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Designing & Building with FSC:

Designing & Building with FSC Guide

D&B LogoForest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Forest Products Solutions Complete New Guide:  Designing & Building with FSC

This New Guide Will Help Architects, Builders and Designers Utilize and Source Forest Products from Sustainable Forests

Washington, DC, June 27, 2005- The Forest Stewardship Council-US (FSC-US) in partnership with Forest Products Solutions has completed Designing & Building with FSC, a training guide for architects, specifiers, and other building professionals.  The guide was developed to offer professionals a single source to learn about, specify, build and account for the use of FSC-certified products. 

Michael Washburn, Vice President of Forestry and Marketing for FSC-US stated, "FSC's new Designing and Building with FSC guide, developed with the help of Forest Products Solutions, Inc, and input from a number of our companies and partners, is the leading contemporary guide for architects and builders interested in building with sustainable wood products. The guide makes it easy to specify, source and use products certified under the world's leading forest management and chain-of-custody system."

Designing & Building with FSC starts with an introduction by William McDonough, a key leader of the "greenbuilding"movement, and renowned scientist Dr. Jerry Franklin.  They state that, "Designing and Building with FSC connects the FSC certified forest products industry to the design and building industry, for the mutually recognized goal of improving forest management through responsible purchasing,"and continue on to say that the guide "is a tool to assist you in understanding the issues surrounding forestry today, and how as part of the green building community you can use your purchases to drive positive change in our forests."The guide continues with in-depth information about why forest certification and FSC are important to the global forest products marketplace.

The ‘Specifying, Building and Accounting FSC Use'chapter outlines a project timeline and offers steps that should be taken to secure FSC products.  This step-by-step guide will result in solid specifications that will educate general and sub-contractors about the project's goals regarding use of FSC products.  Educating project team members is essential to ensure that the project's environmental or green building goals are met.

According to Terry Campbell of Forest Products Solutions, "in the many years that I have worked to match building projects with FSC-certified products I have found that specifiers are challenged by a lack of education.  Many professionals want to know why forest certification is important, how to obtain FSC products, which companies manufacture FSC-certified products, and learn from other projects that have used FSC products.  Designing & Building with FSC answers many of those questions and as a resource it will position your project team to succeed with FSC."

A proven method for professional learning involves the use of case studies; Designing and Building makes use of this method through case studies about projects that were successful in the use of FSC-certified wood products.  The lessons learned, both good and bad, could help steer future projects away from costly delays or change orders.  The ‘Case Studies' chapter examines three different building types, with different owners in different geographic areas of the country.  These case studies will inform future projects about what to look for and how to ensure that FSC-certified products are used and accounted for.

"Case studies provide design and construction professionals with an inside look at decisions and processes that were used by other projects, correctly or incorrectly, in an effort to obtain FSC-certified wood,"Campbell said.  "It was important that we choose three very different projects in separate parts of the country to show how widespread the demand and supply is for FSC products.”

Brian McLeod, President of Panel Source International, said, "I strongly believe FSC is the only independent and credible forest products certification system in the world and this guide will be a valuable tool for anyone interested in designing with FSC materials or needing quick answers on sources for FSC-certified products in North America."

Finally, Designing & Building with FSC concludes with several resources that design and construction professionals can use to garner a better understanding of forest certification, where to find FSC-certified products, and green building.

Paul Davis, Sr. Marketing Analyst for Columbia Forest Products, said, "the Designing and Building with FSC training guide is the perfect tool to support our efforts to educate our customers about Columbia's FSC-certified products."

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