Ftn june 13

FORESTRY & TIMBER NEWS EDITORIAL

June 2013 Issue 57

Timber treatment update p15

Woodfuel: heating the nation p17

High-tech forest surveying p23

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EDITORIAL Innovation As usual, the June issue features woodfuel.

In addition, there is a feature on the use of technology in forestry, a subject long overdue in FTN. Many of you use GPS and GIS mapping on a daily basis, but are you up to date with these and other gizmos, such as unmanned aerial vehicles? For readers who are less familiar with such gadgets (like me), or perhaps are a bit technophobic, I hope these articles will be of some help too.

Grant schemes are becoming increasingly digital-based, meaning that applicants will be obliged to embrace modern technology. This move is somewhat daunting, as experience of such changes to date, has not been smooth. To be more optimistic, a number of articles, including the aforementioned, in this issue are about successful innovation, which is welcome, as the sector strives continuously for efficiencies to improve its competitiveness.

In view of the interest shown in the articles on Canada in the April issue, I intended to include a piece about the woodlot system in British Columbia and, in particular, how schools use their own woodlots as part of the education experience.

Forest schools are increasingly commonplace in the UK, but this is something else.

Unfortunately, I have had to hold it over (along with other articles).

Of course, all the latest updates are in this FTN too, including plant health, timber market reports and the latest FC statistics.

From time to time, readers complain about my excessive use of acronyms. It is a valid point and I need to be more careful – is the opening paragraph above acceptable?

I would like to explain the basis on which I try to work and hope you agree that it is reasonable: We have to assume a certain level of understanding in the (broad) readership, so FC, CAP, DIY and similar are used without explanation.

Some other, less regularly used, terms and names are very long and eat into our precious word space. We tend to write these in full the first time they are mentioned and then as initials thereafter. This is probably where the most confusion arises. Is RDP one of these?

I used to give a copy of FTN to my mother, but she died (aged 93) last year – she used to keep me on my toes. Well, that’s my excuse... But sorry, I will try harder.

Jane Karthaus jane.karthaus@confor.org.uk 01668 213937

CONTENTS 4 NEWS Support continues to grow for GiB campaign

Chalara found in wider environment in Wales Call for stronger measures to protect trees Kew tackles disease threat with seed bank Timber statistics News briefing Confor Woodland Show goes for Grown in Britain Confor’s APF 2014

10 BUSINESS & FINANCE

Timber market update: Uncertainty as economic gloom persists Electronic timber marketing report: Demand steady for home-grown timber The advantage of choosing wood Turning wood to gold

15 TIMBER TREATMENT

WPA ‘committed to building confidence’

Heating the nation Partnership forges new direction in biomass solutions Enterprise M3 Case Study The maturing woodfuel industry

23 TECHNICAL UPDATE

High-tech forest surveying Digital mapping and GPS Pesticides notebook Training Old problems, new technologies Nursery update What’s new

31 HEALTH & SAFETY

Chainsaw and supervisor refresher training HSE update

32 CLASSIFIED 34 INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS

17 WOODFUEL

35 PEOPLE

Fuelling the debate on wood energy Schools make savings

Extracts from Confor’s May enews

Advertising/production/accounts Countrywide Publications, Reydon Business Park, Reydon, Suffolk IP18 6DH Tel: 01502 725800 Email: chloe@micropress.co.uk Forestry & Timber News is the official journal of Confor: promoting forestry and wood. Confor is a membership organisation that promotes sustainable forestry and low-carbon businesses. Confor represents and supports members by helping build the market for wood and forest products, creating a supportive policy environment, and helping members to become more competitive and successful. New members are welcome and an information pack is available from the head office.

Forestry & Timber News magazine is published six times a year on behalf of Confor by Countrywide Publications, Reydon Business Park, Reydon, Suffolk IP18 6DH ISSN 1476-8615 Confor head office 59 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2JG Tel: 0131 240 1410 email: info@confor.org.uk website: www.confor.org.uk Confor directors are listed at www.confor.org.uk and can be contacted through head office.

Editor Advertisement sales Production editor

For the latest news of forestry and wood sign up to #forestandwood on twitter.

Jane Karthaus Chloe Stockdale Simon Tooth

Editorial office Jane Karthaus, Woodland Place, West Street, Belford, Northumberland NE70 7QA Tel: 01668 213937 Fax: 01668 213555 Email: jane.karthaus@confor.org.uk

Forestry & Timber News is mailed free to Confor members or is available on subscription of £41 a year (UK), £50 (overseas), individual copies £7. For information, contact head office.

The views expressed by individuals in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policy or views of Confor, the publisher or the editor. Every effort is made to ensure that the information given in this magazine is accurate, but no legal responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions in that information. Trade names are occasionally used, but no endorsement of particular brand names is intended, nor is any criticism implied of similar products which are not mentioned. All articles are the copyright of Confor and may only be reproduced by written permission of the editor. Articles, letters, photos etc will be gratefully received.

Material can be accepted on disk or email although a paper copy is also helpful.

Please make it plain if you wish to have material returned. The Editor will then make every effort to do so but cannot be held responsible for loss or damage.

© Confor 2013 Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd, Suffolk.

NEWS

Grown in Britain campaign progress The Grown in Britain campaign took a significant step forward, as over 50 woodland owners, sawmillers, wood product manufacturers and customers met in London on 26 April to learn more about the campaign and support it. A series of presentations explained the aims and objectives of the project and the nature of the support from companies large and small across the supply chain and the demand side.

The chairman of the Grown in Britain panel, Dr Peter Bonfield OBE, heads the Building Research Establishment group of companies and was responsible for sustainability for the Olympic Development Authority. He has drawn in chief executives and senior representatives from a variety of major companies, which are substantial procurers of wood and wood products, including B&Q, Tesco and the UK Contractors Group (representing procurement worth £33 billion). Confor’s Stuart Goodall and Dougal Driver are leading on the supply side to develop links with the demand side.

The meeting demonstrated the scale of the opportunity, a willingness to participate, and a compelling can-do attitude and solutions approach. A report on progress will be made to the UK government in October (“much of which should be written in the past tense”), along with proposals for the future. There was real support for a robust brand (Grown in Britain) that, as appropriate, will fit comfortably with FSC and PEFC, and be recognised and widely supported.

This event kicked off work on the first of the key objectives: 1. New and stronger market-pull for woodland and forests products.

2. Develop private sector funding for new planting and woodland management.

3. Create a strong wood culture in society.

In the coming weeks, Stuart and Dougal will talk to businesses about the potential to benefit from the campaign, ensuring that expectations are realistic and actions are targeted appropriately.

Diverse organisations and businesses have already signed up as supporters and use the logo on their websites, promoting the wood culture concept of actively managing woodland and forests, and buying wood products. Many of the organisations that came together to campaign against the “sell-off” of state forests, support the project contributing to a recent mass participation “tweetathon”, where Grown in Britain “tweets” reached the miraculous figure of 25m people in 3.5 hours.

While everyone with an interest in trees, forestry and timber is encouraged to sign up as a supporter, the brand is not yet ready to be used on timber and paper products. A number of major producers plan to stamp their products with the Grown in Britain logo, when the basis for the 4 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

Chalara found in wider environment in Wales Chalara has been found in the wider environment in Wales for the first time.

Until May 2013, the disease had been confirmed only in newly planted sites in Wales, where the trees could be traced to nurseries known to have had infected stock. It had already been found in the wider environment in southeast England and eastern Scotland, since it was first recorded in Britain in early 2012.

It had been discovered in 19 recently planted sites in Wales, but this marks the first discovery in the wider environment on the western side of GB. The infected area, south of Carmarthen, is next to a site planted with young ash trees between December 2006 and March 2007, some of which also have the disease.

Anyone who sees any trees with symptoms of dieback is asked to report using the free Tree Alert app or on-line form available at www.forestry.gov.uk/treealert, or call the Chalara helpline on 08459 335577.

• FC has posted a video online showing the symptoms to look for at this time of year to check whether ash trees have Chalara. Spring is not the easiest time to recognise symptoms, and it might be August/September before it is obvious on the leaves. www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara

FC news

Grown in Britain panel chairman Peter Bonfield and, below, the campaign’s two logos reflect the breadth of the UK’s timber industry. brand is fully established. While the brand has to be robust and protected, there is a desire to avoid additional layers of bureaucracy or duplication with FSC/PEFC, thus encouraging timber from small woodlands to come forward.

The final report will be launched at the Grown in Britain week in October, when everyone is encouraged to come up with events to support the campaign. Confor’s Woodland Show at Longleat in September, with Grown in Britain as the major theme, will be a trailer.

There is no way that the huge domestic appetite for wood and wood products can be supplied totally from home-grown produce, but it can be grown. The Grown in Britain focus will assist the development of a wood culture and cultivate an appetite for British wood, perhaps akin to the “eat local”, or “red tractor” campaigns.

This will also complement the wider Wood for Good generic promotion of wood. www.growninbritain.org

Fed up with learning about tree pests and diseases from sensational media reports? You can subscribe to receive FC news releases as they appear and it is free. Go to www.forestry.gov. uk/news and click on subscription.

NI introduces felling licences

If new legislation on felling licences is made law, as scheduled, by June, then application forms will be made available. It will most likely then be September before there would be any enforcement in order to provide a lead-in period. More information will be posted on the DARD website. www.dardni.gov.uk

Government departments move to gov.uk

The Westminster government is moving all its public information to a single GOV.UK website, www.gov.uk Any visitors to old defra.gov.uk addresses should automatically be redirected to corresponding information on GOV.UK.

Kath’s flood peril

The BBC, reporting flooding recently in Wales and Shropshire, said, “Firefighters went to the aid of a woman whose car had become stuck in flood water on the A5 near Froncysyllte”. The woman was Confor’s intrepid Wales manager, Kath McNulty. Fortunately, only the car was hurt. Over and above the call of duty, Kath.

Call for stronger measures to protect trees An independent taskforce has recommended threats to plant health should be taken as seriously as animal disease.

The Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Expert Taskforce was established by Defra’s Professor Ian Boyd, last year, to address the current and emerging threats to the UK’s trees and plants.

Made up of various stakeholder organisations, including Confor, it is chaired by Professor Chris Gilligan, professor of mathematical biology and

head of the school of biological sciences at the University of Cambridge. It has just reported.

Recommendations include: • A single national risk register for plant health with an individual at a senior level who is responsible for overseeing it and providing leadership for managing those risks, as well as, for developing and implementing procedures for preparedness and contingency planning to predict, monitor and control the spread of

pests and pathogens.

• Current governance and legislation needed to be reviewed, simplified and strengthened.

• Further import controls, such as for personal use and strengthening of plant passporting.

There will be more on this in August FTN. Genevieve.maul@admin.cam.ac.uk www.gov.uk/government/policy-advisorygroups/tree-health-and-plant-biosecurityexpert-taskforce

Kew tackles disease threat with millennium seed bank

Collecting ash seed (Fraxinus excelsior) at Wakehurst Place

Kew’s millennium seed bank is establishing the country’s first national collection of tree seeds – the UK national tree seed project.

With People’s Postcode Lottery providing £100 000, seeds from the UK’s best-loved and most vulnerable trees and shrubs will be collected and protected in long-term storage, at Wakehurst Place, in Sussex. The seed bank already safeguards practically the entire UK flora in its vaults and works to restore native plants and trees to their natural habitats.

The collection will grow and become more comprehensive, eventually representing the full genetic diversity of the UK’s tree populations. These seeds will be available to research organisations working on solutions to the threats facing UK trees. Ultimately, these seed collections can be used for restoring trees to the UK countryside. www.kew.org

Timber statistics Timber price indices

The latest National Statistics on FC timber price indices were released on 16 May 2013, in accordance with the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Based on FC sales, they consist of the coniferous standing sales price index and the softwood sawlog price index. They present data to March 2013 for GB. The key points: • the average price for coniferous standing sales was £13.29/m3 overbark standing, in nominal terms in the year; • the coniferous standing sales price index for GB was 7.7% lower in real terms, compared with the previous year; • the average price for softwood sawlog sales was £38.60/m3 overbark, in nominal terms in the six months to March 2013; and • the softwood sawlog price index was 0.8% higher in real terms in the six months to March 2013, compared with the corresponding period the previous year.

