Tim Burrell

Tim is Carpenter Oak & Woodland’s managing director. Tim has extensive experience of managing companies of all sizes, in many business sectors, including construction and building. Tim’s no-nonsense hands-on approach, coupled with his outstanding management experience and commercial acumen, make him the ideal complement to the craft-based skills of the rest of the team.

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Previous posts

• Directory of Oak Frame Architects
• Whisky brings warmth to timber framed homes
• Timber Supply for Oak Frame Houses
• Timber frame for supermarkets
• The quandary of externally exposed oak frames

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By Tim Burrell

I frequently find myself reflecting on the fact that there is such a clear and compelling case for building in timber, and that post and beam construction has so many advantages, but the forestry industry in Britain just doesn’t support it.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Forestry Commission. I like their cycle tracks through forests and their maintenance of areas such as the New Forest. But what I do find disappointing is that as a supplier of timber to this industry, it just doesn’t happen. It’s not just that we often struggle to find a contact to source timber for one of their own projects, as reasonably specified. It’s that there is no sign of them responding to the obvious demands for building materials in this country – at least not that we, or our British sawmills can see.

The French do this really well – oak is a commercially grown crop there, and organised harvesting and replanting is commonplace. Is it any wonder then that British oak is so expensive and difficult to find, but that it’s readily available from the other side of the channel?

OK, so I’m ranting. But if we, as a commercial organisation (albeit one with a strong conscience) can operate net replanting schemes which won’t benefit us financially, isn’t it reasonable to ask others who operate with public money to have a serious look at this problem?