HUGE JV CONFIRMED FOR UK REAL ESTATE

Sumitomo Forestry, one of Japan’s largest developers, has established a joint venture with British developer Bywater Properties to enter the UK real estate market, focusing on lowcarbon property development and refurbishment.

The new venture aims to achieve over £1billion in assets across the UK and Europe; the new entity will be a pioneering developer with a strong focus on decarbonisation and mass timber real estate projects.

Construction is already under way on both companies’ first project – Paradise in the London Borough of Lambeth – a new sixstorey office building with a mass timber structure that locks away approximately 60 years of tenant operating emissions. Completion is expected in autumn 2024. The project is also focused on minimising the environmental impact of the building, with lifecycle embodied carbon – the carbon emissions resulting from the materials, construction, and the use of a building over its entire life, including its demolition and disposal – of 491kg CO2e/m2 compared to the RIBA 2030 target of 750kg CO2e/m2

“Sumitomo Forestry has a global network of hugely successful residential and commercial development companies – with Bywater ready set to help the business grow its European operations,” said Richard Walker, Chairman and Founder of Bywater Properties, and Executive Chairman of the Iceland supermarket chain.

“This new venture is more than just a business opportunity, however. It’s also a meeting of minds. Both companies share a philosophy based on the principles of sustainability, with a long-term ambition to decarbonise the real estate industry through the adoption of mass timber projects. Bywater’s expertise and robust business relationships in both the UK and throughout Europe was a critical factor in this joint venture coming to fruition,” added Atsushi Kawamura, director and senior managing executive officer at Sumitomo Forestry.

“Paradise is just the beginning of what we anticipate being a long and successful relationship with Bywater. As a combined entity, we can revolutionise how real-estate projects are managed across Europe, establishing timber frames refurbishment and construction as a standard.” www.bywaterproperties.com

Bm Trada Launches New Technical Timber Webinars

Ben Sharples, Commercial Lead for Timber Services at BM TRADA, said: “Provided it is ethically sourced, timber is an inherently sustainable construction material that uses a fraction of the carbon in its source to end-use process when compared with other construction materials and products, not to mention its ability to sequester carbon too. With the UK construction industry tasked with reducing its carbon emissions in line with government net zero targets, timber is likely to have an increasingly prominent role to play over the coming years.”

The final series will consist of four webinars discussing timber fundamentals starting with timber origins (2 November), before covering quality (16 November), moisture (30 November) and protection (14 December).

BM TRADA has announced a new programme of technical timber webinars which will be delivered throughout 2023. Each will benefit from refreshed content and new topics on strength grading; modified woods, plywood and other panel products; and degrading microorganisms, the webinars are set to provide a valuable educational resource for stakeholders across the construction industry.