Homegrown homes for people + planet
A mass local approach to building with timber in every neighbourhood.
The UK construction sector is set to blow its 1.5oC carbon budget by 2026. To meaningfully tackle the climate emergency there is an urgent need to reduce the amount of embodied carbon in how and what we build.
Timber has huge potential as a low-carbon construction material, providing an alternative to high-carbon products, such as steel and concrete, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in products with a long service life.
However, the UK currently imports over 80% of the timber it uses, and what it does grow itself, more than two thirds is squandered on burning for fuel and transitory products, such as packaging and fencing.
Homegrown Homes presents new applied research that explores the ways in which we can reconnect how we design, source and build our homes with our local material context and culture, and in the process create affordable homes that are better for people and the planet. This research is supported by the Forestry Commission’s Timber in Construction Innovation fund.
