WOOD FOR GOOD
A sustainable super material John Kissock explains why wood is set to make a comeback as the building material of choice
Wood is a construction material virtually as old as the earth itself. Easy to grow, easy to harvest and durable, it has formed the mainstay of homes and buildings since ancient times.
John Kissock Chairman of the Wood for Good campaign
‘modern’ materials has meant that wood has fallen somewhat out of favour. But now, the checklist of the qualities we expect from the materials we specify is changing once more. The negative impact that buildings – both in the construction phase and once they are standing - can have on the environment can no longer be ignored, and mitigating this damage is not just laudable, government standards are making it an imperative.
Y 16 | Architects Choice |
ArchitectNews.co.uk
et in the past fifty years, fears about flammability, and the vogue for more
TARGETING ZERO CARBON The Low Carbon Construction report of autumn 2010 threw down the gauntlet to the construction industry and challenged it to lower carbon emissions, both in its working processes and in the embodied carbon of the buildings that are created. Indeed designing low carbon buildings is already a necessity when competing for public sector contracts. Similarly, mechanisms are
being put in place to standardise how the environmental credentials of new builds are assessed. For example, the Building Research Establishment’s (BRE) Green Guide evaluates the relative environmental impacts of the most commonly used construction materials. This enables low carbon building materials to be specified at the
start of the building process. In addition, the development of The Code for Sustainable Homes is helping to drive change towards sustainable building practices by giving a star rating to reflect the sustainability of a specification. All projects must meet the minimum sustainability rating of one star, with exemplar projects being granted six stars. For the architect, then,
concern for aesthetics and structural qualities must be paralleled, if not trumped by environmental considerations. Now, and in the future, architects must specify materials based not only on the appearance, applications and durability; but also on their low carbon credentials. And these new standards mean that the time is right for timber to take the stage once more.
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