We are extremely excited to announce that we are working with Built by Nature (BbN) over next year. Through the medium of film we will be exploring the connections of trees to construction and communities across Europe. The project is part of BbN’s ‘Forest to Frame’ initiative and sees us in good company working alongside other grant winners The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) and Stichting W/E adviseurs duurzaam bouwen. The challenge we have set ourselves is to increase the transparency of climate impacts that result from the wealth of decisions made daily along the timber construction value chain. Through a series of case studies we will pull together actors along all parts of the chain to discuss, consider, and learn from each other.
The backdrop
We all talk to our own circles in our own languages. Forester to forester. Designer to designer. Academic to academic. The list goes on. A forester is as unlikely to look at a design magazine as a designer is to read through the latest timber production forecasts. Yet we all work with the same material. From tree to development, we are all concerned with the sustainability of timber supplies and the woodlands that grow them. At the same time, how we manage forests, material use regulations, and carbon-centred approaches are all becoming increasingly complex.
The project
How we go about connecting fragmented user-groups is more vital now than ever before. If we are going to impact real change, these methods needs to evolve. We will spend the coming year facilitating and opening dialogue between disparate groups of the timber value chain through the production of rich mixed media: films, written pieces, podcasts and recorded debate across Europe.
We’ll be stirring up the debate and bringing otherwise siloed parts of the timber chain together. Forester with engineer, developer with silviculturalist. In doing so we will be telling the human side of the journey. From tree to development and matching this with technical and data driven information. Who are these foresters nurturing trees for future timber? The designers and developers looking to future timbers, who are they? Who is writing and influencing policy? And how can we all work better together?
The media creation we hope will inspire events and dialogue that bring organisations together both on and offline creating real influence on decision making and decision makers.
And we’re off!
The coming months will see us knee-deep in desktop research and networking across the UK and Europe. We are on the hunt for examples of complex resilient silviculture that tackles the challenges of a changing climate head on as well as innovations and innovators in the built environment that are starting to connect people and buildings back to the forest. We will then be out with our cameras filming case studies across a selection of European locations, and one in the UK. If you think you have or know of any projects that might be of interest to us – get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
Thank yous
We are eternally grateful to Built by Nature for seeing the potential, need, and value of this project. But they weren’t the only ones. Our gratitude and thanks extends to others in industry who also appreciate the value and necessity of this work. Egger, The Forestry Commission (Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund), and the Scottish Forestry Trust are all on board in support of our project. We are delighted to have them along for the ride.
