Alongside these benefits utilising timber in the built environment will support progress towards the Net Zero Target. The built environment is responsible for approximately 25% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing these emissions is a priority for government, in order to deliver our carbon budgets and net zero target. The Net Zero Strategy set out our plans for decarbonising whilst growing the economy, and further detail was published in Powering Up Britain earlier this year.

Archaeological evidence indicates that we have been using timber as a building material in the UK since the Neolithic era. Parliament’s very own Westminster Hall is a fantastic case in point, boasting the largest medieval timber roof in Northern Europe – and this document signals the next evolution in our use of timber and wood products to meet changing societal priorities.

Exciting initiatives such as the Department for Education’s Gen Zero project, which has created a prototype ultra-low carbon classroom from UK sourced and manufactured timber products, show the opportunity to connect people with our nation’s forests in new ways – through the very fabric of the buildings they live, study and work in.

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