Travis Perkins Celebrates Major Timber Milestone

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What is the timber Chain of Custody?

The timber Chain of Custody (CoC) refers to the tracking process that ensures the legality and sustainability of timber products from the forest to the consumer. It involves documenting every stage of the timber's journey, from harvesting to processing, manufacturing, and sale. By maintaining a robust tracking system, customers can feel confident that the chain-of-custody backed timber that they use is helping to combat illegal logging and promote sustainable forestry practices.

So what does this mean for Travis Perkins? This includes regular third party audits to provide certification to the Forest Stewardship Council^Ⓡ (FSC^Ⓡ) and also our licence code FSC-C014726 and the Programme for the Endorsement of the Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes, and 2024 celebrates 20 consecutive years of certification. 

We have also signed up to become a member of Timber Development UK (TDUK); a not-for-profit organisation that is the largest supply chain body for timber in the UK. By working with the TDUK the business seeks to help drive improvements and decarbonisation in our supply chain, develop colleague knowledge and skills, and provide access to market intelligence and support to develop longer-term supply chain planning. 

We are investing in developing training with the TDUK team, to ensure every colleague has the best and latest knowledge and information to give our customers the best advice and service. Membership will also enable us to work more collaboratively with suppliers and the extended industry to help shape the future of the built environment in a more sustainable way.

Rosie Wise, Category Director of Timber and Joinery at Travis Perkins says: “Travis Perkins has been in the timber business for over 200 years, and we take our responsibility to the environment, suppliers and customers very seriously.  We were one of the first businesses to sign up to the timber chain of custody 20 years ago and we were trailblazers then and we are still leading the way now. By maintaining a chain of custody, it means we have accountability and transparency across the supply chain, preventing illegal logging, advocating for sustainable forestry practices, and upholding the integrity of our products.”

“With timber becoming an increasingly important category for our customers as they seek to decarbonise construction and comply with the UK government’s ‘Timber in construction roadmap’, we will be supporting our customers through this transition by ensuring we have the right knowledge to guide them. We remain focused on being the best-in-class general merchant for timber, and our TDUK membership is an important part of this.”

To view our CoC certification you can visit our Responsible Sourcing page for more information. Want to know what PEFC and FSC^Ⓡ certification is? Take a look at our Understanding PEFC and FSC^Ⓡ Timber article to delve into what each certification means.