The UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) has welcomed the launch of English Partnerships' latest competition, the Carbon Challenge. Stewart Dalgarno, Chairman of the UKTFA, said: 'Timber frame manufacturers are expecting a lot of calls from housebuilders who will want to enter the Carbon Challenge. Both public and private sector developers aiming to meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes will gain a real, cost-neutral boost by using timber frame construction.

We also know that it's both commercially and technically feasible to reach Levels 5 and 6 of the Code using timber frame in volume housebuilding - the proof will be put on display at BRE's Offsite 07 exhibition in June.

'Of course it's possible to achieve energy and water efficient new homes without using timber.

But it seems completely daft that such homes should be built using other, more polluting materials that have such a high environmental impact.

Timber has the lowest carbon cost of any mainstream building material, even allowing for transport.

In contrast, the impact of extracting, refining, processing and manufacture of other building materials like concrete and steel is incredibly high, accounting for more than 10% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions.

'The carbon dioxide emissions from a single timber frame three bed detached home are 16.5% less than its brick and block equivalent, and new research shows that it is possible to achieve up to 86% reduction in greenhouse gases simply by increasing the amount of timber specified in buildings*.

'We urge English Partnerships and the other judges in this Carbon Challenge to give greater recognition to truly sustainable building products and to highlight their use in exemplar developments, so that the learning can be shared across the whole housebuilding industry.

In this way, we believe high quality, low and zero carbon homes can become a mainstream reality well before 2016'.