What action is the Welsh Government taking to increase the supply of timber for new Welsh homes?
The trees and timber deep dive identified actions across the timber supply chain to encourage greater use of Welsh timber and fibre in construction. This requires a strategic approach to coordination across the supply chain to ensure there is a stable supply of Welsh timber, an innovative processing sector, and stable demand from end users such as Local Authorities and Housing Associations.
These actions will form a starting point for the development of a timber industrial strategy for Wales. This will build on the success of the Modern Methods of Construction Strategy and the Home-Grown Homes project led by Woodknowledge Wales.
It will also include changes to the way NRW sell timber. NRW has created a project to explore and develop a number of alternative timber sales methods to dispose of up to 30% of the marketable timber from the Welsh Government’s Woodland Estate’s in new ways that reflect the wider social and environmental benefits created by the trade and use of timber, not just the financial benefits. One of the new methods being explored specifically aims to allocate supplies of NRW’s forest timber to housing projects in Wales, whilst helping to reduce volatility in the construction timber market to improve procurement and tendering processes for housing associations and developers seeking to use more timber.