In cities, when procurement officers, cities, architects, and contractors set out to build or renovate new buildings or infrastructure, they face numerous sourcing decisions, often under tight timelines. How can they source the right materials for the project while supporting the world’s climate and forests? If wood is truly a sustainable building material for the future it must be accessible, affordable and transparent.

WoodHubs offer shared space, equipment and resources to support interdependent sustainable wood initiatives. They will provide detailed sourcing, LCA and embodied carbon data for urban and municipal wood procurement. These innovative WoodHubs will combine advanced inventory management with best practices in value systems for local, circular and imported conservation timber, and resources may include sawmills, kilns, warehousing and workforce development.

The Sustainable Wood Hub represents a meaningful opportunity for cities to translate their commitments to sustainable building practices into action. Engaging city officials in this initiative will foster a culture of sustainable decision-making that benefits future projects. One of the greatest potentials of the Sustainable Wood Hub is in its ability to drive innovation and skills training by clustering activities that support the city’s goals and vision for sustainable wood use. This initiative could create new green jobs, foster connections between academic and industrial sectors, and serve as a platform to address climate concerns, social issues, green infrastructure policy, and economics.

Do you have a program that could benefit from a more systemic sustainable value chain in your city? Tell us about it!

Our vision is to create a robust network of Sustainable Wood Hubs that share best practices among cities, businesses, and organizations, all working toward healthier, happier, and lower-carbon urban living.

Many cities have made strides in addressing material waste, but few have implemented comprehensive, systemic approaches. For instance, Portland, Oregon, introduced a deconstruction ordinance and incentive program to recover valuable materials like salvaged wood from old buildings for future use. In Montreal, Canada, the city collaborates with local organizations to transform wood from urban trees affected by the emerald ash borer beetle into flower boxes and community benches.

While these initiatives are promising, they typically only address one stream of urban wood that cities manage. To meet their climate goals, cities need to develop comprehensive initiatives to address multiple wood sources. Existing initiatives in Baltimore, Vancouver and Genoa present an incredible opportunity to integrate and expand these efforts across various wood streams. The Sustainable Wood Hub Initiative aims to support this holistic approach by bringing together collective successes and insights from cities worldwide to build resilient local systems that efficiently manage diverse urban wood sources. When it comes to urban wood choices, restrictive procurement policies and big-box suppliers have led to reduced diversity of local and sustainable timber in European cities. Most local mills have closed, and knowledge of sustainable production and sourcing has been outsourced or lost. 

Today there is a resurgence of interest in bio-based, low carbon, local and circular materials, as well as support for sustainable and social forestry in vital forests near and far. While there are many promising initiatives in cities around the world, most of these address only one stream of urban wood. 

The WoodHub Initiative aims to integrate these efforts and implement a systemic approach, clustering together successful enterprises, shared infrastructure, knowledge, training, and supply and demand channels. 

Construction firms often grapple with the challenges of affordability and accessibility. Sustainably sourced wood often comes at a premium and may require longer lead times in order to receive it in time for a project’s start date. High-quality lumber milled from urban trees often lack connections to a reliable market, creating unnecessary cost burdens to municipal budgets. Establishing a supply of sustainable wood close to city centers, vetted by sustainability experts and managed with advanced inventory systems, would enhance accessibility for more projects, large and small.

A key solution lies in the value chain of forest-positive building materials. Many suppliers rely on highly efficient "just-in-time" inventory systems, which create pressure to select readily available raw materials that may not be environmentally friendly. Although regulations promoting sustainably sourced wood (e.g. EUDR) are gaining traction, they have yet to make these materials more accessible. The Sustainable WoodHub Initiative aims to bridge this gap by making sustainable wood from various pathways readily available for small and medium-sized urban projects.

WoodHubs will integrate:

• Urban tree-to-timber processing

• Circular timber from demolition and waste streams

• Certified “conservation timber” imports and partnerships

• Job training and creation in a wide range of skill areas

• Green and social enterprise incubation

• Procurement policy development with government officials

• Carbon accounting and credits

• Marketing and media

We want to hear from you! Please apply now to share your projects and ideas on how we can work together to establish a WoodHub in your city. Let’s join forces to drive sustainable initiatives and strengthen our communities. 

Pilot Projects' Founder Scott Francisco (left) visits Dave Barmon (middle) at Epilogue LLC and Sustainable Northwest in Portland to see how these companies transform urban trees into high quality lumber.