British High Commission Kampala, Uganda
Building Magazine Awards 2006, Sustainability Category Finalist
New High Commission offices and support accommodation in Uganda, for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Use of tropical hardwood in construction projects is rightly a major concern to all Clients. When the Client is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the site is in East Africa, finding the best solution to the need for timber takes on new meaning. The cornerstones of sound timber policy are legality and sustainability. Ridge was faced with a choice of managing the supply chain for hardwood or sending compliant European timber to the equator. Ridge knew a challenge had been set and a robust answer had to be found.
Uganda has a rich natural stock of tropical hardwoods although this has diminished as harvesting has been carried out without replanting. To answer the need for sustainability, Ridge worked with the National Forestry Authority in Uganda (NFA) who was considering the implementation of Forestry Stewardship Council recommendations for the production of sustainable timber.
The first step in the process is the mapping of the forest whereby every tree is located, numbered, catalogued, rated and valued according to its condition. From this survey, the NFA identifies which trees can be harvested and which have to be kept to safeguard the future value of the forest.
Having made full use of each tree, Ridge has implemented a replanting regime designed by NFA to provide future timber stocks. Mahogany grows well in Uganda and is indigenous to the rainforest as well as being a valuable timber for joinery. Ridge has therefore managed the successful use of the selected local tropical hardwoods, carefully and controllably harvested from a legal source without detriment to the global environment.