A holiday company offering a summer break with a difference is using PEFC-certified timber for its modular timber cabins set in 10 super forest locations across the UK. The forests are managed by Forestry England, Forestry and Land Scotland and Natural Resources Wales (regional successors to the Forestry Commission) and are certified to the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) –the UK certification standard for verifying sustainable forest management and recognised by both PEFC and FSC.
The company’s most recent development in Beddgelert, North Wales, has been built to BREEAM Excellent standards. The new generation of cabins are made from PEFC-certified timber and constructed offsite to reduce waste and increase building efficiency. They all have energy efficient insulation, glazing and incorporate a variety of eco-friendly features such as a rainwater harvesting, and low energy appliances and light bulbs. A pioneering design is used to produce the company’s modular timber cabins which are carefully assembled between the trees and raised on steel piles, placed vertically into the ground. This design ensures that the forest floor is protected and that nearby trees are unaffected and soil movement is minimised. It also enables rainwater to run off naturally into the forest floor.
Forest Holidays encourage sustainable management practices throughout its design and construction process. They place energy efficiency and environmentally-friendly materials at the heart of everything they do, with a procurement strategy that considers lifecycle impact of materials and their durability. Locations are chosen and managed following best practice advice by foresters and the company has an on-going ecology monitoring system at all locations to help inform future management processes.
In the 45 years since Forest Holidays’ first cabins were created, the company has constantly sought innovative ways to further improve their design features and how they are integrated to work with the surrounding natural environment and take active steps to protect and enhance the forest, and educate its teams, guests and visitors so that they can play their part too.
For more information on Forest Holidays do visit: www.forestholidays.co.uk