The latest National Statistics on UK wood production and trade: 2012 provisional figures produced by FC were released on 16 May 2013, in accordance with the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

These statistics include data on production, imports and exports of roundwood and wood products for the UK for the calendar years 2008 to 2012. The key points for 2012: Removals (harvesting) of UK roundwood: 10.1m green tonnes of softwood (+1%); 0.5mgt of hardwood (-1%).

Deliveries of UK roundwood to wood processors and others: Total 10.4mgt of roundwood (softwood and hardwood) (+1%), of which: sawmills - 6.1mgt (+3%); wood-based panels - 1.3mgt (-10%); integrated pulp and paper mills - 0.5mgt (+2%); other uses, including round fencing, woodfuel, shavings and exports of roundwood - 2.5mgt (+1%).

Production of wood products in the UK included: 3.4m m3 of sawnwood (+4%);

3.0m m3 of wood-based panels (-11%); 4.4m tonnes of paper and paperboard (+2%).

UK imports: 5.1m m3 of sawnwood (+4%); 2.7m m3 of wood-based panels (-6%); 7.3m tonnes of pulp and paper (-10%); and The total value of wood product imports was £6.4bn (-6%), of which £4.3bn was pulp and paper (-9%).

UK exports: The total value of wood product exports was £1.8bn (-3%), of which £1.6bn was pulp and paper (-4%). www.forestry.gov.uk/statistics FC England reports against 24 indicators.

The latest report includes: Woodland in active management 53% (constant) Woodland created 1831ha (down) Spend on partnerships/engagement £7.1m (up) Cost of public forest estate £56.65/ha (down) www.forestry.gov.uk > England > About us > indicators Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 5

NEWS BRIEFING New Confor chair for Wales

SQUIRRELS

Confor Wales held its first AGM for many years, in May, at Welshpool. Outgoing chairman Tim Kirk was unfortunately unable to attend, but he welcomed Mike Harvey, of Maelor Nursery, as the new chairman for Confor Wales. Tim was chairman for 10 years. The new committee was elected, with each member taking on an area of responsibility, in a cabinet style. See www. confor.org.uk

From the Red Squirrel Survival Trust

... and in southeast

Jamie Kirkman of Balcombe Estate, Sussex, has been elected chairman of Confor’s Home Counties region after Richard Bellamy, who had served for seven years, stood down.

Jamie thanked Richard for his long-standing service and said he looked forward to working with members during a time of significant opportunity for Confor and the sector as a whole.

Good woods

Visits to Welsh Government woodlands last year were rated as either “Very Good” or “Excellent” by 89% of respondents in the annual quality of experience survey.

Woodland photography competition

Long-term contract won by Cheviot

Cheviot Trees has been awarded a longterm contract to supply FC with its entire UK requirements for cell-grown broadleaf trees, 10m trees over 10 years. This follows a restructure of the FC’s nursery operations, and allows FC nurseries’ container unit to concentrate on cell-grown conifer production.

VisitWoods.org.uk is an initiative run by a partnership of FC, Wildlife Trusts, Woodland Trust, RSPB and the National Trust to encourage the general public to visit woods.

It is currently running a photographic competition until 31 July 2013.

into water at the end of their life cycle. www. sciencedaily.com

Connecting in national forest

Forest estate fit for 21st century

SCOTLAND

• The Moredun Institute in Edinburgh has identified a vaccine, which appears to protect red squirrels from the squirrelpox virus in a laboratory setting. The next stages involve testing the vaccine in the natural environment, overcoming the difficulty of administering the vaccine to wild red populations and producing it in the quantities required.

• In Aberdeen, squirrel feeder box prototypes were trialled and filmed: the red squirrels emptied them and pine martens also used them. The project trapped over 1200 grey squirrels in 2012. Red squirrels are continuing to flood into the niches vacated after trapping.

• A two-year grey squirrel control project at Grizedale Forest in the Lake District has reported success after the first year, which has included 300 greys culled from the forest and more than 500 from the surrounding landscape. Work in 2013 will extend the areas of control and encourage more communities to get involved in the network.

The RSST relies on donations to fund work: www.rsst.org.uk, or call 01434 345 757.

PLANT HEALTH

Sweet chestnut move

Owen Paterson announced a consultation on banning imports of sweet chestnut, on a visit to Fera’s Stop the Spread garden at Chelsea.

IMPACT final conference

INTERNATIONAL

A new publication, The role of Scotland’s national forest estate and strategic directions, was launched by environment & climate change minister, Paul Wheelhouse. The message is that Scotland’s national forest estate is a treasured natural asset with the potential to benefit every person in Scotland and make a significant contribution to the green economy. The publication gives direction on how the forest estate is to be managed to meet Scottish Government objectives and improve it for the next generation. www. forestry.gov.uk/strategicdirections

Ancient tree archive

WALES

‘Protecting current and future forests - coping with pests, pathogens and climate change’ was the title of the IMPACT (Integrated Management of Pests Addressing Climate Trends) project’s final conference, held in Dublin, in May 2013.

A ‘perfect storm’ is brewing as climate change and booming international trade combine to create an ever-increasing threat of plagues of pests across Wales and Ireland.

That was the message delivered to the conference. Biological control integrated into novel monitoring regimes, concentrating especially on microbial control agents, is one of the key developments identified. www.impactproject.eu

Boost for Welsh timber

OPAL

A new online market place for buyers and sellers of woodland-related services and wood products has been set up by the National Forest Company. www.nationalforest.org/ woodproductsandservices

Safety award

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has presented occupational health and safety awards. Confor member UPM Tilhill won the forestry sector.

The Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a US non-profit group, clones the biggest redwoods, from shoots of stumps, and sent 18” plants to other countries, to plant on Earth Day (22 April 2013). One, known as the Fieldbrook Stump, measures 35 feet (10.7 metres) in diameter. The idea is that more massive trees will soak up more greenhouse gas and slow climate change. www.ancienttreearchive.org

Solar cells from trees

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University have developed “efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants”. By fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be recycled 6 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

A major drive to promote Welsh timber as an alternative to imported timber and fossil fuels could boost jobs and incomes across Wales, was the message the Wales Forest Business Partnership delivered to the Welsh Government at a special briefing session at the Senedd.

Natural Resources Wales, the new single body launched in April, is developing an ecosystem approach to management of natural resources, and forestry has the biggest single function within the independent organisation, made up of FC Wales, Environment Agency Wales and CCW. www.wfbp.co.uk

Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) is a nationwide partnership, hosted by the Natural History Museum, that inspires communities to discover, enjoy and protect their local environment. From May, communities around the UK will be exploring their local area to survey trees. The project now needs forestry professionals to support this work by becoming an OPAL Tree Buddy. To be a Tree Buddy means going out with groups of friends, family or members of the public to carry out the OPAL tree health survey, holding activities for the public, or hosting group consultation sessions. www.opalexplorenature.org

Confor Woodland Show goes for Grown in Britain As exhibitor bookings pour in for the extended Confor Woodland Show, plans are firming up for the events to be held in Confor’s marquee, under the Grown in Britain theme.

Grown in Britain is a campaign launched earlier this year to promote the use of home-grown timber (see p4). It is the direct result of work by Confor, following the Independent Panel on Forestry report, which recognised the very significant contribution our woodlands and forests make to our economy, society and the environment. The report identified the need for a concerted action plan to create a more sustainable future for our woodlands and forests, and for the development of a stronger wood culture amongst our society. Grown in Britain is the core of a comprehensive response to this challenge.

Confor Woodland Show, Longleat Estate, Wiltshire 12 & 13 September 2013

The Confor Woodland Show will display the work of the Grown in Britain initiative and will give a taste of Grown in Britain week, starting 14 October 2013, which will be a major celebration of our fantastic range of timber products and our woodland resource.

As usual, the Confor Woodland Show will kick off with the lively breakfast briefing, with an expert panel drawn from across the sector. Forestry minister David Heath has been invited to attend on the second day. The usual popular receptions will be held around these events, plus FC England is planning informative seminars.

In addition, there will be a range of interesting demonstrations, including horse-logging, crafts and axe-throwing, to keep visitors entertained.

The bigger and better Confor Woodland Show planned for 2013 is enthusiastically supported by four “gold” sponsors: Euroforest, Forestry Commission England, Tubex and UPM Tilhill. Sponsor-

ship is vital to cover the substantial costs of putting on the event and Confor is most grateful for their generous support. There are still sponsor opportunities available.

Nick Hoare, chairman of the Confor show committee, commented, “Grown in Britain is something we can all sign up to. It is already giving home-grown timber much higher profile, with some major construction companies participating enthusiastically. We look forward to a progress report at the show. Longleat provides us with the ideal venue, being easy to reach and such a delightful setting. This is going to be a bumper event. We all look forward to welcoming exhibitors and visitors to Longleat in September. And, don’t forget that members enjoy free entry each day.”

For information on exhibiting, please contact Chloe Stockdale on tel: 01502 725835; or email: Chloe.Stockdale@micropress.co.uk www.conforwoodlandshow.org.uk

Crowds enjoyed the loggers demonstration at the 2011 South West Woodland Show, now the Confor Woodland Show

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Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 7

NEWS Woodland Carbon Code: progress and dates The Woodland Carbon Code, a voluntary UK standard which ensures that ‘carbon forestry’ projects really do deliver the carbon benefits they claim, continues to make good progress, with 105 projects registered and 36 validated, while the first group schemes have been validated, FC reports. (See FTN April 2013.) Following the successful pilot of group validation, the group scheme is now open to all.

Changes to the register of UK woodland carbon projects

From July 2013, Markit Group Ltd will be providing registry services for the Woodland Carbon Code via the Markit Environmental Registry at www.markit.com to increase the functionality.

Confor’s APF 2014 Exhibition secretary Ian Millward reports

APF 2012 was a huge success and attracted record media attention, including Martin Clunes filming part of his latest ITV series at the event, where a record 270 exhibitors and over 16000 visitors attended. APF 2014 will return to the same site on 18-20 September 2014.

The layout at Ragley Estate proved to be very popular with both visitors and exhibitors and we expect a big demand for space for APF 2014. There will be some minor alterations to the layout, but it will essentially remain the same as 2012. Because of this, we are able to offer a special deal to our 2012 exhibitors. Any exhibitor who wishes to book the same stand they had at APF 2012 may do so, providing they book and pay for it by 15

Some fees will become payable for use of the registry.

Projects validated

The group of 11 woodland projects awarded Carbon Code validation are all owned by Buccleuch Estates, in Dumfries & Galloway, the Scottish Borders and Northamptonshire. The four other groups of projects taking part in the pilot are expected to be awarded validation soon. www.forestry.gov.uk/carboncode

LinkedIn group

Join the 'Woodland Carbon' group on LinkedIn. vicky.west@forestry.gov.uk / 07976 774613.

September 2013 and without the need to attend a site meeting. Confor members benefit from a 10% discount on site fees and will have first refusal of all remaining stands left after that date For those who have not seen the site, or wish to inspect another, then the first site meeting for APF 2014 will be on 10 October 2013. Full details and exhibitor packs will be sent out in early July and details will also be on the website.

Sponsorship

We are delighted that Husqvarna has confirmed its intention to sponsor the world 25m pole-climbing championships again, while A W Jenkinson and UPM Tilhill have agreed to cosponsor the European chainsaw carving championships. There are still several high-profile opportunities for any company wishing to raise its presence and profile at the event. Opportunities include main event sponsor, car parks, arena events, tickets, entrances and the woodland crafts area amongst others.

We would be pleased to discuss your requirements and draw up a sponsorship package to suit all budgets.

Important deadlines in 2013/2014

Deadline for older woodland carbon projects (those planted between 01 January 2000 and 26 July 2011) to register: 27 July 2013 After July, projects must be registered within two years of planting starting. This is the end of a two-year opportunity for older woodland carbon projects (those that existed prior to the launch of the Woodland Carbon Code) to come on board.

Introduction of a Woodland Carbon Code Levy: 01 July 2014 Projects valdiated prior to this date will avoid this levy. Projects validated after this date will incur the levy at validation stage. Levy will be collected by Markit on behalf of FC.

CLA Game Fair

The APF Exhibition will once again be organising the woodland management area at this year’s CLA Game Fair, being held at Ragley Estate on 19-21 July 2013.

The Game Fair attracts around 900 exhibitors and 150 000 visitors and with last yearís event having to be cancelled the demand for stand space is expected to sell out quickly. It is a terrific event to demonstrate your products to a large and focused audience of estate owners and managers.

