On the 18th of July, we welcomed a group of Professional Forester Apprentices to our factory for a presentation and tour, to assist with their degree-level apprenticeship programme learning. More information on the Professional Forester Apprenticeship programme is available via ‘Kickstart your career in Forestry – Forestry Commission (blog.gov.uk)’.
The academic element of the course is being co-delivered by the University of Cumbria and the Forestry Commission. Apprentices are hosted and employed either by the Forestry Commission or with wider-sector organisations including the National Trust, Woodland Trust, Scottish Woodlands, Heart of England Forest and Euroforest.
The apprentices are currently studying for their Wood Utilisation and Processing Module. During this module, they will cover the biology of wood and how the properties of wood relate to timber properties and utilisation. By the end of the module, students will be able to assess potential end uses for standing trees, identify current markets for round timber, understand product optimisation, and learn how best to maximise return from harvested trees.
To help embed their learning, Forestry Commission Apprenticeship Lecturers Lajla Cash and Sid Cooper took the group of apprentices to visit a number of sites along the Welsh border to see examples of primary timber harvesting (including coppice, softwood and hardwood stands); different examples of secondary processing of harvested timber through sawmills (ranging from smaller estate-based facilities to highly mechanised, high output operations); and the final processing of timbers into end-use and engineered wood products for specific markets – which is where Lowfield Timber Frames came in!
“Your support of our apprentices is very much appreciated, and they gained so much from seeing first-hand the engineered timber products that you then process into housing frames, joists and, together with oak logs, into feature joinery. Particularly relevant was the post-tour presentation, especially the discussion on the recent changes in Building Regs and the impact these will potentially have on increasing demand for timber-framed housing, which in turn will impact on the markets, prices and supply and demand for both imported and (hopefully) home-grown timbers – I know that this gave our apprentices much food for thought.” – Sid Cooper- Apprenticeship Lecturer, Forestry Commission.
If you would like to organise a factory tour of our facilities contact us today.
