Sustainability
There are many definitions of sustainability. To us it means that we are seeking to ensure that our processes and products are developed in an environmentally sensitive way. So that we reduce the negative impact we have on the environment without increasing costs or compromising the needs of future generations. This is a constantly evolving process. Our Research and Development department (R&D) are always striving to achieve higher standards in this area.
Timber is a renewable energy efficient resource
Sustainability begins with managed forests.
When a tree is removed it is replaced by another tree, so in choosing wood as a building material, you are opting to use a renewable resource.
Not only that but Life Cycle Analysis shows us that the energy requirement of a PVC-U window is eight times that of a timber window.
Wood performs eight times better than concrete and 2,000 times better than aluminium. So not only is wood renewable but it is more energy efficient as well.
Our energy rated windows
Our INNOVATION range is the first timber-framed window to gain a British
Fenestration Registration Council (BRFC) energy rating in the UK. The rating is awarded based on the thermal insulation properties of the whole
window, glazing and frame. The INNOVATION range currently has a BFRC ‘E - B’ rating.
Our use of Engineered timber increases efficiency
New Technologies are now adding to the advantages provided by timber as a building material.
As well as hardwoods from sustainable forests, we also use Engineered/Laminated timber, which is not only
creating new standards in performance, strength and durability but makes for a higher quantity of usable wood
from each tree, increasing the efficiency of manufacture and saving energy.
The European timber industry, which supplies the overwhelming majority of our timber, has overseen a steady expansion of Europe’s forests over the past 60 years.
This growth continues, as only 65% of the annual growth is harvested, adding some 252 million cubic metres to the carbon sink annually. (UN-ECE Temperate and Boreal Forest Assessment, 2000) The best way to use forests as carbon sinks is to harvest the timber and convert it into products (which continue to store the carbon) while replanting more trees than before. Growing trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere at a rate of 1kg for every m3 of growth and convert it into carbohydrates through photosynthesis, releasing the oxygen we breathe. The resulting carbon is locked away for the tree’s life and the life of the timber and paper products coming from the tree. Annually the European forests are increasing by an area the size of Cyprus. (MCPFE 2003, State of Europe’s forests 2003).