AOC was constituted in 1989 as a Workers Co-operative. The impetus to start AOC came from a concern regarding the increasing exploitation of the rainforests and a desire to provide a market for English timber. We came across a niche supply of good quality curved oak logs. This led us to let our imagination run riot making structural oak designs with an emphasis on curves and natural shapes.
From the outset, the members of the Co-operative were keen on bespoke designs to suit individual customers and their needs whilst retaining the inherent features of the oak logs either formally or with a more rustic appeal.
We work for the private and public sector
We started our business with the aim of encouraging the use of under used timber in this country as a way to combat the destruction of virgin forests abroad. We discovered that only one in ten plantation oak trees in the UK were in demand and used effectively. Our aim has been to find inventive better uses for some of the others, to save them from use as chipboard or firewood. We pay a better price to foresters for relatively unwanted parts of their harvest.
By doing this we aim to encourage sustainable management of British oak plantations.
We only stock logs from sustainably managed woodlands. We buy our trees at stump and tag them with our unique tags. We can supply Forestry Commission Felling License numbers or management plan information and even Ordnance Survey Grid references relevant to our tag numbers. Some of our bandsawn oak is bought sawn from a sawmill. We are assured that it is British and legally felled to Forestry Commission regulations.
We support certification. Only top quality oak can afford the extra costs of FSC certification. We, by policy are finding a quality use for less valued parts of the harvest. We are in the lucky position to have a shorter and more transparent supply chain than most certified timber. More importantly, we consider that it is best for the environment to use an under used resource than it would be to compete to buy the prime planking quality log everyone wants, certified or not, while the rest of the oak harvest is burnt or chipped.
We appreciate the need to be planting new and regenerating older woodland. Through local conservation groups and customers, we aim to sponsor the planting of ten new trees for every one we have processed in the year.
Tree planting schemes have been carried out in conjunction with:
Coverdale Churches Committee
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
Forest of Burnely
Galgate Parish Council
Groundwork Rossendale
Grimewatch
Trees For Burnley
Woodland Trust
Yorkshire Dales National Park
Altham Oak and Carpentry is proud to have links with the following organisations:
| Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB) | British Woodworking Federation (BWF) |
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