Timber Development UK (TDUK) has welcomed the Government’s commitment to increasing housebuilding in Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget but is calling for greater recognition of the role timber can play in delivering the UK’s housing ambitions while reducing carbon emissions.
The Budget, delivered on 28 October, included an additional £1.5 billion for the Social and Affordable Housing Programme, taking the Government’s total commitment to council housing to £40 billion.
The Chancellor also announced measures intended to make it easier and more affordable to build new homes, including extending access to cheaper borrowing for councils, removing biodiversity requirements for more brownfield sites and making land sold to social housing providers VAT-free. 
In a move aimed at providing greater certainty for the construction industry, the Chancellor also pledged that there would be no major changes to building regulations during the current Parliament, except where they were safety critical.
The Government also announced full details of a new equity loan scheme for first-time buyers, Your First Home, backed by £4.7 billion of government lending, alongside plans to replace the Lifetime ISA with a new First-Time Buyer ISA.
TDUK has welcomed the renewed focus on increasing the UK’s housing supply, but believes the Government must place greater emphasis on how those homes are constructed, especially as the Chancellor renewed the Government’s pledge to meet the UK’s net zero carbon targets. It must also act fast: the UK construction industry is in dire need of spades in the ground in the face of increasing businesses closures and redundancies.
With the UK facing the twin challenges of a housing shortage and the need to reduce carbon emissions, TDUK argues that increasing housing numbers must go hand in hand with encouraging the use of lower-carbon building materials. As a renewable construction material that stores carbon absorbed during the growth of trees, sustainably sourced timber offers opportunities to reduce the embodied carbon associated with new buildings, particularly when used in place of more carbon-intensive materials.
Timber frame and other engineered timber construction systems can also support faster, more efficient housing delivery, making them particularly relevant to the Government’s ambitions for social and affordable housing.
David Hopkins, Chief Executive of Timber Development UK, said: “The Government’s renewed commitment to housebuilding is welcome. The additional £1.5 billion for social and affordable housing, together with measures to make it easier for councils and housing providers to deliver new homes, sends a positive signal to a construction industry that has faced a difficult few years.
“We need to start this moving now. But we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that how we build those homes matters just as much as how many we build. If the Government is serious about meeting its housing ambitions while delivering on its commitment to net zero, then we need to see much greater support for low-carbon construction, particularly timber housing.
“Timber offers a practical, proven way to build high-quality homes while reducing embodied carbon. We already have the knowledge, products and expertise within the UK timber supply chain to help deliver these homes at scale – and at the speed needed to kick-start construction.”
“We would like to see the Government go further by providing additional incentives and support for housing developments that demonstrate lower embodied carbon, particularly those making greater use of sustainably sourced timber. That would help stimulate demand for low-carbon construction, give developers and manufacturers the confidence to invest, and make sure that the homes we build today are fit for the future.”
The Budget also included measures to support business investment, with the Chancellor maintaining full expensing for eligible assets and increasing the main rate first-year allowance from 40% to 50% for other qualifying investment. These measures could provide opportunities for timber manufacturers and processors looking to invest in new machinery, production facilities and technologies to improve productivity and expand capacity.
Hopkins continued: “The housing sector has an opportunity to make a real difference to the UK’s carbon emissions, but that will require a more joined-up approach to housing policy and sustainability. Building more homes is absolutely the right ambition, but building homes with lower embodied carbon must be central to that ambition. Timber should be at the heart of that conversation, and we look forward to working with Government and the wider construction industry to help turn these commitments into more homes, more investment and a lower-carbon built environment.”
For more information about TDUK, visit www.timberdevelopment.uk