We have reserved substantial stand space in the estate management area and we have already sold over 80m of frontage. Exhibitors booking through the APF Exhibition benefit from a substantial discount on stand prices and do not have to pay a registration fee. We still have some space available, but it is strictly on a first-come first-served basis. A booking form and covering letter can be found in the exhibitor section of the APF Exhibition website. info@apfexhibition.co.uk www.apfexhibition.co.uk

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

Uncertainty as economic gloom persists Timber market update by Peter Whitfield Timber markets continue to maintain their volatile performance, driven by a variety of factors: exchange rate, the resultant dearth of imported sawn timber, increasing demand for energy wood on a commercial scale and expanding capacity in sawmilling. The background economic activity persists to deliver a very gloomy picture, impacting materially on the end market and overall utilisation of timber.

According to the Office of National Statistics (revised downwards since writing, April 2013), the total volume of construction output in February 2013 was 7.0% lower than in February 2012. Comparing the three months from December 2012 to February 2013, with the same three months one year earlier, the volume of construction output decreased by 8.9%. New work was lower by 10.7%, with large falls in public other new work and private-commercial other new work, which reported decreases of 23.7% and 9.8% respectively. “Other new work” excludes the housing and infrastructure sectors, but includes construction, such as fac-

Demand steady for home-grown timber Electronic timber marketing report from Oliver Combe Softwood buyers throughout the UK are keen to hear about available parcels, and demand for quality is good. An interesting stage in the market, despite a tough economic climate, demand and prices continue to hold up for UK timber and, as always, quality sells well.

Sawlog demand remains reasonable, even though sawmills are looking to reduce prices where possible, to recover some of the falls in sawn timber prices that have occurred over the last six months. UK carcassing sawmills are working hard to increase their market, as imported kiln-dried prices start to rise. BSW has begun commissioning the new Fort William sawline and expects to be fully operational by the middle of the year. The new mill will be requiring significant extra log volumes and will be an important market for Scottish spruce logs.

Exporting of UK sawn timber has gathered momentum with regular cargoes shipped to North Africa, the Middle East and Far East.

10 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

tories, warehouses, schools and offices. There was also a 5.6% decrease in repair and maintenance, mainly due to an 8.3% fall in the repair and maintenance of housing.

On a more positive note, comparing February 2013 with January 2013, the total volume of construction output increased by 5.5%.

There were increases in output for nearly all sectors, with the exception of private commercial other new work, which showed a fall of 0.5%.

According to the Construction Products Association, there is some glimmer of hope as construction orders rose 3% in the last quarter of 2012 over the third quarter, and were 11% ahead of the same period last year. To some extent this has been stimulated by government initiatives: the Funding for Lending, New Buy Guarantee and First Buy schemes.

The standing sale market, or at least some of the buyers, would appear to be oblivious to those economic woes: standing timber sales in the Scottish Borders now regularly attract up to nine bidders on each parcel. Strong demand is coming from all processors and the renewable energy market. We have seen the commissioning of Iggesund’s combined heat and power plant at Workington, using virgin biomass, and RWE’s Tullis Russell CHP, using largely recycled wood and a smaller element of virgin biomass, during the first third of this year. On the down side, SSE announced the closure of its Slough Heat and Power biomass plant, as part of its overall review of its generation assets in the UK.

Whilst no other major plans are imminently coming on stream, the demand for woodfuel continues to grow on a smaller local scale, as the renewable heat incentive benefit drives a switch to biomass-driven heat systems.

The impact of pests and diseases on our commercial conifer crops is increasingly becoming apparent. For pines, there is Dothistroma needle blight. Pine species represent 24% of the net stocked area of Great Britain. Currently, this amounts to 80.9m m3 (over-bark standing) of the GB growing stock of 335.7m m3 obs. For larch, there is Phytophthora ramorum. The total current standing volume is estimated to be 36.1m m3 obs, with 74% of this being in the private sector. Larch makes up almost 11% of the total standing GB volume. This is being felt in a very real way: Natural Resources Wales (NRW, the old FC Wales) has put 660 000m3 of larch on the market to be harvested over five years, starting in 2014. Although largely additional volume, this will have a major impact on species mix and presents an opportunity, as well as a challenge, to markets, as well as the resource requirement for harvesting and transporting this timber.

Looking ahead, it is certain times will remain interesting and challenging in the timber market, for growers and processors alike. peter.whitfield@upm.com www.upm-tilhill.com Peter Whitfield is director timber operations, UPM Tilhill

After a long winter the fencing season started slowly, but now, in late April, the weather has improved significantly and there are signs of increased demand for sawn material again, which is translating into increasing deliveries to mills.

Charles Ransford’s new sawline is fully operational and the new Stenner multi-head resaw facility now gives further value added options.

Continued investment by the processors in both new capacity and new markets, despite the very challenging economic climate, offers growers additional market capacity and resilience.

Industrial small roundwood demand is very good and the Iggessund biomass plant at Workington will add another market-place.

Biomass demand continues to grow with the RHI schemes, driving new capacity across the UK, leading to good demand nation-wide for any small roundwood. Posts, stake and rail demand has been poor, with the bad harvest and wet winter killing agricultural demand. We hope that the recent good weather will accelerate the growth of the domestic and retail markets.

In summary, the softwood market has held up well with some green shoots of recovery.

The hardwood market is currently very interesting, with improving demand for a number of products. A lack of UK-grown sawlog parcels coming to market, at a time of improving demand, means

there is real interest in any quality parcels. A number of factors may work in UK growers’ favour: EU Timber Regualtions, exchange rates and changing supply patterns, at the same time as wood becomes increasingly fashionable in the UK, are all positive influences.

Parcels of certified oak, ash and beech would be welcomed by the majority of home-grown buyers. The age-old problem of matching enduser demand with available logs continues, but Timber Auctions offers an excellent method of ensuring parcels are marketed to as wider audience as possible to ensure best value.

Interest in mixed hardwood thinning for firewood is very strong. A long cold winter has meant there is very little stock in the supply chain and all buyers are looking to source material for the next season. This is a great opportunity for owners, agents and managers to bring volume to the market.

Timber sellers can make use of the Timber Auctions service, which includes competitive tender sales as well as live on-line auctions, free of sales commission. The electronic auction and tender sale system operates entirely on the internet, allowing open and free access to its sales for buyers and sellers via the website. www.timberauctions.co.uk oliver.combe@timberauctions.co.uk

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

The advantage of choosing wood In April 2013, Wood for Good, with the National Housebuilders Federation and the UK Timber Frame Association, led a tour of the Scottish timber supply chain for a group of chief executives and senior managers from 20 housing associations in England, plus some people from the Welsh government (who were to report back to their business minister Edwina Hart), to raise awareness of the benefits of working with timber. I participated in some of the tour as a board member of Wood for Good and to explain the Grown in Britain campaign. It took in James Jones and Norbord mills and timber- by Stuart Goodall frame businesses. These are some of the key points from discussions.

They were all very impressed at the scale, quality and professionalism of the industry, especially the mills. They had not really known what to think about the supply chain, but certainly did not expect to see what they did. It made them see forestry and timber products in a new light.

They all felt very positive about using more wood, especially having seen where it came from and knowing the ‘back-story’. They felt that Grown in Britain added to that.

There was a view expressed that the UK government will seek to do a lot more to stimulate the building sector in the coming months, as time is running out to turn the economy around before the next election and construction is seen as a way of stimulating growth relatively quickly, with a broad impact in society. If this transpires, then it provides an opportunity for timber with its quick-build times.

There was discussion about the barriers to using more wood, such as, fire in multi-storey construction, over-specification of timber and skills shortages. The UKTFA has done much to tackle fire through its site guidance (fire is a danger during construction, rarely once built). It was noted that while timber-frame is 22% of new build (across UK), the number of fires on timber-frame construction sites is less than 22%, indicating that timber-frame is less of a danger than other construction types – such information needs to get out there.

All felt it had been very worthwhile and suggested that it be repeated for others. The Welsh government people were impressed and enthused, keen to report back and also to do more to engage with Wood for Good and with Confor on the forestry side through RDP. UKTFA is to rebrand as the Structural Timber Association as from September 2013.

1 Timber frame share of each UK country, 2002-2011

2 Timber frame homebuilding by country, 2002-2011

Some stats from the UK Timber Frame Association From a total of 135 890 housing starts in the UK in 2011, timber-frame accounted for 31 007, or 22.8%. This was the first time for two years that timber-frame housing had increased market share, aided by the first rise in timber-frame units built in Scotland for four years. A relatively stable performance in build volume helped timber-frame increase market share in Wales and Northern Ireland, as non-timber-frame methods of building experienced falls in volume.

The average volume of timber used in conventional timber-frame house is 17m3; compared with 12m3 in modern masonry.

Because of the different sizes of each country market, the importance of the English market is not obvious in chart one, which shows the percentage of new-build using timber-frame per country of the UK and growth over the last 10 years.

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3 Softwood utilisation in homebuilding and housing starts in UK, 2002-2011

Turning wood to gold Returns from forestry investments outperform bonds, equities and real estate, according to the IPD Forestry Index

4 Softwood utilisation in new homebuilding, 2002-2011 by source

In 2012, investments in the UK’s forestry assets have hit new highs, with three-year returns rising to 23.9%. This equates to a minimum outperformance of 14% against bonds (9.9%), equities (6.7%) and commercial property (8.7%).

According to the index, which measures the investment return of 148 plantations across the UK, five and 10-year returns similarly outperformed other measured asset classes, while the single year return for 2012 was 18.3%.

The bulk of the growth came from Scotland, where returns exceeded 20% over the last three years.

Forestry has benefitted from growing awareness and demand among UK investors who are keen to diversify their portfolios, but improvements in UK timber prices, and alternative uses, especially regarding renewable energy, have both added to the attraction of the sector.

A capital hold for investors?

Chart two shows the actual relative size by timber-frame units.

The proportion of UK-produced and imported softwood used in homebuilding compared to housing starts is shown in chart three. Note the good correlation, but a weakening of the relationship between 2003 and 2007.

This was due to the shift in building by dwelling type. With more flats being built compared to other dwellings, the volumes of softwood declined. In 2006, the number of flats built out-numbered detached by around 2.5:1.

Dramatic changes since that time.

How much is UK-produced? The ‘best guess’ is shown in chart four.

NB: Softwood used in new home-building is only around a tenth of that used in RMI (repair, maintenance and improvement) and other construction sectors. www.uktfa.com

‘Alternative’ assets, which include forestry, have seen a huge surge in popularity in the last five years. In the IPD quarterly index, the size of the ‘alternative’ segment has already grown by over 20%, since 2008.

Though a small sector, UK forestry has delivered some of the highest returns amongst any measured, and its attraction lies in the sectors capital preservation, as well as its favourable tax status. In the last ten years, capital values have increased annually by 17.8%, and over the last five (when property and other asset classes lost substantial amounts of their value), values increased by 19%.

Capital preservation remains the main attraction of the sector.

Though not a-cyclical, and despite the limited availability of forest properties, the potential for a strong capital hold and inflation hedge that offers diversification potential is tempting for investors.

A home-grown industry

Improvements in the UK’s timber production and processing have also aided returns and demand.

Over £1.5bn has been invested over the last fifteen years, aiding growers and processors in increasing their market penetration, where home-grown sawn softwood now accounts for 40% of domestic demand, while increased efficiency and a weak sterling means exports to Europe have increased.

Further government-backed schemes, such as the Grown in Britain Campaign, will help to improve returns further.

Alternative uses for an alternative asset class

There are a number of alternative uses for forestry assets that have acted as a further incentive to investors keen to diversify, with the potential for renewable energy sources being most prominent.

Much forest land is in prime wind-farm locations, with infrastructure already in place. Furthermore, increasing demand in the biomass sector has underpinned the economic viability of harvesting, utilising low-grade material previously without a market.

Mark Weedon, associate director at IPD, added: “Investors see alternative asset classes like forestry as defensive or counter-cyclical drivers of returns and this has pushed forestry very much into the limelight.

The small size and illiquidity of the sector deters many, but many investors see wood as the new gold, with these excellent returns showing real value as a defensive capital hold. For the discerning investor into UK forestry, money really does grow on trees.” www.ipd.com

Index needs sponsors Confor is one of several industry sponsors of the IPD Forestry Index, the important investment benchmarking service and more sponsors are urgently required.

Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 13

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TIMBER TREATMENT

WPA ‘committed to building confidence’ The Wood Protection Association recently held a members’ day with an agenda devoted to timber treatment. Priority subjects included quality assurance, BS8417, CE-marking treated wood, NVQ Diploma in Wood Preserving, creosote approval and the Industrial Emissions Directive.

On treated wood performance, WPA director Steve Young reaffirmed the association’s commitment to restoring supply chain confidence in treated wood and the “breakthrough that has been achieved with the introduction of the WPA Benchmark of quality scheme”.

Steve Young said that whilst other major wood-consuming markets of the world have, for many years, benefitted from third-party verification of the treatment process, the WPA Benchmark of quality broke fresh ground in the UK when it was introduced in 2011. WPA Benchmark has pioneered the expert third-par-

ty assessment of an individual component’s ability to perform in line with BS8417 and provides a relevant and credible means for treaters to satisfy the performance expectation of customers.

He said: “Without exception, participation in this scheme has helped every treater involved to date improve their plant operation and marketing opportunities. With 15 UK sites offering WPA Benchmark certificated products and applications from treaters in Latvia, Estonia and Ireland now in process, Benchmark is increasingly recognised as setting the UK quality standard for treated wood.”

The WPA has announced two further steps to bolster its quality scheme. The first is a WPA approval scheme for preservatives. This will involve an independent panel of experts assessing penetration and retention data submitted by the manufacturers. If the laboratory and

field test data is deemed to reflect what a manufacturer is advising treaters, then the product will become “WPA Approved” and listed. The second is the news that WPA is in discussion with insurers about an independent warranty that will apply to WPA Benchmark products treated with a WPA approved preservative. The WPA says that warranty options being looked at include limited consequential losses and not just product replacement.

Recently BSI adopted WPA recommendations to tighten the 30-year specification for User Class 4 sawn fence posts to reflect concerns about exposed heartwood. A long-term field study to assess the performance of posts made from home-grown spruce, pine, Douglas fir and larch and techniques like incising is now considered essential by the WPA and organisations with an interest in these species are being Continued overleaf consulted.

Improving preservative take-up Tweddle Engineering, working in partnership with Lonza Wood Protection, has produced incising equipment to improve take-up of preservative in both square sawn and round, ground-contact timbers.

According to the company, the Excalibur (for square sawn timbers) and Sidewinder (for timber rounds) incising machines offer ‘real life’ solutions to the particular requirements identified by the timber trade.

Both machines are designed with a compact footprint and have a robust construction from quality CE-marked components. Common commodity sizes of sawn and round timbers are catered for, with options to incise full- or part-length of posts.

Hales Sawmills is the first UK timber business to incorporate the new Excalibur incising technology into its production process for sawn, ground-contact posts. Julian Parton of Hales commented, “Whilst our standard Use Class 4 treatments using Tanalith E preservative are already producing high-performance fencing timbers, we have been looking to introduce incising to provide an even more assured treated product for our customers. Incising will also be an important consideration to help achieve the new BS8417 30-year desired service life ground-contact specification, that is likely to come in to effect from 01 January 2014, to achieve the required lateral preservative penetration into the heartwood of any species.”

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TIMBER TREATMENT Continued from previous page

Creosote campaign update

Creosote is the only preservative currently capable of delivering the 60year desired service life specification in BS8417, according to the WPA. Wood remains an important material for utility and telecommunications poles, railway sleepers and specialist fencing and it is vital that the long-term future for creosote is secured. Its continued authorisation by individual EU member states is dependent on the provision of credible socio-economic and environmental data that will convince regulators that creosote is acceptable. WPA deputy chairman Willie Clason is leading a working group to deliver this information.

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Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)

The WPA has been invited to be part of the Technical Working Group set up to create the Sector Guidance Note that will be used by regulators throughout the UK to implement the IED. To help familiarise the regulators involved in this working group, WPA arranged a programme of visits to 12 different treatment sites in the UK to give treaters the opportunity to express their views about this new regulation.

NVQ Diploma in Wood Preserving

WPA is an approved centre to deliver the NVQ Diploma in Wood Preserving by the wood industry qualifications body PIABC. The qualification is a mandatory requirement for firms wishing to bid for motorway and county trunk road contracts under the National Highways Sector Scheme 4 (SS4) but even for non-SS4 accredited treaters, the NVQ provides clear evidence that a plant operator is competent to carry out their job and demonstrating that the firm is in compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act. Steve Young 07774449206 steve@wood-protection.org

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WOODFUEL

Fuelling the debate on wood energy The newly formed Natural Resources Wales has inherited responsibility for advising the Welsh Government on the nation’s renewable energy strategy. Here, Wood Energy Business Scheme project manager Mike Pitcher reflects on some of the issues of the day concerning wood energy.

Over the past nine years, I have witnessed a growing wood energy industry in Wales. Like elsewhere in the UK, we have seen low-grade material moving into power stations by the lorry-load, accompanied by the rising tide of domestic firewood use and the rather more unsteady emergence of automatic heating using pellet and chip.

But in all this time, until perhaps 18 months ago, woodfuel in most of its guises has generally been considered the good guy, not only in terms of climate change, but also for rural job creation and offering new opportunities to emerging small enterprises.

However, the rise in the profile of wood energy has been accompanied by increased scrutiny of its environmental credentials by policy-makers, environmental organisations and academics across the UK, including here in Wales – and rightly so.

As it seeks to support Wales’s renewable energy ambitions, Natural Resources Wales must have regard to the impact on the environment of producing biofuels, including woodfuel.

Wales's aspiration alone for use of solid biomass for combustion is over 3.5m tonnes a year, much of which would need to be imported. Global concerns regarding the impact of producing biomass crops in terms of water quality, waste management, biodiversity and soil fertility and carbon balance are relevant here in Wales.

New research into the carbon impacts of using virgin timber to generate energy is highlighting that carbon neutrality is not such a simple idea. It will take time to achieve and depends on the forest and species growth rates, how we use that biomass and what alternative uses we could have put it to.

The problem with this debate is that it is really complex. I think the debate can be summarised as two key claims.

The first (probably the simpler one) is that it is probably better (from a carbon point of view) to use wood in long-life products, such as structural timber, which locks the carbon up for decades, than it is to burn it. I think most foresters instinctively have no problem with that. I like to think of the fuel supply chain as the offal, not the prime cuts.

I think this argument gets more finely balanced when we compare using chipwood for board products versus burning it for energy. This

Emyr Roberts, chief executive of Natural Resources Wales, at its launch is when you need to look a bit more closely into the “carbon science".

The other claim is that it is better (from a carbon point of view) to lock up wood in the forest – leave it where it is – than extract it and burn it.

To commercial foresters who manage commercial crops on clearfell and restock management systems, this argument would not make much sense, because we would be taking that timber out anyway (or most of it), regardless of carbon.

I am not going to get into the intricacies of the calculations you need to run to prove the argument one way or the other for a given forest and given energy scenario. What I can say is that woodfuel retains an important role in Wales's renewable energy plans.

The important thing is the way we manage our forests, as sustainability is the key in making sure that using biofuels does actually result in a reduction in carbon emissions. This is second nature to us as forest managers, as we understand that the long-term ability of the forest to keep providing timber is essential to its future.

Conclusion

The challenge for Natural Resources Wales, as a forest manager, is to build on the progress that has been made in the past nine years, whilst ensuring that biomass takes an appropriate place in the renewable energy mix and makes the best use of our home-grown timber in terms of job creation, as well as climate change.

As a regulator in terms of permitting biomass energy developments, we must also consider other wider environmental impacts and, where these are negative, balance them against the benefits of using biomass to generate energy. mike.pitcher@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

Schools make savings LC Energy says schools are reaping significant savings on fuel by switching to biomass, as it fits rising numbers of biomass boilers across the southeast of England, with most reporting thousands of pounds of savings on their heating bills.

The company suggests that the rise in popularity of biomass in schools can, in part, be explained by the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive . Introduced in 2012 to encourage uptake of renewable heat technologies among communities and businesses, the scheme provides financial incentives to eligible, non-domestic renewable heat generators for the life of the installation, or up to a maximum of 20 years. According to LC Energy, small-scale users can expect to generate at least the cost of the woodchip or wood pellet fuel each year in incentive payments, and often up to double the value. Payments are linked to the amount of renewable heat generated. Ofgem is responsible for administering the scheme and phase two, which will open the scheme to domestic applications, will launch later this year.

Schools have also seen an educational value. As the woodchip or pellets are sourced locally, the on-site biomass boiler enables the pupils to get involved in understanding the renewable energy cycle and the importance of managing resources sustainably. Schools can show pupils the journey of the wood supply, from the felling of a tree under responsible forestry management, to the production of carbon-efficient energy.

Marston Vale Middle School in Bedfordshire estimates savings of £15 000 and RHI might save an additional £15 000, annually. www.lcenergy.co.uk

‘Work with what you’ve got’

“A growing many are now looking to thinnings, which are highly challenging to process effectively to firewood and often discounted as an available timber source,” says Tim Wilson of M Large. “Built for just this job and increasing in demand, hardware like the Bilke S3 and other similar machines cope admirably and will indeed ‘work with what you’ve got’. The key is in the rotating cutting blade, which will rapidly cut uniform lengths, with clean splits from roughly harvested poles.

Since the working material is lighter grade and having less volume, so a higher speed of processing is needed to achieve higher volumes in line with more bulky timber supply.

These spinning cutter machines can output up to 30m3 timber volume per hour, keeping up with the “big boys”; in fact, with this type of available timber, it is likely to outpace!”

M Large has traded with Finland’s Bilke for 10 years. Contact sales@mlarge.com Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 17

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WOODFUEL Partnership forges new direction in biomass solutions Bruno Berardelli, managing director HWEnergy explains the developments

Heating the nation

by David Vickers It was one of those ‘bright ideas’: create a short video about the woodfuel industry. After I attended a woodfuel conference, I began to question why “if woodfuel was so good, why wasn’t it being taken up more fully by the commercial and domestic sector”?

The documentary was born and I wanted it to serve a couple of purposes: as information to prospective woodfuel clients and as an overarching view on the industry.

I gained the impression that the industry, as a whole, is just not getting its message across.

Why not? Many interviewees told me about how woodchip was comparable on price to mains gas, that pellets were around the price of heating oil, and that when the renewable heat incentive was taken into account, woodfuel was cheaper. Existing end-users were talking of payback periods from 6-10 years on a £100 000 installation, with phrases, such as, “it was a nobrainer”. Why isn’t the take-up greater?

We have many hectares of woodland currently un(der)-managed, usually because it is deemed to be unviable to harvest. What is needed is a long-term view – not just 10 or 20 years, but 50-100 years - to getting these woodlands back into production. There are ideas and talks going on to try to encourage landowners to get woods back into cycle.

However, I constantly heard of problems with using wood, from long shards in chipped/ shredded wood causing blocked augers, moisture content outside the boilers’ specification, poor access to fuel stores, incorrect boiler sizing and contradictory advice to potential clients.

And yet, everyone I interviewed who was using a woodfuel boiler was pleased. The issues that they had faced were either easy to manage, or could be corrected. They were pleased for environmental performance reasons, finan-

cial reasons or just because it was ‘the right thing to do’.

So what were the key messages I got? What would I say to a potential user of woodchip or wood pellet?

For woodchip users, moisture content is important. Make sure your supplier is aware of the specification of the boiler you intend to use, and make sure that is what is delivered. Wood pellet users don’t need to worry about this in the same way, as they are a consistent manufactured product.

Engage with a woodfuel consultant, or woodfuel supplier, as soon as you start to think about installing a woodfuel biomass system. It literally can save tens of thousands of pounds in mistakes, by considering the project from supply to heating.

Consider the delivery method. There are many ways of delivering both chip and pellet; siting a fuel store in the wrong place can get expensive, very expensive. A fuel store that only holds half a load, or a delivery hatch that is the wrong size for the delivery mechanism doesn’t help.

These mistakes can be avoided.

Finally, to quote Sam Whatmore, founder of Forest Fuels, modern boilers have “an extremely low level of maintenance and low level of manual input and they can be remotely monitored... you can achieve the delivery of heat to buildings, which is modern, slick, efficient and really extremely comparable with any other form of energy delivery”.

As those existing users said, “it’s a no-brainer”.

The documentary is free to view at www.davidvickers.co.uk David Vickers offers video production services to the sustainable energy and renewable technology industry, and is also a lecturer in forestry and arboriculture at Sparsholt College, Hampshire.

