Councils' stories from across the UK
Pier pleasure – how Southend’s record-breaking pier saves forests
Southend pier, stretching 1.3 miles into the North Sea, is the longest pleasure pier in the world. It’s an iconic landmark in the area, as well as a place of leisure and entertainment, and a functioning lifeboat station. But a devastating fire in 2005 destroyed the pier’s wooden decking. Gary McDonnell of Southend Borough Council explains why they decided to use FSC-certified sustainable hardwood to restore the pier’s decking.
“Our pier is so important for the town and the region. After the fire we decided it must remain wooden, as there's always been a wooden deck on Southend pier - and as a Grade II listed structure it was important we maintained it as close as possible to the original design intentions.
“So our team got together to agree how to go about this major project. We were going to need a lot of wood! Our internal architect and project manager, Drew Jones, showed us how important it was to choose sustainable hardwood - to make sure we're supporting good forest management in countries where tropical rainforests are threatened by illegal and unsustainable logging.
“He highlighted the importance of making sure the wood had full chain of custody - which means it’s been tracked all the way through the supply chain from the forest. The best way to ensure it’s come from responsibly managed forests is to choose wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). So we used FSC-certified Ekki wood, which is very durable and just the thing for decking our very long pier.
“In some areas of Africa, Ekki is listed as a vulnerable species, so it was really important to make sure the Ekki we used was sourced from well-managed forests. The FSC certification means it has full chain of custody and that the forest is being maintained rather than degraded, with vulnerable species protected.
“We started the project in September 2008 and it took a long 18 months to complete. We worked in difficult conditions, as the pier stretches over a mile into the Thames estuary, where the weather can be very wet and windy!
“It looks great now, and we're proud to be able to say that the wood we used for our pier has come from well-managed forests where people and nature are respected.”
Leicestershire finds saving forests doesn’t cost the Earth
Leicestershire County Council’s Sustainable Development Officer Hetal Patel says they were pleased to find that, despite initial concerns, buying sustainable timber needn’t mean extra expense.
“Leicestershire County Council aims to be one of the best performing councils in England on the environment - that’s why we’ve made a pledge with WWF to achieve the Silver standard for procurement of timber and wood-derived products.
Our pledge says: ‘We will not buy any timber or paper where we don’t know the source of the wood. We will choose projects, contracts and/or product groups where recycled, certified or sustainable and legal timber products will be used’.
Before making the pledge we wanted to know what it would involve, and whether it would cost us any more to fulfil this commitment. So we carried out a detailed report on the benefits and costs of putting in place the Minimum Buying Standards (MBSs) for Timber and Wood-Derived products.
At first we thought there would be a small increase in total spend to adopt the new policy and MBSs, compared to 2009-2010 costs. But after further assessment, we found that supplier engagement and rationalisation would offer savings that could make it a cost-neutral change. For example, we’re now buying 12 different types of paper where we used to buy 82, and we’re talking to suppliers about alternatives to products where we couldn’t find a certified option such as our wooden forks and knives.
Our assessment of the financial impact also didn’t take account of the anticipated reductions in general consumption resulting from the council’s overall efficiency programme - which includes a reduction in print commissions and increased use of more efficient printing devices.
We did identify a relatively small but routine business cost, to train staff and carry out checks. But overall our assessment concluded that it is possible to adopt the new policy and MBSs without any additional costs.
We are now working with WWF and the government’s CPET service (Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement) to start implementing our sustainable timber procurement policy.”
The “Glasgow House”
As part of an ongoing regeneration programme of the housing stock in Glasgow and to tackle energy poverty and meet climate change targets, three Glasgow-based organisations active in the building sector joined forces on a prototype project to build affordable warm houses using sustainable locally sourced material. The project shows that using locally sourced FSC-certified timber not only benefits the environment but also offers better insulation, reduced energy bills and boosts the local economy.
As part of its £1bn programme to regenerate its housing stock in Glasgow, Glasgow Housing Association (GHA), one of the largest social housing providers in Europe, built four prototype houses known as “The Glasgow House” in partnership with City Building (Glasgow) LLP and PRP Architects.
The project also aims to tackle Glasgow’s high level of fuel poverty, while addressing national and local climate change targets and recognising likely future energy costs.
The two house types were built with a combination of masonry and timber frames. The most sustainable materials available were used, where practical. The timber kits used to construct the timber frame houses were locally sourced, FSC-certified and manufactured in Scotland by a supported factory employing local people with disabilities, Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries (RSBi)
FSC certification and chain of custody certification is checked and internally audited by the supplier to ensure all timber is legal and FSC-stamped.
A series of air-tightness and other tests have been carried out on both house types, confirming that both the masonry and timber frame house types deliver an average two-thirds energy saving on energy costs against a typical 3-bedroom property. This will help to ensure lower energy bills, and low CO ² emissions.
The benefits of using locally-sourced FSC timber for the construction of the Glasgow House have been multiple: -
• Environmental, with the use of sustainable timber
• Economic, by using locally-sourced material and expertise
• Social, by providing affordable warmth and supporting the local workforce
“In terms of our sustainability triple bottom line, the Glasgow House has been very successful. The immediate beneficiaries of this success will be Glasgow and Glaswegians. But the Glasgow House also helps protect endangered forests and ecosystems by strict adherence to our sustainable and certified timber procurement, and limiting our impacts on the global climate by using construction methods that will continue to reduce our carbon footprint”, says Mel Brookes, Marketing & Communications Manager at City Building.
“By procuring sustainable timber and recycled materials, City Building is both encouraging suppliers of such materials and supporting Glasgow City Council in the implementation of its Sustainable Procurement Policy - supporting the green businesses of the future”.
Highland Council uses only sustainable timber, paper and biomass
With a procurement policy focused on environmental and socio-economic sustainability, Highland Council makes sure it sources only FSC-certified timber for its house-building, buys only recycled and FSC paper, and plans to use wood chip in its 20 biomass boilers.
Back in 2009 Highland Council committed to ensuring all of its building projects would “comply with best practice in sustainability”. The council drew up guidelines for developers and architects, encouraging the use of timber as a sustainable building material, saying:
“Forestry is a traditional industry in the Highlands, and timber is a relatively low-impact building material… choosing sustainably-produced timber from the Highlands will also cut down on environmental impacts arising from the transport of materials.”
But they stressed that all timber products should be sourced from sustainably managed forests - highlighting Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification as an indication that the source forest is managed to strict environmental, social and economic standards.
Highland Council hosted Scotland’s Housing Expo in 2010, which saw the construction of a new housing development on the edge of Inverness containing 52 homes. The Expo demonstrated how good design, energy efficiency and sustainability can be placed at the heart of house-building. Many of the designs used sustainably sourced timber as the primary material.
Highland Council has also switched to purchasing only recycled paper for its printers and photocopiers, and using FSC-certified paper for its print publications - all with no increase in costs. They state: “Any renewal of contract would include this in the specification.”
They’re also aiming to couple this with reduced paper consumption - overall the aim is to reduce paper purchase by 50% by 2015. A Sustainable Procurement Action plan was developed in 2010 and will be built on each year to enable monitoring and reporting of purchasing patterns. Highland Council is also currently exploring the best ways to procure and supply wood chip to the 20 council-owned sites with biomass boilers installed.
One challenge is to ensure sustainability of supply through international accreditation and to minimise the financial and environmental costs of transporting wood chip long distances, while at the same time securing supply in a competing market.
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