As we enter National Tree Week 2022, GiB welcomes the additional support announced by Defra for woodland creation. The £20 million forms part of the Nature for Climate Fund and will improve tree planting stocks, woodland resilience, domestic timber production and accelerate tree planting across England.

 The major investment will support projects developing new technologies and working practices to help homegrown timber production meet a greater proportion of domestic demand. Bringing a greater portion of our woodlands into active management will boost biodiversity, improve resilience to pests and diseases and improve timber security thereby growing the UK’s forestry and wood processing sectors, which support 30,000 jobs and contribute over £2 billion to our economy every year.   

This announcement builds on the raft of funding available to support the governments drive towards net zero including the Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds, which Grown in Britain is proud to be working; 

• Timber in Construction – developing GiB curtain walling for commercial and public sector buildings to replace aluminium and imported timber with Gloucester based Scandinavian Timber.
• Regional Woods into Management – working with the National Trust to link local timber supply chains and pull more woods into management.
• Ash, a New Seat at the Table – a new supply chain for ash furniture will be created with British furniture manufacturer ercol, to sell through high street retailers, partners and directly from ercol.com.  

Rachel Lawrence, Business Manager, Grown in Britain, said: “This project touches every aspect of an ash tree’s journey from the woodland, through to the sawmill, on into design and manufacture and finally through retail and into the hands of the consumer, potentially for generations to come. It is a privilege to be working with the team at ercol, whose passion and quality shines through and this project represents a significant opportunity, enabled by the Forestry Innovation Funds, to bring furniture design and manufacture back into the UK. Our ambition is not simply to make Grown in Britain-certified tables and chairs but to onshore a scalable, commercially viable supply chain with a lasting legacy.”   

Read more about the Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds here: https://forestrycommission.blog.gov.uk/2022/11/29/woods-into-management-forestry-innovation-funds-2022-successful-applicants/