An unexpected timber shortage has hit us! The price of timber has gone up due the demand of DIY projects and construction post lockdown.
The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) have said that suppliers are working as best they can, however struggling to keep up.
Climate change is also having a toll and rising the pressure on supply with more wildfires and pests that kill trees.
80% of timber in the UK is imported and many are calling for the UK’s forestry industry to be nurtured.
The government said it was “committed to trebling tree planting rates by the end of this Parliament” and are on the journey to create more woodlands to support the supply and demand for UK-grown timber.
Almost half of the structural wood used in the UK is from Sweden, who have recorded to have the lowest stock for 20 years.
Timber shortage – Demand is only going up!
Wilf Meynell is an architect and project manager at Studio Bark who has been affected due to the shortage. He has created a sustainable, modular, all-timber system used in many self-build projects called U-Build.
He said: “Everyone’s taking a hit. Our entire business is focused around timber. The price of birch ply has doubled, and the cost of our standard work has risen by 25%.”
As cities get larger, designers, architects and many others within this trade and noticing the requirement to decarbonise the built environment. Predictions have been made by the World Bank that wood products are going to rise by 4% each year for the next 30-40 years at least.
Mr Meynell has had to think and look locally for some of his timber on a site in Ross-on-Wye. He said overall it worked well, especially as it lowers the use of emissions and supports the local economy.
The monoculture commercial conifer planting of the 1980s caused severe habitat decline. However, forest manager Mr Taylor said “the wrong trees were planted in the wrong place”.
Predictions from the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) that the disruption to supplies will continue for much of the rest of the year.
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