Timber-frame backs zero carbon move

The Government have set a target that all new homes will be zero carbon within the next ten years, the chancellor announced yesterday.

Bryan Woodley, chief executive of the UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) welcomed the move. He said:  "The timber-frame industry in the UK is already developing the technology and building practices that will allow house builders to meet this target, and we believe that the use of timber-frame makes it both commercially and technically feasible.”

The UKTFA claimed timber frame has the lowest CO2 cost of any commercially available building material and for every cubic metre of wood used instead of other building materials, 0.8 tonne of CO2 is saved from the atmosphere. Consequently, every timber frame home that is built saves about 4 tonnes of CO2.

Woodley added: “In the meantime, the timber frame industry is actively participating with English Partnership's latest phase of its Design for Manufacture competition to provide low and zero carbon developments across the country, as well as similar zero carbon schemes in the Thames Gateway area and elsewhere."