Locate were approached by Forestry Commission Scotland to help develop a stand alone document that could be used by Registered Social Landlords (RSL’s), appended to their existing Design Briefs and other contractual documentation, to encourage and enable the use of home grown timber and timber products in the construction of affordable social housing.
 
This work is designed to support the potential sale to RSL’s and other appropriate bodies of Forestry Commission land for the provision of affordable housing for those in housing need.  This also fits well with Communities Scotland’s guidance to maximise the use of timber and timber products, and to require that such materials be certified as coming from a sustainably managed source.
 
The work focused on the potential for certified C16 grade timber which, if designed appropriately at the outset, has the potential to fulfil a wide range of uses in construction.
 
There is a growing quantity of fit for purpose timber and timber products produced from sustainable, independently certified, Scottish forests.  Sourcing as locally as possible further reinforces the environmental advantages of building materials low in embodied carbon.
 
Other useful sources of information include the FCS information site and wider sustainable development sites such as the Scottish Executive sustainable procurement site.

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