Joe Giddings on the ‘mind-blowing’ growth of bio-based materials in Europe

Episode 59. AJ Climate Champions with Hattie Hartman and Joe Jack Williams. 

On the eve of Cop30 in Brazil, Built by Nature European Networks Lead and ACAN co-founder Joe Giddings talks to the AJ about how to build responsibly with timber.

Giddings takes a deep dive into Built by Nature's (BbN) five Principles for Responsible Timber Construction, which provide a holistic framework for building with timber without unintended consequences. He also describes BbN’s workstreams to quantify and promote lean use of timber. Current research includes the development of two new metrics for assessing the impact of building with timber: the use renewal ratio (the length of timber remains locked up in a building compared to how long it takes the tree that supplied it to grow) and wood use intensity, the volume of timber used per square metre of building.

Giddings challenges numerous tropes. Local is not always best; what’s needed is a holistic understanding of what timber is abundant in the supply chain that is appropriate for a particular application. Monocultures of Sitka Spruce are not all bad; in the UK, they are a stronghold for red squirrels. Different aspects of biodiversity can drive different specification choices. Again, a holistic view is what matters.

He also describes his work with partners across Europe, including Bauhaus Earth in Berlin, BBCA in France and MassMadera in Spain. ‘I’ve been blown away by the pace and scale of change across Europe,’ says Giddings. He predicts that in the next decade, the pockets of innovation that have emerged in Denmark, Sweden and France will spread across Europe driven by EU legislation – and ‘hopefully the UK, too’.

For show notes and to catch up on all AJ Climate Champions episodes, click here.

Supported by Built by Nature