We are committed to a policy of acting in an environmentally responsible manner. The main environmental impacts associated with our activities are the purchase and transport of our timber and the environmental performance of the conservatories once they are built. The initiatives below are some of the actions that we have taken to ensure that we address these issues so that we impact on the environment as little as possible.
Responsibility for the environment and your pocket: At Westbury, we always ensure that our buildings are insulated to a higher level than the current standards recommend. By insulating efficiently from the beginning, our customers can be confident that their garden rooms will have longevity. At the same time, having highly insulated walls floors and glass means much less energy is needed for heating.
Many customers experience significantly lower bills after building a garden room due to the fact that we often build over, or replace poorly insulated old glazing, walls and doors.
At Westbury we only use wood from sustainable sources. All of our timber supply is FSC certified which is a guarantee that the forests have been managed in a sustainable way. Furthermore, 85% of our wood supply now comes from European sources, ensuring traceability of origin and that all certification policies have been followed. Choosing timber from closer sustainable sources in Europe has a further environmental advantage over slow growing hardwoods from Africa & South East Asia and therefore helps us decrease our carbon footprint. To the furthest extent possible, we use redwood* for the construction of our garden rooms instead of highly waste consuming hardwood.
We only use a small amount of hardwood on the limited areas of the building which are very exposed to both sun and rain. There are huge advantages in using redwood as the European timber companies waste little, utilising a high percentage of off cuts for engineered timbers and what’s left for heating their factories, thus cutting down the high wastage traditionally found at the forest and mill.
By choosing redwood as our primary source of timber instead of hardwood, we decrease our wood waste by approximately 75% for the benefit of the environment. We have invested in the latest machine technology to optimise the cutting of our timbers and minimise our waste.
*We ensure that all redwoods are clear (knot free)
The longevity of the design can play a huge part in environmental impact. Buildings with incorrect architectural proportions and detailing can look very tired and dated as little as five to ten years after construction. Beware of cheap imitations!
What may look much the same on a drawing may date very quickly. ‘Build it once, build it right’ is the Westbury moto.
Westbury’s long-lasting wooden garden rooms save on timber resources simply because they only have to be built once. We use our resources very efficiently during the production process which reduces timber waste. We also source our bricks, mortar and other building materials from your local suppliers; cutting down on transport emissions and lowering the carbon footprint.
Westbury buildings, particularly our summerhouse garden rooms and wooden orangeries, are highly insulated to levels that often exceed the legal requirements. Our Low E double-glazing units are up to five times more efficient than single-glazing and our insulating glass has a higher insulation value than an old solid brick wall.
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