TIMBER TIMBER TRUTHS: NAVIGATING GLOBAL
TIMBER SUPPLY RESPONSIBLY Builders’ merchants are uniquely placed to help the construction industry transition toward sustainable, ethically sourced timber – a material that is increasingly central to meeting environmental goals.
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imber is in increasingly high demand as a more sustainable construction material. While builders have always admired its high strength-to-weight ratio and insulation properties, it has grown more desirable because it meets sustainability objectives. Timber is renewable, stores carbon and can be reused or recycled at the building’s end of life.
Gav Brown, managing director of Think Timber, says that, for these reasons, timber ticks a lot of boxes. “For a start, it aligns perfectly with both short and longer-term Government targets. These include building hundreds of thousands of homes over the next few years and realising Net Zero goals by 2050. The Timber in Construction Roadmap 2025 outlines plans to massively increase the proportion of new homes in England that are built using timber frames.
“However, we can only realise the sustainability benefits of timber when it is sourced ethically.”
According to Government data, the UK is the third largest net importer of timber and wood products in the world. Unfortunately, it is all too common for endangered timber, such as mahogany or American ash, to be harvested and sold illegally. Rogue companies can do this with impunity due to the weak enforcement of regulations in some countries. Similarly, unethical logging leads to deforestation. Cutting down trees that are not replaced results in a massive rise in carbon emissions. Brown says that it is is no surprise therefore that major housebuilders are already mandating ethically sourced timber from their supply chains. “As we all know, sooner or later these trends trickle down to the smaller construction companies that represent the majority of a builders’ merchant’s customer base. Indeed, thanks to the influence of TV shows like Grand Designs, builders working on high-end houses are already being asked to use sustainable timber.”
This, he believes, represents a unique opportunity for builders’ merchants. “They are the trusted voice for builders; their customers listen to their advice and take their recommendations. However, sourcing timber
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responsibly is an increasingly complex process, meaning merchants must tread carefully to ensure timber truly meets sustainability standards,” he says.
Why it matters
The construction industry is under pressure to reduce its environmental impact. With the built environment already responsible for around a quarter of the UK’s total carbon emissions, construction has an essential role to play in helping to meet national sustainability targets. Brown adds: “To this end, builders are being encouraged to use more timber because it stores carbon throughout its lifecycle. This is in stark contrast to cement production, which accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions. Because of this, timber can reduce embodied emissions in a single building by up to 60%, according to Government figures. Put simply, it is one of the most sustainable building materials as well as one of the most abundant. “However, the unfortunate reality is that some timber suppliers are sourcing and selling endangered timber species, now numbering over 8,000 tree species. Because of this, we are still seeing even large corporations
make mistakes when it comes to ethically sourcing their timber. Recently, a UK national housebuilder specified American ash in a project, despite this species being endangered due to huge losses caused by the emerald ash borer beetle. A PR disaster, this incident highlights the critical need for more education regarding sustainable supply chains. Put simply, builders need help when specifying timber – and need to be able to rely on builders’ merchants for both expert advice and timber they know has been ethically sourced.”
Local vs Global
Disappointingly, the industry often assumes that locally sourced materials are inherently
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2025
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