In our article ‘why wood is good for garden offices’ we saw how wood is the most widely used material in garden office construction, and offers a garden office many performance benefits such as increased thermal and acoustic insulation. But it is important that any timber used in garden office construction comes from sustainable sources.
Exploitation of forests means that tropical hardwoods are in danger of becoming extinct, and while most timber used in garden office construction is softwood sourced from managed European forests, which plant more trees than they cut, it’s important that each meter of wood used in garden office construction can be traced back to a managed source.
Independent bodies such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) offer certification schemes for wood, and a ‘chain of custody’ certificate enables wood to be traced from forest to final product via all successive stages of processing and distribution. Wood that holds FSC or PEFC certification is clearly marked.
Garden office suppliers should be able to prove that they buy wood for use in their buildings, they should be able to demonstrate that all the wood used in the building was brought from a FSC & PEFC registered supplier.
Being able to prove the timber you use is from a sustainable source is becoming common place, for instance a garden office supplier who wants to exhibit at the big trade shows such as the Chelsea Flower Show have to prove that all the wood is from an accredited source before an application is accepted.
Don’t be embarrassed to ask to see proof that all the wood used in your garden office is from a sustainable source, you owe it to the world, garden office suppliers who use accredited wood such as Alternative Space will be happy to prove it!