HWEnergy recently announced its partnership with Pennine Biomass Ltd, a move which will support our expansion in to the north of England. Together we will deliver a complete biomass heat solution for non-domestic buildings/ properties, which we believe is unique in the region and includes design, build, operate, fuel supply and on-going service and maintenance of biomass heating systems.

HWEnergy has been specialising in biomass heat since 2003 and we have a reputation as Scotland’s leading provider, with 200 successful projects to our name across the rural, public and commercial sectors. Our model has always been to partner with local fuel providers to ensure maximum sustainability and efficiency, plus drive the local economy. We felt it was important to follow the same model in England.

Pennine is managed by Andy Howard and Edward Milbank, who both have a wealth of experience in the sector and who have six fuel supply depots across the region. Their experience, extensive fuel network and customer-oriented approach made them an ideal fit.

Under the HWEnergy/Pennine Biomass partnership, we are now able to make biomass heat a realistic and attractive long-term option in the north of England, providing support for many years to come.

HWEnergy has made four new appointments this year, making 47 staff, now one of the largest specialist biomass heat teams in the country. The company was recently named number one in the tender exercise for the NHS Scotland Carbon and Energy Reduction Framework and for the framework companies for the Scottish Government Biomass Energy Supply Agreement for public and third sector earlier this year.

HWEnergy is to provide heat cabins to at least 10 NHS Highland sites in the coming year in a deal worth in excess of £2m. http://.hwenergy.co.uk www.penninebiomass.co.uk/

On-line marketplace for biomass Logshed is a new on-line market-place for buyers and sellers in forestry and biomass – described a sort of ‘Amazon’ for forestry and biomass sectors – including a live auction section that is based on the Ebay platform. www.logshed.co.uk Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 19

WOODFUEL FC has produced a series of woodfuel case studies, of which this is one

Enterprise M3 Case Study

Diagram shows the basic process of the Enterprise M3 and similar plants

Project title/site: Waitrose Location: Bracknell Type: Stirling engine-based Tri-generation system Owner/operator: MITIE/Waitrose Installer/developer: MITIE Group System rating (kW): 35kWe, 140kWth, absorption chiller 280kW Existing fuel source: Woodchips from woodland management Date of installation: 2012

THE STATS Number of Stirling engines Efficiency (system)

89.2% 4 x35 (140)

Electrical output (kWe)

4 x 140 (560)

Heat output (kWth) Estimated annual operating hours

Background

The biomass system at Waitrose (Bracknell) operates in a combined heat and power (CHP) unit configuration and was developed by MITIE. The developer claims that the system at the Bracknell site will provide 69% of electricity and 84% of gas consumption. The system comprises a gasifier, absorption chiller and a Stirling engine to convert woodchip energy into heat, cooling energy and electricity. The CHP unit is manufactured by Stirling DK of Denmark. The figure above shows four Stirling engines installed in Germany in a similar configuration.

Project details

4

The CHP unit at Waitrose (Bracknell) has a total of four modular units each rated at 35kWe (electricity) and 140kWth (heat), giving a total capacity of 140 kWe and 560kWth. Fuel (gas) needed by the Stirling engines is provided by a gasifier which generates combustible mixture of gases, known as product or syn gas, from woodchip by thermal degradation. The diagram (above right) explains the basic process involved in systems similar to Bracknell system.

The woodchips are stored below ground level

7000

Annual power production (MWhe @7000hrs)

980

Annual heat production (MWhth@7000hrs)

3920

Hourly fuel consumption (kg/hour @42%MC)

280

Estimated annual fuel consumption (t/year @ 2.8kWh/kg)

2200

CO2 emissions avoided (t/year)

1390

and the store is equipped with agitators, augers and bucket elevators to lift them into the gasifier. The storage is approximately 135m3 in size.

Project economics

Installed cost: Circa £3 000 000 Annual energy generation: MITIE has installed an identical sized system on Waitrose’s premises in Isle of Wight. It expects the system will be available and generating at rated power for approximately 80% of the year. Based on this, Bracknell site will generate about 980 MWhe and 3920 MWhth. The table shows the other relevant figures based on data from the manufacturer and the Bracknell site.

RHI payments: The Bracknell site falls under the medium-size biomass system for the purpose of RHI. As such, the site will receive Tier 1 rate of 4.7p/kWh for the first 1314 hours of

operation and Tier 2 rate of 1.9p/kWh thereafter; 1314 hours of operation equates to about 735MWh of heat generated by the system at Bracknell. If the site is to operate for 80% of the year, ie 7000 hours/annum, RHI payment will be approximately £95 000 per annum.

Commercial sites with CHP system may also be exempt from CCL (currently at 0.177p/kWh for gas and 0.5p/kWh for electricity) depending on DECC’s assessment of the site under the CHPQA programme.

Annual operation/maintenance cost: Approximately £100 000 per annum. The manufacturer recommends 4-6000 hours of operation between service intervals. The servicing involves a complete overhauling of the system (at least twice per year).

Payback period: 12 years matthew.woodcock@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

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WOODFUEL The maturing woodfuel industry

by Peter Solly The last year has seen considerable developments in the woodfuel industry. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) saw a slow start when launched in 2011, but there is now a bow-wave of new applications in the pipeline as new heat boilers are installed. The RHI rates mean that for the right site (probably currently heated by oil or LPG) the returns are very good.

Many companies which have been successful in solar PV are now entering the biomass boiler market. Biomass is more complicated than solar (for example, it needs regular deliveries of fuel!) and experience and track record are more important than ever. We need to raise standards of professionalism, quality and service to become (and remain) a mainstream energy option. The right design and installation solutions are a critical part.

The industry is working hard on raising standards: with new sustainability criteria coming in, the Woodsure quality assurance scheme now established as the de facto standard, and initiatives like Confor’s Wood Fuel Suppliers

Group and regional groups, such as, the Devon Biomass Heating Suppliers Group.

The industry is also consolidating, with a number of companies (Forest Fuels included) having received external investment over the last year. The pattern of merger and acquisition of smaller players continues. Forest Fuels has continued to expand over the last year including the purchase of English Wood Fuels. The business is now purchasing around 50 000m3 of round timber per year.

Peter Solly is managing director of Forest Fuels, a woodfuel supplier operating as Forest Fuels in the south, Silvapower in Yorkshire and English Wood Fuels in the Midlands and East Anglia.

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22 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

» Biomass woodchip – using virgin timber from sustainable sources » Contract chipping using Heizohack 14-800K

TECHNICAL UPDATE

High-tech forest surveying

by Shaun Mochan, managing director Woodilee Consultancy Ltd For the past six years, TreeMetrics has pioneered and developed new technologies to replace the current 100-year-old techniques for forest measurement. Our focus is on the improvement of data collected in the forest, but also more importantly, the usability of this data to improve forest management and profitability.

At present, most data on forests are sparse and inaccurate, compared with that which technological advances can offer. This is due to several factors including, out-dated base modelling for tree measurements, inadequate sampling intensity and a lack of updated databases.

We have developed a new integrated system for forest management, which has significantly improved both the quality and independence of the measurements, estimations of timber resources and the optimisation thereof and also implementing a data-mining process for all data available from different sources.

Laser scanning

Using 3D scanning techniques is simple and more accurate than traditional methods. The scanner weighs around 5kg, with the size similar to a tablet. The system can be set quickly using a drop-down menu. Scanning takes approximately three minutes, capturing a 360 degree cloud image of each plot, ranging from 1-25m radial distance. Dense or branchy stands do not affect the results of the scan, as we have developed branch removal models. The images or scans are fed into our own software for analysis, using accurate taper functions per tree within the plot. This allows for a more accurate understanding of diameter distribution

Sample plot viewer of stems and log positions taken from the scanner on a tree, facilitating accurate cutting regimes to be imposed on the stand.

The primary capability of TLS (terrestrial laser scanning) is the generation of highly accurate, three-dimensional image, increasing the amount of data collected and reducing questionable data, providing oversampling to ensure accuracy and that all objects, structures and geometry are captured.

Images are projected in single or full colour, the latest TLS devices having an integrated camera, allowing new analysis, such as, species recognition.

Optimisation

We have designed a system to integrate accrued data from different sources for a datamining analysis. The Forest Warehouse platform allows the user to analyse all available data in the database for any custom enquiries through a plot viewer. It allows the analysis of different log-harvest scenarios, introducing custom log descriptions and market conditions.

AutoStem Forest

AutoStem Forest provides accurate stem information for hundreds of stems in a forest stand that can be used to estimate the actual status of the stand, but is also interesting for forecast and growth models. The system allows the user to evaluate available forests in relation to log out-turn against timber market demands and provides decision support for timber yield optimisation. This, in effect, allows the user to create numerous virtual harvest scenarios, or cutting instructions, simulating the operation of a harvesting machine in each forest.

Forest Warehouse

Good warehouse management plays an essential role in ensuring the speed and accuracy of inventory movements. TLS is a sampling method utilising plot or transect samples, particularly in vast forest areas. In order to provide the minimum stand volume error, the TreeMetrics inventory system also allows for improved

sampling representativeness (secondary stratification). It is also possible to employ inference techniques from the output data to product map the forest, ie, identify where high percentages of sawlog and pulp are in each forest.

The measurement solution

Timber inventories are the main tool used to determine the volume and value of standing trees on a forested tract, before a sale, or for development of management strategies.

Although calliper and hypsometers have a precision of millimetres, they are very sensitive to small changes. The operator position from the tree, or the incorrect use of these tools, increases the measurement error significantly.

Aligned to this, is the fact that the manual data is entered into generalised models to determine forest volume, but are generally poor at determining product breakout.

We have developed tools that will allow the integration of wood quality parameters, such as, branch size and branch frequency. We are also developing automated tree species recognition. This could be used to help determine the quantity of woody biomass. Future research for automatic measurement of crown size, leaf index, CO2 verification and validation with other parameters is also being carried out.

Cost

The cost of surveying is £0.12/m3, or around £55/ha, or 1% of stand value. The cost of data analysis ranges from £0.18/m3 to £0.33/m3, depending on the level of data required for each client. We can show log break-out using a multitude of scenarios and log types at the top end of the scale.

This system will enable forest organisations to utilise their forest resource in a more timely and efficient manner.

Woodilee Consultancy Ltd represents TreeMetrics in the UK shaun.mochan@woodileeconsultancy.co.uk www.treemetrics.com Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 23

TECHNICAL UPDATE

Digital mapping and GPS

by Lucy Hamilton, of KOREC Foresters have long realised the potential of mapping technology for multiple purposes, from the creation of an accurate inventory of their standing resource to the management of paths, fences and clearings.

The rapid pace of development within the digital mapping and data collection industry means that there is now a hand-held GPS* for every application. At one end are the smartphone-inspired, rugged hand-helds such as Trimble’s best-selling Juno 5 Series, which combines a huge range of features including 2-5m accuracy, rugged construction, 8-megapixel camera with geotagging images, wireless technology and sunlight-readable screen. At the other end are the high-specification units that can offer decimetre accuracy and, in Trimble’s case, Floodlight technology, which boosts accuracy in difficult areas, such as underneath tree canopy.

The last two years have also seen rapid growth in the use of UAVs (un-manned aerial vehicles). Now, fast, easy acquisition of aerial imagery is viable on smaller sites, from 100ha.

Typical of this new breed of easy-to-fly, fixedwing UAVs are Sensefly’s Swinglet CAM and the newly released eBee. Lightweight, both can be launched by hand and land autonomously on any surface.

But how beneficial are these developments to the end-user in forestry? The Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (DARD) Forest Service is a useful case study.

The Forest Service uses GPS hand-helds to collect a wide range of survey data in relation to productive, recreational, environmental and infrastructure areas, with recent projects including the mapping of forest fires, harvesting sites and replanting areas. They also use their hand-helds for specialist surveys, such as, responding to the risk of Chalara fraxinea. Accurate mapping and data capture is vital in providing information for the detection of infected areas and in supporting follow-up work to prevent the spread of the disease. Equipped with KOREC-supplied Trimble GeoExplorer 6000 Series hand-held GPS, staff from the Forest Service and Agri-Food Inspection Branch have inspected approximately 500 sites in three weeks, recording vital attribute and positional information on each site and in relation to each sample taken for laboratory analysis. Collected data is sent wirelessly to a central server where it can be downloaded and analysed in minutes. This is providing almost ‘real time’ results, invaluable in reacting to this disease.

