Now Is the Time to Back British Timber in construction

Neil Horton, Sales Director at BSW Timber Explains Why Now Is the Time to Back British Timber in construction

Back British Timber-The conversation around sustainable construction is continuing to get louder – and rightly so. At BSW Group, we believe that the relaunch of the UK Government’s Timber in Construction (TiC) Roadmap is not just timely, it’s essential. We have a clear opportunity to reshape our built environment using British timber as a cornerstone of low-carbon construction.

80,000 Hours

That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
Kieran Anders Forestry

Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
Promoting safety in the workplace

It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
Glasfryn Fencing and Sawmill

Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
Keeping Timber Hauliers Safe

Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.

FIND US ON

For years, our focus has been on securing the timber supply chain. Now, with global timber pricing and supply increasingly volatile, the logic for using homegrown timber is stronger than ever. Prioritising British wood isn’t just an environmental choice – it’s an economic and strategic decision.

The TiC Roadmap provides the kind of direction and ambition our industry has been asking for. It charts a path toward greater self-sufficiency, laying out plans that will crucially involve an increase in the planting of productive softwood trees and scale up domestic timber production. These are not just targets – they are imperatives for reducing our reliance on imports, which currently make up a huge 80% of UK timber usage (worth £9 billion).

Timber is one of the most effective tools we have to reduce emissions in construction. Larger buildings can store up to 400% more carbon when built out of engineered timber products compared to when built with concrete. And with 25% of UK emissions coming from the built environment, that’s a game changer. Additionally, the economic case for homegrown timber is undeniable with in Scotland alone, forestry contributes £1.1 billion to the economy, supporting more than 34,000 jobs.

At BSW Group, we are proud to play a leading role in this transformation, as the UK’s largest integrated forestry and timber business, our operations span the entire lifecycle of timber. This starts from producing 35 million saplings annually through Maelor Forest Nurseries and planting over a billion trees via Tilhill Forestry, all the way through to manufacturing a wide range of sustainable British timber products. And through Scott Pallets and the pioneering Pallet LOOP, we’re tackling wood waste head-on, making reuse and recycling a core part of construction logistics.

This is about more than business. It’s about building a more resilient, sustainable future. Every time a customer chooses British timber, they’re doing more than completing a project – they’re making a statement. They’re investing in British jobs, supporting local businesses, and reducing our collective carbon footprint.

We’ve never been more optimistic. The TiC Roadmap signals real momentum, and with sustained collaboration across government and industry, we’re confident that homegrown timber will become the rule, not the exception. At BSW Group, we’re ready to lead the way.

Learn more about our work at bsw.co.uk