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young innovation

Case study - Forest of Avon Products and Norton Hill School

"I really like their ideas. There are quite a few things we have never thought of," said Jim O’Shaughnessy of Forest of Avon Products after hearing 10 students from Norton Hill School presented their budding ideas following their visit to the Forest of Avon Products shop and timber station.

The group visited Ashton Court on 25 February where the Forest of Avon Products is based. They toured around the woodlands, measured the “fattest” tree of the forest, visited the shop, learnt about how the timber is used to produce wooden products and generate energy, and how the woodlands is managed.

The students then had a chance to learn from one of the Co-op directors Nick Sneller on different kinds of timber and their uses, and gained hands on experience of woodwork techniques including log splitting, carving and shaving.

"It is a good day to learn about sustainability and the life cycle of these wood products, and get some hands-on experience in the timber station. We are working on ideas to develop the timber station and an awareness raising campaign so that more people can learn about the woodlands and the products of Forest of Avon," said year 8 students Edward Gribb and Josh Wyatt.

After the tour and the workshop sessions, the student started brainstorming ideas and presented them to their business partners – from launching traditional events such as treasure hunts and giving out small trees as gifts to promote the link between the woodlands and the wood products, to making use of the timber off cuts to make small mementos to raise sales and reduce waste. Another idea that impressed their partner was to develop a gallery at the present timber station with viewing windows to demonstrate the different stages of the production processes. The gallery will showcase the high quality craftsmanship and encourage the appreciation of the locally grown timber as an environmentally friendly and renewable resource.

"These are great new ideas, and are going to be very useful inputs for us in our future planning process," said O’Shaughnessy. "The Wood Products Co-op has been running for five years and its 50 members use locally grown and well-looked after timber to produce a wide range of products from charcoal to oak framed buildings. We would really like to hear the students’ vision and fresh ideas to help us develop the timber station and let more people know about our co-op business," he added.

Picture credit: Martin Chainey, RDA; & Denise Cheung Parker, Envolve