DARD also uses Swinglet CAM unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Recently a fire swept through a 95ha area of one of its forests and they urgently needed to determine the percentage of forest lost. Traditionally, this survey would have been undertaken in the field with 24 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

GPS hand-helds. The forest would have been surveyed manually to determine where the burn line was and estimates based on this information, taking up to two weeks. Instead, NIFS decided to utilise the Swinglet CAM and consequently completed the aerial mission in just 28 minutes, cutting site time down to roughly an hour. All the imagery taken by the Swinglet CAM was then uploaded to the automated image processing system and, within hours, the imagery was stitched together and outputted for GIS**. This was put into their GIS and calculations were done and handed to management within 24 hours, showing that 25% of the forest had been destroyed.

The UAV has also been used to survey forests for signs of P ramorum in larch.

This example demonstrates the efficiency that can be achieved, while the affordable unit cost of the Swinglet CAM ensured that it was a viable purchase and also avoided contracting third party operators. As owners of a UAV, NIFS can now resurvey any of its sites, at any time, without incurring additional charges. The cost savings on this job alone covered the purchase of the unit and they have since purchased a second one.

Forestry businesses can now populate their GIS with relevant, up-to-date data collected from multiple sources, including aerial photography and GPS surveys. The end result is a GIS that offers the power to visualise, query, and analyse geographical data, enabling foresters to make informed decisions. *GPS = Global Positioning System **GIS = Geographic Information System (digital mapping) KOREC specialises in supplying innovative surveying, mapping, machine control and geospatial positioning technology to a variety of industries. www.korecgroup.com

Typical aerial imagery taken by the UAV

BOOK REVIEW The silviculture of trees used in British forestry, 2nd edition

by Peter Savill; published by Cabi, £75 Reviewed by John Christison This authoritative, fully revised and upto-date second edition has a wealth of additional information aimed at the forest/ woodland practitioner to aid in their species choice decision-making for modern British forestry practice. The book will also serve as an invaluable resource and guide to forest and arboricultural students, building their knowledge-base for their studies and future careers.

The book is a well structured, reference resource which is informative on the silvicultural characteristics and requirements of some 67 tree species grown in the UK. A timely publication reflecting an increased interest in silviculture, as the UK industry embraces the wider multi-benefit aspects of woodland management and the importance of matching the biological needs of trees to sites, due to the heightened interest in continuous cover forestry.

The main body of the book deals in a systematic way with each species, alphabetically via their Latin name, while also giving the common English name(s). For each species, the text explains the origin and British history, climatic and site requirements, the tree’s silvicultural characteristics and its regeneration potential, along with some statistics and the uses for its timber. The text is supplemented with a smattering of excellent line drawings of foliage, flowers and fruit/cones as appropriate to aid species identification within a genus, where it may be helpful.

There is a simple and useful field key for 28 broadleaves and 14 conifer species that has been specifically designed for identifying trees growing in a woodland environment. The key is illustrated by means of colour photographs showing leaves and needles for identification confirmation.

This reference book is introduced to the practitioner through a number of pages of scene-setting that provides an insight into the current situation in British forestry with regards to the importance of choosing the correct species for the prevailing sites and the seed provenance, while touching on the influence of climate change, as well as, the recent developments in management practice, policy, public attitude, economics, pests and disease and timber utilisation.

The book is supported by an impressive and extensive reference section spanning publications from 1597 to 2012, an invaluable access point to British forestry and research in its own right.

John Christison, is lecturer in Forestry, Scottish School of Forestry, Inverness College UHI, University of the Highlands and Islands

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TECHNICAL UPDATE

Pesticides notebook

by Colin Palmer Hylobius, neonicotinoids, Gazelle and bees

There has been considerable media comment recently over the possible effects of the neonicotinoid group of insecticides on bee population and health, following campaigning to prohibit their use by environmental groups.

This debate has considerable relevance for forests certified under FSC, as the current derogation for the use of Forester and Contest (being replaced by Alert) for weevil control will end in 2014.

Work led by Forest Research with Maelor Nurseries and UPM Tilhill has demonstrated that two neonicotinoids, acetamiprid and imidacloprid, are equally as effective on the pest as current insecticides. Offlabel approvals now exist for acetamiprid, sold as Gazelle, both as a pre-plant nursery treatment and as a top-up treatment in the forest. Imidacloprid has been used for a number of years in Scandinavia, but has currently no forest approval in the UK. The main concerns expressed by the European Commission are focussed on sub-lethal effects of three neonicotinoids, imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, which are extremely important in both agriculture and horticulture, and in particular, are extensively used as seed dressings in the cereal crop. A proposal by the EC to restrict their use to non-flowering crops and winter wheat was voted on in March but was opposed by six countries including Germany, Spain and the UK, and is now likely to be taken to appeal. Meanwhile, the European Food Standards Agency has conducted a review study, and is scheduled to produce new guidance on bees by the end of June.

A number of EC member states, including France and Denmark, have suspended the use of these neonicotinoids, but in the UK a more considered approach has been adopted.

In early April, the UK Chemicals Regulatory Directorate required all companies marketing these three products in the UK to provide data for re-evaluation to determine whether approvals for use needed to be modified or withdrawn.

The decision will be influenced by the UK Food & Environment Research Agency who have recently completed a study on the impact of neonicotinoids on bumble bees, which will shortly be publicly available. Earlier studies include a three-year, multi-site field trial on honey bees, where there were no significant differences between the health of hives in treated areas and untreated areas. However, in a major Defra report, neonicotinoid insecticides and bees, published in September 2012, found that “none of the studies gives unequivocal evidence that sub-lethal effects with serious implications for colonies are likely to arise from current uses of neonicotinoids.”

With all this activity at the UK and EC level, it is timely to review our current level of knowledge concerning bees and insecticides.

• Bees are extremely important pollinators, both in crops, where the value is estimated at around $15bn, and in the wider environment.

There is therefore an urgent need to invest in better understanding of the factors leading to bee decline. Changes to habitat as a result of current agricultural practice, and the effect of the Varroa mite are known factors, but studies implicating insecticides is far outweighed by data showing minimal effect on the bee population.

• Bayer and Syngenta, manufacturers of imidacloprid and clothianidin respectively, have developed an industry-wide proposal to understand better all factors leading to bee decline.

• Where bee deaths have been recorded following the use of insecticides, this has been as a result of misuse, and not following good husbandry practice. There is therefore certainly a case to be made for ensuring that good agricultural practice is followed at all times.

• In laboratory conditions, many neonicotinoids are toxic to bees, but the same is true of synthetic pyrethroids, including Forester and Contest. However, in the field, bees will detect sprayed crops and not forage in them. This can be demonstrated by the fact that alpha-cypermethrin is actually sprayed on flowering oilseed rape without leading to bee death.

• Gazelle, acetamiprid, has very little activity on bees, and the data on bee tolerance has resulted in an absence of bee warning on the product label.

• Even if Gazelle were toxic to bees, it is extremely unlikely that this would be a problem in the forest, as forest transplants have no flowers or nectar and therefore are completely ignored by bees. Most flowering plants attractive to bees to be found in woodland, such as foxglove, or rosebay willowherb, are considerably taller than transplants, so it is unlikely that bees will “rest” on these much smaller treated plants.

In conclusion, providing a science-led approach is taken by the EC on future use of neoticotinoids, then the future of Gazelle for the control of Hylobius does seem reasonably secure.

Asulox update

A summary of the regulations controlling the emergency use of Asulox is now available on the Bracken Control Group website. Go to www.

brackencontrol.co.uk/Documents and click on "Terms and conditions briefing" for details.

These confirm the rates and water volumes as follows: Aerial: 5 to 10 l/ha Asulox in total spray volume of 55l/ha including water.

Tractor: 5 - 10 //ha in 200 to 300 l/ha water Hand-held application: maximum dose 10 l/ ha. One part Asulox in 100 parts water. Avoid spraying to run off. Ulva and weed-wiper applications are not allowed.

As they stand, the hand-held requirements are both impracticable and contradictory. At 10 l/ha and 1:100 concentration, this means using 1000 litres water/ha. This is clearly not a practical option, and it would be impossible to "avoid runoff", as this would start to occur at around 200 to 300 l/ha.

Confor is in discussion with CRD to see if a more practicable, hand-held application requirement can be agreed.

Aerial spraying of oak processionary moth (OPM)

Following the failure to control OPM in woodland by ground spraying, FC has been authorised by Natural England to apply two helicopter sprays of the naturally occurring, caterpillarspecific agent, Bacillus thuringiensis. The application, to a 10ha wood near Pangbourne, Berkshire, is not without controversy, as it is also likely to control other butterflies on site, including the silver-washed fritillary, white admiral, and the scarlet tiger moth.

Confor’s chemical advice line

Confor members may contact Colin for free advice and information. Tel: 01531 633500, or email : forestry@branchline.demon.co.uk

TRAINING E-learning risk assessment

A new set of Ofqual accredited, e-learning courses has been launched by the British Safety Council. Designed for use by all sectors, the courses provide managers, supervisors and team leaders with the understanding to carry out both general health and safety risk assessments and specific assessments for fire safety, manual handling, display screen equipment and the control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH). www.britsafe.org

RDPE forestry skills

A new RDPE training programme for forestry businesses and woodland owners, with 60% funding, has been launched by Northwoods across northeast England. Courses run May to November 2013 and include: protected species workshops, woodland creation workshop, forestry and climate change, game and woodland management, harvesting and extraction demo. www.northwoods.org.uk Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 27

TECHNICAL UPDATE

Old problems, new technologies

Nursery update

Grant Murray looks at innovations in site nutrition Innovations are sometimes about harnessing the best of other industries and applying them to new situations. In our latest product development, Alba Trees Nursery and Compo Expert have worked together to harness the best of agricultural know-how and bring a bespoke fertiliser to forestry, which outperforms rock phosphate, saving time and money whilst enhancing performance and reducing losses.

Traditionally, new planting on sites with poor fertility would have large amounts of rock phosphate broadcast as a top-dressing, particularly in areas where mounds were dug up from nutrient-poor sub-soils. Most of the phosphate never got to the trees and fertilising was restricted to certain sites with enough acidic content to convert phosphate to usable phosphorous; on harvested sites it was assumed that brash would release enough nutrients back into the ground to feed the restock. But we wanted to test this received wisdom. Could we develop a solution that would out-perform rock phosphate, more cheaply, with greater convenience, across a wider range of sites, with a lower environmental impact and that would not be washed away by heavy rain when it was still too cold for the roots to be active? Could we use that same product to provide an ‘outside-the-box’ solution to the weevil problem on restock sites?

We looked to an industry where development in plant nutrition is well advanced: agriculture. We wanted to work with a company that combined market-leading knowledge of fertilisers with a global reach in research and development. Compo Expert is such a company and together, we developed Albacote. The key technology was a water and temperature-activated membrane with pores that start to open around 5oC (when tree roots are active), but will close up during colder periods. The membrane coats the granules and prevents root scorch so we could place the fertiliser directly under the root plug at the time of planting and minimise the wastage of broadcast applications. We

could then calibrate the dosage to give the tree the same amount of phosphorus as broadcast rock phosphate, with a fraction of the volume, and we used research from global biomass trials to derive the N:P:K ratio and essential trace element balance: trees use potassium for hardiness and store nitrogen for shoot growth in subsequent years.

The result was 10g of granular fertiliser per tree, which will continue to release an NPK balance of 15:25:6 over a 12-month period, if the soil temperature is at a constant 21oC, or longer in cooler conditions. Being part of the planting operation, Albacote is cheap to apply and at only 10g per tree is easy to move around site.

We packaged it into 1.2kg bags, so that two bags are enough for a crate of 240 cell-grown plants.

So that was the theory. And the field proof?

Albacote has now largely replaced rock phosphate on new pinewood plantings, as foresters have found it produces better results, more cheaply, on both cell grown and bare root plants. It performs well across a range of site types and dosage trials indicate that 10g per tree is about the maximum dosage that trees can uptake. And our own trials across soil types in the Scottish Borders show there is a significant benefit to adding Albacote on restock sites, both in height extension and root collar diameter growth. The result is far healthier, girthier plants, with greater resistance to weevils in the second and third years, with fewer trees struggling to keep up with the rest of the crop. Adding Albacote should reduce the costs by reducing both beating up and the need for top-up weevil sprays, whilst also increasing the value of the crop by improving uniformity. It is time to harness this new technology for new uses and start fertilising restock sites. In the end, it is all about saving money over the whole cost of establishment.

