If Timber Could Talk: For this year’s London Festival of Architecture (LFA), David Morley joined a panel of sustainable forestry and timber industry experts to explore timber’s journey from forest to design, its impact on wellbeing, and its role in a sustainable future.

The event delved into timber’s emotional and sensory connection to nature, and its significance for our wellbeing and the planet’s future. David and the panel, who included Andrew Sharkey, Charlie Law and Lewis Marshall, covered timber sourcing, its influence on design, and the broader environmental impacts of timber selection.

Organised by Abodo Wood Ltd, Russwood, and Timber Development UK, the LFA discussions aligned with the Architects Registration Board’s 2025 core competency for Environmental Sustainability.

At David Morley Architects, David has brought together a team that have designed 500 projects winning over 100 awards, including Sustainable Practice of the Year and most Sustainable Building of the Year. As a regular judge for the Wood Awards, he advocates the use of timber due to its versatility as a material and sustainable contribution to projects.

A belief shared throughout the practice is that no splinter should go unused, from the gnarls of a tree that form the central structure of the The Look Out Education Centre in Hyde Park, completed for the Royal Parks charity in 2011; to the components of glulam beams at King’s College School Sports Centre and Swimming Pool, completed in 2019; to the timber furniture generously used at The Maplethorpe Building, St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, completed back in 2000.

Thank you to Janelle Wynyard from Abodo Wood and to all of the panelists who encouraged the team to delve further into their relationship with timber, how we specify it at the practice, its challenges and its many opportunities.

If timber could talk, what would it say?

People feel good around me. Don’t let a single splinter go to waste. Build your spaces with me. Sit on me. Play on me. Use me when I am young or old, hidden or showcased. Treat me. Plant more of me…

Full details of the panel:
• Andrew Sharkey, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC UK)
• Charlie Law, Sustainable Construction Solutions, TDUK
• Lewis Marshall, UK Area Manager, Abodo
• David Morley, Partner, David Morley Architects