BRE IP10/05 PDF

Introduction

Throughout Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and South Yorkshire there is an extensive covering of woodland, including the famous Sherwood Forest. The Greenwood Community Forest Partnership, which is based in Nottinghamshire, has identified green gluing technology as having the potential to improve the use of the local woodland resource and add value to much of the low-value/ low-grade timber being harvested in the region (low-grade timber is generally low-value). It is likely that the results of the study have implications for the East Midlands and ultimately on a national level.

The quantity of UK-grown timber available to the UK market is forecast to increase significantly in the future. However, much of this timber will be of low-quality, coming from small, poorly shaped trees, coppice material and thinnings. UK-grown timber is an important renewable resource and its economic potential needs to be maximised to ensure as much of it reaches higher value markets as possible. High-value markets require longer, larger and/or clearer sections of timber.