Grant Murray is sales director at Alba Trees

cm

% extension growth

Average root collar diameter (left) and average height growth (right) of cell-grown Sitka after one season on restock sites

Amount of Albacote per plant

28 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

Amount of Albacote per plant

NPG members provide transparency

Don’t forget: all Confor NPG nurseries state country of production of stock, so the customer is able to make an informed choice. This is true whether your nursery supplies only stock grown in Britain, or also imports plants to supplement their own stock. This disclosure is a membership rule of the Confor Nursery Producers Group, and helps to maintain the responsible plant production and supply offered by the members of the NPG collectively.

Be aware: not all nurseries will disclose the country of production; ensure you are happy with the sourcing of your planting stock!

Biosecurity: hot topic for all nurseries

Plant and seed sourcing have been in the headlines as never before in recent months, as the pest and disease threats posed to UK forests grow ever stronger. Confor and the Horticultural Trades Association have joined forces to strengthen and improve the supply chain; forest nurseries have been proactively involved with the recent scrutiny and improvements in the plant supply network. Plant supply patterns are responding as awareness of specific pest and disease risks rises throughout the industry. For example, we all hope the recent voluntary moratorium on sweet chestnut imports suggested by both Confor and HTA helps prevent Cryphonectria parasitica entering or becoming established in the UK.

Plant health inspections on nurseries

Nursery inspections are currently underway, to enable plant passports for your supply next season to be issued. The marketing of most forest tree species requires the grower to supply a plant passport. This gives assurance that the stock is free of notifiable pests and diseases, whilst providing a means of traceability. The plant passport number accompanies all relevant planting stock grown and traded in the UK, on the plant label and the nursery paperwork. More information can be obtained from the FERA Plant Health and Seed Inspectorate (England and Wales), or the SERPID Horticulture and Marketing Unit (Scotland).

Comments, questions and advice all welcome – email npg@confor.org.uk; for more information, read ‘About us’ on www.confor.org.uk NPG members: Alba Trees plc, Cheviot Trees Ltd, Christie Elite Nurseries Ltd, Christies (Fochabers) Ltd, Dukeswood Nursery, J & A Growers Ltd, Maelor Forest Nurseries Ltd, Prees Heath Forest Nurseries, Trees Please

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Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 29

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEW

Wood-Mizerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest

At LIGNA 2013, held in May in Germany, Wood-Mizer exhibited its new SLP II, an automated line of three sawmills, connected by a material-handling system. The SLP II line processes logs 10-40cm in diameter and 1.2-3.6m length, into any square material, and is primarily used to produce pallet lumber.

In 2007, Wood-Mizer developed a system of products that could process small logs into a commercial product. This first SLP line exploited Wood-Mizerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrow-band blade sawmill technology that they have employed worldwide since 1982.

Narrow band (thin-kerf) blades â&#x20AC;&#x153;conserve more raw material, require less energy, are cheap to purchase and maintain, and are the key to sawing small logs profitablyâ&#x20AC;?.

Now the new automated SLP II line reduces the manpower requirements by two times: the line can be managed by two or three people, depending on the size of the material being processed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To automate the SLP technology, we redesigned all the sawmills in the line, created one new machine and developed three types of conveyors: belt, roller and chain,â&#x20AC;? says Roman Frontczak, director of Wood-Mizerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research and development. www.woodmizer.co.uk

New from Severnside Safety

Severnside has a new range of corporate identity clothing from Denmark, ID. The range includes T-shirts, sweaters, soft shell jackets, waistcoats, breathable waterproof jackets, bonded fleeces, microfleeces, knitted fleeces, quilts, campaign jackets, shirts, trousers, socks, kit bags, caps, hats and gloves in numerous colours. Company names and logos can be embroidered, or applied as heat-sealed badges. www.sevsafe.co.uk 30 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

Kawasaki retrenching

Kawasaki is to phase out the production and supply of its Kawasaki-branded power products range, over about a year, to concentrate on core business: the sales and service of both 2 and 4-stroke petrol engine ranges. The company says warranty, parts and after-sales will be unaffected. marketing@kawasaki.eu

The new Polaris Ranger 800 has a chassis that is smaller than full-size Rangers, making it easier to manoeuvre, park and store. Its 800 twin electronic fuel injection engine delivers power for a 566kg towing capacity and a top speed of 55mph. www.polaris-britain.com

New ARS Super Turbocut

The latest pruning saw in the award-winning ARS range for arborists is the Super Turbocut UV-32E, from Sorbus International. The cutting edge has a special tooth shape (UV) that helps increase cutting speed. ARS pruning saws feature impulse hardened blades, a technique that involves both heating and cooling within microseconds and the use of impact energy with high frequency currents. The same manufacturing technology is applied to the ARS PRO saws, designed for heavy-duty professional use.

Sorbus is booked to exhibit at the Confor Woodland Show, 12/13 September 2013. www.sorbus-intl.co.uk

HEALTH & SAFETY Chainsaw and supervisor refresher training This is a statement from the Forest Industries Safety Accord.

With the full support of its industry members, the Forest Industry Safety Accord (FISA) has announced the introduction of mandatory refresher training with effect from 01 October 2013. The training compliance is targeting all chainsaw operators and site supervisors operating in the forest industry.

Improving chainsaw safety is one of the priority goals of the UK Forest Industry Safety Accord (FISA). The initiative, led by a cross-industry working group, includes a new scheme for update and refresher training for chainsaw operators and the supervisors that manage forest operational sites.

Felling trees with chainsaws can be one of the most hazardous activities in forestry, and it is essential that such activities are carried out by highly skilled and competent operators.

Certificates of competence were introduced in

HSE UPDATE Draft guidance

the early 1990s to improve operator safety, but despite this development, the accident rate remains unacceptably high.

For chainsaw operators, the scheme is targeting those certificated operators who have not received any formally recorded chainsaw training for a period longer than five years. Given chainsaw certification was first introduced in the 1990s, there are many in the industry that have received little or no update training for this period of time. This is not best practice and falls short of our legal requirements.

For forest works managers and site supervisors, the training is aimed at refreshing those responsible for site operational management with the most recent thinking on chainsaw use and also to be consistent with the current operator refresher training being delivered.

The scheme is not a re-certification – it is a measure of competency and an opportunity to refresh existing skills and learn new techniques.

It is designed to enable the forest industry to comply with guidance from HSE, which recommends that all chainsaw operators have regular (deemed to be at least every five years) refresher training to ensure that they work to industry good practice and maintain their level of competence. The FISA scheme has been endorsed by the leading forest industry players, including FC. After the compliance date of 01 October 2013, contract awards will require chainsaw operators and supervisors to demonstrate that they have undertaken formally recorded chainsaw training within the five-year period immediately prior to the commencement of any operation/contract with participating organisations.

FISA and its membership see this as an important compliance development in ultimately improving the accident and incident rates in the forest industry and look to full support from all those in the forestry sector.

See www.ukfisa.com, look under ‘Training’.

are providing suitable/adequate information to user companies. Information on safe use of woodworking machinery and controlling wood dust are at www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking Information on LEV, including frequently asked questions, is at www.hse.gov.uk/lev

Is your mask protecting you?

New guidance on health surveillance

The revised edition of the Approved Code of Practice: Operator training and safe use, has been published. It is aimed at employers and those responsible for the safe operation of lift trucks, as well as those in control of worksites, the self-employed, managers and supervisors. It includes an outline of the main legal requirements relating to lift trucks. Lift truck training; also available, Use lift trucks safely.

www.hse.org.uk

Responding to feedback, HSE has made some changes to the draft guidance to the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981, and provided further guidance on the selection of first aid training. Changes in regulations do not come into force until October.

Comments/feedback are welcome.

Health surveillance allows for early HSE inspections identification of ill-health and helps identify HSE is planning to visit wood-working any corrective action needed. Health businesses in 2013/14, mainly to check: surveillance may be required by law if your woodworking machinery is being used employees are exposed to noise or vibration, correctly; wood dust is being controlled; solvents, fumes, dusts, biological agents and operators and supervisors have received other substances hazardous to health, or adequate training in the safe use of work in compressed air. HSE has published woodworking machinery and the correct use new online guidance and guidelines on health of local exhaust ventilation (LEV); the LEV surveillance needed where, even after all is suitable for the job and is being used and precautions are taken, there is still a risk that maintained correctly. workers may be exposed to chemicals or Later in the year inspectors will also be other hazardous substances. www.hse.gov.uk/ FTN0613A Lamberhurst_Layout 23/05/2013 12:39 Page 1 checking that LEV suppliers and 1examiners health-surveillance/index.htm

HSE has launched a new pocket card aimed at workers. It covers the key points about wearing a face mask to make sure it is effective.

Rider-operated lift trucks

Managing tree risk

HSE has recently revised its Sector Information Minute on the management of the risk from falling trees or branches.

Forestry Machinery & Equipment Importers and Distributors of Ferrari Tractors, Seppi Forestry Mulchers, Maxwald Cable Winches and FSI Stump Cutters

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Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 31

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Area Manager Required for Wood Recycling and Wood Products Company in North and Central Scotland.

Reporting to the Operations Manager of each site as well as the Managing Director, the successful candidate will be responsible for overseeing the recycling and wood chipping operations for the Stirling and Inverness sites, as well as other mobile sites throughout North Scotland as required. General duties will include producing and implementing health and safety procedures; producing and implementing environmental and quality procedures; liaising with clients with regards to specific contract requirements; pricing and completing tenders for new contracts.

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• Preferably a qualification and/or experience in health and safety • Preferably experience in management systems ISO 14001 and 18001 • Intermediate standard of IT skills and competent use of Microsoft Office Products.

• Driving License essential.

We can offer you a varied and responsible role in a busy Company working in several aspects of the wood recycling and timber industry, competitive salary, company vehicle, and above all opportunities for personal development. Please apply by sending a covering letter and CV to julie@harpercontracts.com We look forward to hearing from you!

Please submit your letter of application together with C.V. to: The Estate Office Burwarton Bridgnorth Shropshire WV16 6QQ

Harpers, North Road Industrial Estate, Insch, Aberdeenshire, AB52 6XP T: 01464 820011 W: www.harpercontracts.com

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Whatever your role, you need to make sure you have all the information that is key to managing your business.

The Confor Woodland Show is the flagship event for the industry in the south of England, the Midlands and Wales.

Formerly known as the South West Woodland Show, it is being extended to two days this year and will alternate annually with Confor’s APF show.

Entrance is free for Confor members.

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INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS Contacting Confor

Confor’s head office is at: 59 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2JG. Tel: 0131 240 1410 Email addresses for staff are on the following pattern: name.surname@confor.org.uk

Website

Please refer to the website (www.confor.org. uk) for full versions of FTN articles, current news, events and other information. Members can have a free link from the Confor website to their own. Email fiona.angier@confor.org.uk Take a look at other member benefits listed at Want to join Confor?

Events

Confor’s UK AGM will be held at Confor HQ, Edinburgh on 30 July 2013. The Confor Woodland Show (formerly South West Woodland Show), Longleat Estate, Wiltshire, 12/13 September 2013.

The international softwood conference is to be held in Edinburgh, 14-18 October 2013, jointly run by Confor and Timber Trade Federation. The main programme of this prestigious event runs 17-18 October, with presentations from around the world, including market development/analysis/outlook, wood promotion and EUTR. A pre-conference tour of Glasgow, Fort William and Lockerbie will showcase Scotland’s softwood sector. www.isc2013.co.uk

Confor board:

Will Anderson Mike Box Tom Bruce Jones Pat Glennon Stuart Goodall - Chief executive James Hamilton-Stubber Mike Harvey Raymond Henderson Chris Inglis - Executive director Colin Mann Athole McKillop George McRobbie George Webb - Chairman Tony Willis They can all be contacted through head office.

Welcome to new and re-joining members:

William Cornforth, Edinburgh William Crawford, Dumfriesshire Jake Whitcroft, East Sussex Associated Timber Services Ltd, Lincolnshire Midland Forestry Ltd, West Midlands Sylvatic Ltd, Cumbria The Great Steward of Scotland’s Dumfries House Trust, Dumfriesshire J N Morris & Son, Lincolnshire Thomas Tryon, Dumfriesshire John Searl, Wales Tarryblake Timber, Aberdeenshire

Email

If we don’t have your email address, you miss out. Please email liz.hughson@confor.org.uk We only send enews and occasional urgent communications.

