Green Campaigners in Scotland Win Hardwood Floorin
Glasgow, Scotland, November 11--Council chiefs confirmed yesterday that a "sustainable" wood supply had been chosen for a multi-million-pound refurbishment project following protests from environmental campaigners, according to the Scotsman.com.
Glasgow City Council was forced to halt installation of hundreds of metres of hardwood flooring at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow after it emerged that it could have come from the endangered rainforests of southeast Asia.
The council announced its change of plan following a campaign of opposition from Greenpeace, during which 100 activists occupied the art gallery and museum - the most visited in the UK outside of London - to protest.
Now the merbau tropical hardwood initially ordered for the floor will be abandoned in favour of European beech, after concerns over the sustainability and the preservation of natural habitats.
A council spokesman confirmed yesterday that the decision to change the type of wood had been taken "to minimise the risk of procuring unsustainable hardwood". He said the move had come after "consultation with various organisations."
A number of protesters climbed on to the roof of the building in September to highlight concerns that the £29 million Kelvingrove project was spending some of its £13 million of lottery funding on purchasing timber from unsustainable sources.
Greenpeace activists claimed the company providing the timber for the Kelvingrove refurbishment - due to be completed in the summer of 2006 - had been unable to confirm the source of the wood. This was later verified by Glasgow City Council.
While the council’s main contractor, HGB, works to sustainable guidelines and promotes environmental practices, there still remained concerns that the merbau hardwood supplied by the Danish sub- contractor Junckers did not come from sustainable sources.
Council officials said there were "no proposed cost implications" as a result of the change of timber.
A spokesman for Greenpeace yesterday welcomed Glasgow City Council’s decision to use sustainable European timber to floor the Kelvingrove galleries and exhibition spaces.
He said the organisation’s campaign to highlight the use of wood from unsustainable sources would continue in relation to several high-profile current or recently completed capital projects.
The Greenpeace spokesman said: "We see this as a positive step by Glasgow City Council in choosing to move away from using timber sourced from illegal and destructive logging in southeast Asia.
"We hope that in future all the timber they source will come from legal and environmentally sustainable sources such as those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council."
