Australian Local Government Association joins international move to encourage the use of wood in the built environment
At the 2015 National Assembly of Local Government in late June, the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) passed a resolution that supported the use and promotion of timber products by Local Government across Australia, using a policy similar to the Wood Encouragement Policy developed by Latrobe City Council. This action both recognises the value of the timber industry to the Australian economy and the contribution that using more responsibly sourced wood and wood products can make to reduce our carbon footprint.
Internationally, Japan, France, the UK, Finland, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Canada are among countries that have adopted various forms of policies designed to encourage the use of responsibly sourced wood and wood products. In December 2014, Latrobe City Council became Australia’s first local government body to formally promote the use of timber when it adopted its Wood Encouragement Policy.
According to Latrobe City Council Councillor, Sandy Kam, the policy encourages the use of wood as the preferred material for construction purposes in both the construction and fit out of council buildings and infrastructure.
“Its focus is to ensure that wood is considered at the initial stages of a project, when the brief is being developed,” said Cr Kam, “we realise that wood may not always be suitable for every application, however the policy is intended to encourage the use of wood where appropriate or maximise its inclusion in a mix of materials.”
The Latrobe City Council Wood Encouragement Policy was first endorsed by the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), which laid the foundation for the ALGA resolution.
“We are very pleased and proud that our policy has been effectively endorsed by our national association,” said Cr Kam, “we look forward to it being adopted as policy by other local governments across Australia.”
Ensuring the environmental credentials of the policy were sound was vital to Latrobe City Council who gained assistance from Planet Ark’s Make it Wood program.
“We’ve done extensive research on the role of responsibly sourced wood in the built environment,” said Chris Philpot, Planet Ark’s Make it Wood Program Manager, “wood is not only the only renewable large scale building material, but it also has low embodied energy and stores carbon too. It’s the smarter choice for anyone looking to design and build sustainably.”
Chris went on to explain that the increasing adoption of innovative new engineered wood products and building systems also gave designers and builders more scope than ever before.
“It’s an exciting time, we’re seeing new styles of buildings, multistorey timber construction planned for up to 30 storeys in Paris – if we can keep encouraging the use of wood here, who knows how far we can go?”