34 Forestry & Timber News, June 2013

Extracts from Confor’s May enews – see www.confor.org.uk

A report on the contribution of forestry in Eskdalemuir has been commissioned.

Confor secures more funds in Scotland

Confor and WT fight for forestry in England

Following repeated lobbying by Confor over two years, additional multi-million pound funding is set to be secured to support the Scottish RDP in 2014. The aim is to bridge the gap in 2014 between Scottish Government’s £16m and the current budget of £36m.

Confor welcomes GLA scope consultation

Confor, which led industry lobbying against forestry’s inclusion in gangmaster licensing, welcomed the publication of Defra’s consultation on the scope of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority on 26 April. It is a necessary step to final removal of the sector from licensing. It runs to 21 June 2013.

Confor is coordinating an industry response, but encourages everyone with an interest to participate to ensure this unnecessary and damaging burden is removed.

EUTR compliance simplified

Confor has been working hard to ensure that compliance with the new EU Timber Regulation is as simple as possible. In liaison with FC England and Natural Resources Wales, and with input from the National Measurement Office, the body responsible for implementing the EUTR in the UK, a simple document has been developed that is designed to help the forestry sector meet the requirements of the legislation. Once finalised, FC England and NRW will issue the document with felling licences and grant agreements.

Consultation

Deer management on Scotland’s national forest estate is open until 08 July 2013. www. forestry.gov.uk/deermanagement or contact Bruce Sewell on 01463 232811. Confor’s Jamie Farquhar would welcome members’ views, by 01 July 2013. jamie.farquhar@confor.org.uk

Confor welcomes forestry under one Welsh minister

Since the 2011 election, Confor has been lobbying hard for forestry to come under one minister. First minister Carwyn Jones shuffled his cabinet and rationalised the ridiculous situation.

Demise of FC Wales

Confor’s Kath McNulty reported from the launch of Natural Resources Wales, held in the Valleys near Merthyr Tydfil on 03 April 2013.

Wood supply campaign

Confor secured television, radio and newspaper coverage in 2011, when it put the spotlight on the ongoing loss of commercial conifers in Scotland. Progress since then has been frustratingly slow and a new campaign, focused on politicians, will be launched shortly.

Confor and the Woodland Trust co-ordinated the bringing together of 17 signatories to an open letter in The Telegraph to secretary of state, Owen Paterson, calling on him not to merge FC England with Natural England or the Environment Agency.

Certification

Confor has co-ordinated further industry discussions on FSC’s proposed Online Claims Platform. (see April FTN). A demonstration site for the OCP provides several videos to help you get started. Confor is currently liaising with other FSC members overseas to identify their views towards the OCP, recognising that the industry needs no new administrative burdens.

PLANT HEALTH Biosecurity

Confor has played a vital role in the delivery of the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Action Plan and is the UK lead on facilitating the delivery of the actions on forest biosecurity.

Confor plays key role as extra £1.5m secured for OPM

Since joining the oak processionary moth steering group last year, Confor has played a vital role in driving a significant change in the approach to the control of OPM. Working with partners from across London and the southeast, Confor's very clear thrust for an 'upgrade' in pace and action has led to a new control strategy, with over £1.5m extra resource now committed to control and eradication. The plan includes aerial and ground-based control, publicity leaflets and a new landowners’ toolkit

Chalara in Ireland

There is a draft management plan for all Ireland.

Tree health action plans in Scotland

FC Scotland published three tree health action plans in March: for Chalara in ash, Dothistroma needle blight on pine, and P ramorum on larch. Woodland managers are to be given grant support in Scotland’s ongoing effort to manage the threats posed by Chalara.

Defra Chalara management plan

Defra Chalara management plan for England and Wales was published in April. The Operations Note, setting out the grants in England for the Plant Health WIG, have also been published. Confor broadly welcomed the revised plan for England, in which it participated, and the £1.5m funding, but questions where the additional resources are coming from and how adequate they are.

PEOPLE The Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF) recently announced that Professor Julian Evans OBE, BSc, PhD, DSc, FICFor, formerly its vicepresident, was elected president at its AGM in Glasgow.

Julian, well known to readers of FTN, graduated in forestry from Bangor University in 1968, later becoming professor of forestry, at Imperial College London and chief research officer (S) for FC at Alice Holt. He owns a 12ha woodland in Hampshire.

Joining the ICF council is new vice-president David Henderson-Howat FICFor, deputy director of FC Scotland, and Syd House FICFor, FC Scotland conservator, Perth and Argyll.

Mike Bentley, a chartered forester, has been appointed chief executive officer of the Small Woods Association. Mike replaces Jude Walker, who is retiring after ten years with the organisation. Mike, also a regular contributor to FTN, has 34 years’ experience in forestry, starting as a forest craftsman and tractor-driver.

Oliver Combe has taken over at Timber Auctions, having left BSW Timber. www.smallwoods.org.uk The Scottish Forestry Trust announced Greg Searles as the winner of the Scottish Woodlands Student Excellence Award for 2012/13.

Greg was a postgraduate student based at the Forest Products Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University. His thesis was on ‘Improving the quality of Sitka spruce structural timber through raw material segregation and alternative sawmill cutting patterns - acoustic segregation and structural timber production’. www.scottishforestrytrust.org.uk Keith Oates has been appointed as a new Forestry Commissioner for England. He has been a non-executive member of FC England’s national committee since 2007.

He was executive deputy chairman of Marks & Spencer plc from 1994 to 1999, having joined as finance director in 1984, and was appointed joint managing director in 1991. He was the founder and subsequently chairman of Marks & Spencer Financial Services for 15 years. He recently retired as chairman of Phaunos Timber Fund, and is a public member of Network Rail. His previous experience includes serving as a non-executive director of Diageo plc, BT plc, the Financial Services Authority and the English and GB Sports Councils, and as a governor of the BBC. Graduating from the London School of Economics, he also completed a post-graduate business diploma at Umist and an MSc from Bristol University.

He has been appointed for a term of three years from April 2013, and will continue to serve on the FC national committee for England.

The board of Forestry Commissioners oversees the work of FC on behalf of ministers. The national committees for England and Scotland carry out some of the functions of the Commissioners at country level. www.forestry.gov.uk/commissioners

APPRECIATIONS Jamie Bruce relaxing on a boating holiday.

The Hon JME Bruce CBE 26 August 1927-22 April 2013 The Honourable JME Bruce (Jamie) was born in Fife, a son of Edward Bruce, Earl of Elgin.

He was educated at Eton, before training at Sandhurst and serving with the Scots Guards.

He also studied at the Royal Agricultural College, at Cirencester.

More than 50 years ago, Jamie and others established the Cooperative Forestry Society.

It evolved into SWOA (Scottish Woodland Owners Association), a lobbying, forest management and timber marketing organisation, albeit constrained by financial restrictions on cooperatives. Jamie had the vision to see the need for a commercial forest management company and SWOAC Ltd (Scottish Woodland Owners Association Commercial Ltd) was incorporated in 1967, a wholly owned subsidiary of SWOA. Jamie, as first chairman, with Dennis Crawford, executive general manager, expanded the business and, in 1986, there was a management buy-out. Jamie led the transaction and £1.35m was paid to form the first employee-owned forestry business of this scale in the UK, Scottish Woodlands Ltd. The capital from the sale led directly to the creation of the Scottish Forestry Trust, which continues with assets now exceeding £2.5m.

When Jamie retired in 1992, after 25 years as chairman, Scottish Woodlands turnover was £15.1m, with 77 staff and over 100 000ha of woodland under its management. In 2012, it The new head of forestry courses at Newton Rigg College, Penrith, is Susie Grainger. She will lead the NPTC Levels 2 and 3 forestry courses, formerly the forestry National Diploma course, re-launched last year after an absence of nine years. There are currently 14 forestry students and Susie’s aim is to raise that number to 40 in the next academic year.

Askham Bryan College acquired Newton Rigg College from the University of Cumbria in 2011, taking on the further education elements.

The forestry degree course is now run by the University of Cumbria from the Ambleside campus. www.newtonrigg.ac.uk

recorded sales of £63.9m and 151 staff, many of whom are shareholders.

Jamie served on many forestry committees, including chairman of the Forestry Committee of Great Britain, member of the governing council of TGUK, member of the executive committee of FICGB and member of the FC Home Grown Timber Advisory Committee, the last for over 30 years. He was awarded CBE in 1992 for services to the forest industry.

The Bruce family tradition in forestry continues at Balmanno in Perthshire, Broomhall in Fife, Glen Tanar in Aberdeenshire, and beyond.

The legacy which Jamie has left will long continue to influence the lives and careers of those whom he encouraged and supported through such a long and distinguished career.

Colin Mann, managing director, Scottish Woodlands Ltd Full version at www.scottishwoodlands.co.uk It is with regret that we report the deaths of Chris Rose and David Binnian. Both men leave a great legacy of trees they nurtured and loved.

Chris Rose, who died recently aged 66, was a long-standing, active member of APF, continuing his membership of Confor. After graduating in forestry from Aberdeen University in 1969, he worked for Civic Trees, before moving to Milton Keynes, starting as landscape and forestry manager at Milton Keynes Development Corporation and reaching senior landscape surveyor at the Commission for the New Towns. He subsequently set up and became managing director of The Urban Forestry Organisation Ltd (TUFO). He was an active member of ICF, mentoring candidates in the arboriculture specialism. He was also a member of RFS. In more than 38 years of working with trees in Milton Keynes, he was responsible for winning two Centre of Excellence Awards from the Forestry Authority for his arboricultural and landscape work in the new town.

David Binnian has been described as a ‘larger than life’ land agent. A past TGA member, he died in May, having just turned 80. Bodenham Arboretum is his legacy.

Timber processing firm and Confor member Glennon Brothers welcomed Sean Sherlock, Irish minister of state for research and innovation, to its Fermoy plant recently. The minister met with Pat and Mike Glennon and viewed progress of the e12m capital investment programme on the site. The visit aimed to highlight the importance of the sawmilling sector to the Irish economy, and the potentially devastating consequences of the possible sale of Coillte harvesting rights.

Glennons now exports over two-thirds of its Irish output. There are signs that the privatisation is unlikely to happen.

Forestry & Timber News, June 2013 35

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W E N !

NEW! NEW FIREWOOD PROCESSOR OWNERS

POSCH S-360 HIGH SPEED PROCESSOR LOOKING TO MECHANISE AND SPEED UP YOUR LOG PRODUCTION? Contact us to find out what your existing machine would be worth against a new, high speed Posch S-350 and log deck.

INCREASED SPLITTING SPEED! CUTS SMALL DIAMETER FASTER! REMOVABLE SPLITTING KNIFE!

Posch Autosplit kindling machine – pto, 3-phase and new single-phase options

WE HAVE CUSTOMERS WAITING FOR USED PROCESSORS

CAN BE SEEN AT THE A new, full spec Posch S-350 with FOLLOWING EXHIBITIONS: 3-chain 3.2 mtr log deck costs Woodfest, Wales£23,000 31st May-2nd June + vat With,Cirencester say, £5,000 for your existingJune Arb Show, 14-15th machine and balance of vat payable in CLA Game Fair, Rageley 19-21st July, advance: Southwest Woodland show Longleat 12-13th Sept Financing £18,000 over – 3 yearsWoodfair – 36 x £576 or Weald 20-22 Sept 4 years – 48 x £449 or Posch 30 tonne Splitmaster – Surreyhills Woodfair, Birtley 5-6th Oct 5 years – 60 x £378

Copes easily with large timber

01556 612233

www.jaspwilson.co.uk TRAILER-CRANE OWNERS

Power to spare…

Do you require a heavier duty trailer crane to easily handle big logs such as this, and bigger? If so, why not contact us today to see what your unit is worth in part exchange or as a deposit for finance?

WE HAVE CUSTOMERS WAITING FOR USED TRAILER CRANES

A new, full-spec Botex 560TL crane on Euro 11000 trailer still only costs £19,950 + VAT delivered.

Finance example With, say, £5,000 deposit for your existing trailer and balance of VAT payable in advance: Financing £14,950 over: 3 years – 36 x £478 or less 4 years – 48 x £373 or less 5 years – 60 x £313 or less

01556 612233 – www.jaspwilson.co.uk