Timber! – How Wood Can Help Save the World by Paul Brannen review

TIMBER! is a book title which says it all in a single word, but the text is by necessity nowhere near as simple and succinct. That’s because author Paul Brannen, director of public affairs for the European woodworking and sawmill industries, has bravely and cleverly considered one of the most far-reaching, broad-ranging and deep dimensions of contemporary science. It is to the author’s credit that his comprehensive consideration of the subject is condensed into a highly manageable and cost-effective paperback book. How to grow and then use timber and wood, both successfully and sustainably, is at the very heart of this book, presented in eleven chapters and a final conclusion in which Paul Brannen covers the whole gamut of timber and wood production and utilisation. 

What is the problem we are trying to solve? Exponential rise in the numbers of people on the planet and requiring somewhere to live, and which is sufficiently warm or cool depending on climate and season, is the basic problem, compounded by the building and construction sector becoming progressively further away from decarbonisation by 2050. A move away from concrete and steel is clearly key, says the author. Ceasing to excavate non-renewable resources (iron ore, silica and calcium carbonate) from the earth’s crust and getting the earth’s crust to support and grow sustainable supplies of timber and wood.

How timber can decarbonise the built environment: We are all aware of the capacity of forests to store carbon but don’t appreciate the potential of buildings (on a per-square-metre basis) to store more carbon than forests, says Paul Brannen in the opening statement of Chapter 2. Using timber in building and construction is nothing new, says the author. Communities around the world have been building timber-framed houses for hundreds of years, many of which are still standing today, storing carbon sequestered more than 1,000 years ago, which implies centuries of missed opportunities. 

Foresters who are so used to being put on the back foot when it comes to conifer plantation forestry and utilisation of softwood timber will be heartened to see that both take centre stage in this book. Among the myriad of thoughts, questions posed and answers provided stands an instructive graph showing the rate of carbon sequestration with increasing tree age. After an initial tree establishment lag, growth takes off exponentially to reach a peak after some 35 years. The author is clearly talking about conifers, which are used to illustrate the diagram. So much for hardwoods, because even using the French model of harvestable oak in 100 years, three crops of conifers can be taken from the land over the same timescale.

Insulation – the big climate win we have yet to deliver: Insulation or the lack of it in managing energy usage in the UK continues to be at the forefront of talk (if not action). Materials are rarely mentioned, and I doubt whether wood comes to mind for the man in the street. However, as Paul Brannen points out, ‘Wood fibre is highly sustainable, locking up considerably more carbon dioxide than is produced in its manufacture and therefore able to play an essential part in a strategy for mitigating climate change’. He supports his arguments with a series of tables such as ‘Energy consumption in EU households 2021’; ‘Installation of loft insulation in UK’; ‘The thermal insulation market in Europe by volume for different materials used (2014)’; ‘Embodied carbon per square metre of wall for different insulation materials’; ‘Stored/sequestered and embodied carbon per square metre of wall for different insulation materials’.

Wooden sky scrapers and Fire, timber buildings and safety comprise Chapters 4 and 5 respectively. The world’s tallest wooden building, which is 18 storeys high and built with engineered timber, has a structural strength equivalent to that of concrete and steel, says Paul Brannen who takes readers back to the De Havilland Mosquito bomber aircraft to reinforce his point about engineered timber. In Chapter 5 he emphasises how, when designed and built correctly, tall timber buildings can provide a level of fire safety that is equal to or greater than that found in concrete and steel buildings. Readers won’t be surprised to see the Grenfell Tower disaster in London featuring prominently in the arguments and discussion.

Forests – an important asset in tacking climate change: Forestry Journal readers wait until Chapter 6 for a focus on forests and forestry, but they won’t be disappointed. Paul Brannen quotes George Orwell: “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle”. From this he extrapolates how it is hardly surprising that very few people realize that timber offers a significant solution to climate change. Looking specifically at the UK he concentrates on the need to properly manage forest and woodland, as well as planting more of it. And the need to and real possibility of establishing and managing conifer plantation without sacrificing biodiversity, and thereby neutralising the firepower on commercial softwood forestry.

Is there enough sustainable wood? Clearly not, because using World Bank estimates Paul Brannen shows how timber demand is set to quadruple by 2050.

Demand in the UK is expected to rise, in part because of the government’s commitment to promote timber use in construction as part of the UK’s net-zero strategy. The author argues for much higher planting rates, presumably more frequent and intense thinning and perhaps earlier harvest than the 50-year norm for mainstream conifer species. Unlike wheat and other annual crop, trees take time to grow, develop and mature to harvest. Looking at the timescale set out for the UK we could be forgiven for thinking that all is already lost given the dismally low new planting rates for trees and conifers, in particular over the last 30 years. 

Increasing wood supply: Connoisseurs of coppicing and believers in biomass will really enjoy this chapter (number 8).

Is there enough land? I was really pleased to see this chapter about the pressures on land for planting trees. Paul Brannen rightly considers this question in the European context but also zeroes in on the UK in which Forestry Journal readers will have a particular interest. Agriculture and food production is invariably considered as the main and sometimes only competitor to commercial forestry when it comes to allocating new land on which to plant trees. But such tunnel vision is dangerous because building development, bracken, rewilding, wind farms and solar panels are all in there and increasingly so to make it more and more difficult for the forestry industry to argue for more tree planting. 

Author Paul Brannen, director of public affairs for the European woodworking and sawmill industries. (Image: Supplied)

Harnessing the climate benefits of agroforestry: Are you an ardent advocate of agroforestry who thought the author had forgotten you? Then think again, because Paul Brannen has devoted a 20-page chapter entirely to this increasingly important and interesting subject and answer to all sorts of benefits around wood production, wildlife and of course climate change.

Factory-built houses: The whole subject would be incomplete without this final chapter (number 11) on the use of timber and wood to make factory-built houses, clearly one way of curing the UK’s shortage of homes.

In his conclusion, Paul Brennan sews all these diverse topics together using common threads with a classic quote from Mark Twain to predict the rise of timber: “Anyone who has a new idea is a nutcase until the idea catches on.”

Paul Brannen’s book has already received rave reviews from high-profile organisations including the Soil Association and the Green Alliance, and I had to wait for my review copy because the first print run sold out. 

The question is, should you spend £18.99 on Timber!? You would be mad not to.