Last year Salvo Code member Ashwells Timber proudly announced they had been chosen to supply the reclaimed timber for the Shotley Pier restoration project. Work has begun on renovating the historic pier to ensure it can be promenaded once again.
 
Built in 1894 the 600 foot long structure was commissioned by the Marquis of Bristol, as a landing stage for a ferry between the village of Shotley to Harwich and Felixstowe. The railway pier transported mail, coal and sailors by ferry across the river Stour, and also has a military history as it was used to serve as the HMS Ganges naval training base.
 
Gradually falling into disrepair a hundred years later in the 1990s, the pier was eventually saved when the Shotley Heritage Charitable Community Benefit Society Ltd bought it in 2017 aiming to return the Victorian structure to its former glory and open it to the public once more. The successful community campaign managed to secure the £500,000 needed to start the rebuild.

Reclaimed Greenheart salvaged from the Woolwich Ferry Terminal was selected for the renovation not only for its strength, but also its beautiful character. Greenheart is an exceptionally hard and durable tropical hardwood that was often used in British marine structures and coastal defences making it an ideal fit.
 
Speaking about the project, Deb Davies-Tutt of Ashwells Timber said “It was an honour to be invited to supply timber for this high-profile pier restoration.  During colonial times, tropical hardwoods such as Greenheart and Jarrah were imported to the UK from Africa, Australia, Central America and British Guyana.  This means that, as a Victorian pier, timbers would have originally been tropical making the choice to rebuild in 2020 using reclaimed Greenheart even more perfect.”  
 
From 1835 to 1935 Britain imported more than half the entire world’s timber exports. In the 1990s Salvo estimated 2,400 tonnes of reusable timber was skipped in the UK daily, of this 240 tonnes was reusable tropical hardwood, which equals ten square miles of rainforest a year. Ashwells contributes to saving the equivalent of around 500 tonnes of CO2e annually by its customers avoiding the need to fell greenheart and other forest trees. The environmental benefits of reusing timber are evident, but currently only 1% of building materials used in the UK are reclaimed. Choosing to adopt a circular approach will help us massively reduce our carbon emissions, but also save historic timber from lower value routes.
 
In 2019 Ashwells was the first yard to be visited by the Salvo team for inclusion in the new futuREuse FCRBE directory - a planned listing of 1,500 reclamation businesses across northwest Europe, which aims to make sourcing reclaimed materials easier for construction professionals. The futuREuse project (officially named FCRBE) is raising awareness of the positive impact the reclamation trade creates, both environmentally and socially.
 
Discover more futuREuse businesses in the UK & IRELAND 500 directory and for more information about Ashwells Timber fantastic work see the links below.