02/05/2025
The UK Government is considering some significant amendments to building regulations which will impact BWF Members and the wider woodworking and joinery manufacturing industry. A consultation of ...
BWF has responded to the consultation on the latest draft criteria from BRE for assessing responsible sourcing schemes within BREEAM. The draft set out a structure and scoring system for assessing different responsible sourcing schemes, including timber schemes such as FSC and PEFC, in addition to BRE’s own BES6001 and any other responsible sourcing schemes that become established.
BWF Policy Executive, Matt Mahony commented,
“In many instances the largest environmental damage in a supply chain is caused right at the start, where extraction of raw materials occurs. When this occurs, responsible sourcing schemes that identify and manage sustainability issues at this point should be considered superior to those that can only consider sustainability at various processing points in the supply chain. Without having a degree of traceability back to the source of raw materials it is impossible to know whether the actual raw input materials used have come from a responsibly managed source, whether this is a forest, mine, quarry etc.
"In order to meet BREEAM’s stated aim to ‘Encourage the specification and procurement of responsibly sourced materials’, schemes must also be rewarded for encouraging responsible sourcing within a sector and this is far easier to achieve with schemes that are scalable and can work successfully for a number of different types of business sizes and supply chains. It is important that responsible sourcing schemes remain accessible to SMEs, given that the majority of construction product manufacturers and distributors are small or micro-businesses. Schemes that value accredited management systems over genuine responsible sourcing are often prohibitively costly to SME businesses.
“We support the FSC and PEFC responses to the consultation. BREEAM is the world's leading design and assessment method for sustainable buildings and we are hopeful that our feedback will help it to deliver on the aims that customers expect it to be achieving."
