The government has pledged to increase timber construction rates, in a bid to stimulate demand for domestic planting in England and reduce import reliance.

In a new roadmap published by the government it was revealed that less than 10% of English new build homes were timber framed in 2019, in contrast to Scotland where this figure was over 90%.

In a bid to create a thriving timber construction sector, the government has also pledged to build three small school buildings that use the full GenZero system by 2025, and develop five new-build pathfinder projects.

While also working with the industry to explore opportunities for scaling innovations in housing construction using English timber by 2025.

The use of timber can reduce the embodied emissions in a single building by 20% to 60%. Where timber has been harvested from sustainably managed forests, timber products can also act as a carbon store, locking away carbon for the duration of the product’s life.

The government has pledged to explore options to support more productive planting of both softwoods and hardwoods in England by 2024 to meet growing demands from the construction sector.

Minister for nature, Rebecca Pow says: “Alongside these benefits utilising timber in the built environment will support progress towards the Net Zero Target.

“Our new statutory woodland cover target to increase tree canopy and woodland cover in England to 16.5% by 2050 will also stimulate tree planting.”

Additionally the increase in afforestation to meet the government’s statutory targets could see an estimated 1,400 additional jobs across the supply chain.