. And, as such, those companies will be well placed to take advantage of local authorities’ insistence on suppliers being totally compliant.
*By ‘FLEGT-licensed’ it is meant: a timber-producing country that has signed up to a bilateral Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Community concerning the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade scheme and whose timber and wood-derived products have been licensed for export by that country’s government.
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