Greenpeace to check on sustainable wood

Greenpeace has warned that it will be making site visits in the coming weeks to the four projects that have still "failed to respond" to its queries about the use of sustainable timber.
It is now nearly a month since CJ revealed that Greenpeace had contacted main contractors working on 10 Lottery-funded projects to ask whether or not they have used Forest Stewardship Council-certified timber - the only sustainable timber to be recognised by the group (CJ 15 September).
The four contractors yet to respond are Mowlem, working on the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Allenbuild's extension deal at The Deep in Hull, Kilby & Gayford's refurbishment
contract at Shoreditch Town Hall and Multiplex's Wembley contract.
"We have heard nothing from any of these contractors," a Greenpeace spokesman said. "We should have heard something by now.
"The next step is to warn the contractors that we will be making site visits to ensure that their timber procurement is in order. At this stage we won't be making any unsuspecting visits due to the high-profile nature of our campaign."
However, as a warning signal, Greenpeace has been keeping up the pressure on contractors to conform. Last week it carried out unannounced protests at the £30m Playfair Project in Edinburgh, constructed by Laing O'Rourke, and Kier's £1.8m North Edinburgh Arts Centre over the use of unsustainable timber in their construction.
The group also visited Edinburgh City Council to persuade the authority to introduce timber purchasing guidelines "to prevent repeat performances".
Meanwhile, work is still suspended at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum while main contractor HBG tries to get to the bottom of whether timber supplied by Danish subcontractor Junckers for the ground floor galleries comes from a sustainable source.
The delays are not thought to have any immediate impact on the delivery of the project.
A Greenpeace spokesman said: "We have been told by
HBG that work is due to restart soon with the same timber
supplier. Before this happens, we will be making a site visit to make sure all the documentation is correct."