Join the WoodHub Urban Network for Sustainable Timber

Do you have sustainable forestry, wood, or construction initiatives in your city?

We are currently developing a replicable but customizable approach for cities and local businesses to set up sustainable WoodHubs, and building a network to connect cities and help them sustain, scale and share these initiatives.

How can European cities grow and thrive while having a positive impact on the natural environment?

When it comes to urban wood choices, restrictive procurement policies and big-box suppliers have led to reduced diversity of local and sustainable timber in European cities. Most local mills have closed, and knowledge of sustainable production and sourcing has been outsourced or lost. 

Today there is a resurgence of interest in bio-based, low carbon, local and circular materials, as well as support for sustainable and social forestry in vital forests near and far.

While there are many promising initiatives in cities around the world, most of these address only one stream of urban wood. The WoodHub Initiative aims to integrate these efforts and implement a systemic approach, clustering together successful enterprises, shared infrastructure, knowledge, training, and supply and demand channels.

WoodHubs will integrate:

• Urban tree-to-timber processing

• Circular timber from demolition and waste streams

• Certified “conservation timber” imports and partnerships

• Job training and creation in a wide range of skill areas

• Green and social enterprise incubation

• Procurement policy development with government officials

• Carbon accounting and credits

• Marketing and media

When cities, architects, and contractors set out to build new buildings or infrastructure, they face numerous sourcing decisions, often under tight timelines. How can they source the right materials for the project while  supporting the world’s climate and forests?

Construction firms often grapple with the challenges of affordability and accessibility. Sustainably sourced wood often comes at a premium and may require longer lead times in order to receive it in time for a project’s start date. High-quality lumber milled from urban trees often lack connections to a reliable market, creating unnecessary cost burdens to municipal budgets. Establishing a supply of sustainable wood close to city centers, vetted by sustainability experts and managed with advanced inventory systems, would enhance accessibility for more projects, large and small.

A key solution lies in the value chain of forest-positive building materials. Many suppliers rely on highly efficient "just-in-time" inventory systems, which create pressure to select readily available raw materials that may not be environmentally friendly. Although regulations promoting sustainably sourced wood (e.g. EUDR) are gaining traction, they have yet to make these materials more accessible. The Sustainable Wood Hub Initiative aims to bridge this gap by making sustainable wood from various pathways readily available for small and medium-sized urban projects.