On 1st March the 2011 InnovaWood Prize was awarded at the European Forestry House in Brussels.

The first InnovaWood Prize has been won by Coed Cymru for their project: “Tŷ Unnos: Sustainable Housing from Sitka Spruce”. The project introduced an innovative sustainable housing solution which meets the twin aims of affordable housing and low carbon construction objectives.

The Tŷ Unnos project converts locally grown Sitka spruce, a high volume low value crop, into a high value whole house system that is able to compete in the housing market. This has been achieved by the use of innovative timber engineering of box and ladder beams. The use of home grown and widely available timber has enabled a new supply chain to be introduced to the forest and wood processing sector in Wales, bringing economic and other benefits to the rural economy. The Ty Unnos Modular system uses sustainable timber and is designed to reduce site, labour and waste costs whilst improving thermal performance.

The InnovaWood Prize provides recognition for excellence in a European Forest-Wood-Furniture Chain Innovation and Technology Transfer project; it is awarded to an organization or a project consortium. This year was the first time that this award has been given. The judges were selected from CEI-Bois, FTP and COST, under the banner of the InnovaWood Network’s Knowledge Transfer Division.

The Jury appreciated the Tŷ Unnos approach because it illustrates how collaborative working between woodland and forest management organisations, academia, timber experts and design as well as other professionals can bring benefits to the forest and wood industries.

The InnovaWood Prize award includes a 1 year Special Service Package membership

More information on the award winner can be found at: www.coedcymru.org.uk