Why we don’t (won’t) specify Tropical Hardwood Timber for Garden Buildings

As a manufacturer of Garden Buildings, we’ve taken sales calls from UK Hardwood and Specialist Timber importers for many years. Each time, it’s increasingly difficult for us to listen to the salesperson highlight the beautiful hues and outstanding qualities their routinely sold Tropical Hardwood species. In fact, we always remind the baffled salesperson that it’s our company policy. “We never purchase Tropical Hardwoods”.

Windows and doors for Garden buildings are often fashioned from products like “Idigbo” and “Iroko” and their names are cast about as if names of an inexpensive and infnitely available consumer item of which we can order for ‘next Day delivery’ for use as an inexpensive alternative to Oak for shopfitting and windows and doors. Tropical hardwood is a common sight in most peoples’ gardens. If not in their garden buildings it’s usually the central component to contemporary garden furniture.

We’re sad because the very term “Tropical Hardwood” is as obvious an explanation as one would need. In a world where deforestation is at an all time high, wildlife habitats are all but gone and Carbon levels in the atmosphere are at their highest; the act of taking more timber from our global rainforests is unthinkable.

These gorgeous timbers are the trees which are being taken from some of the last remaining primary rain-forests on this planet. Given the devastating effect of habitat destruction globally, the felling of these trees is tragic for the eco-system of the rainforest and the last tribes-people who live within them but many of the tree species sold in the UK (like “Idigbo”) are actually listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as VU – Vulnerable: at risk of extinction.

Almost 90% of West Africa’s coastal rainforest has already been destroyed and deforestation in the Congo Basin has doubled since 1990. Logging and agriculture continue to be two of the biggest threats to Africa’s tropical forests. For what? Our Garden Buildings?

So, next time you shop for anything crafted out of timber, please spare a thought for the global wildlife and be aware of the problems we are facing if we support the tropical hardwood timber trade.

Unfortunately even the certified PEFC and FSC timber is commonly switched with illegally harvested timber and 60% of all imported timber arriving to our shores is indeed illegal. This is why we will only ever specify UK Grown timber and avoid any imported timber – especially if it’s ‘tropical’. As long as manufacturers and specifiers continue to chose aesthetics and profits over our obligation to care for this planet the deluge of precious, almost extinct timbers will keep being traded until there is nothing left.

Let’s hope other joinery firms will unite and chose to stand firm. We chose Locally grown, not flown.