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    With Ashwells, we turn piers and jetties slated for destruction into seating.

    In 1864, the Thames Conservancy Board ordered the construction of a jetty at Newcastle Wharf. She was built as part of a greater expansion into the Thames, at the height of the Victorian era of innovation. This was the same year that saw Charing Cross open, the launching of the oldest surviving clipper, and the legalisation of overarm bowling in cricket.

    Since then, she has stood sentinel. Sun has eaten away at her, and so has water, rain, and fog, weathering the wood that was brought, lovingly and with intention, from abroad.

    Now, thanks to Ashwells Timber and their reclamation projects, she stands at a new location: just a bit down the river from where she was originally built, tended to by the same skilled craftspeople that maintain the Cutty Sark, one of the fastest tea clippers ever built in the UK. In partnership with Constructex, Ashwells took the weather-damaged timber, machined it, and created something new, and beautiful, that will stand for many more years to come.

    Repurposing the unpurposable

    Around the UK, in jetties, docks, and historical houses, there is timber worth its weight in gold. This timber has normally stood in place for centuries, having been imported from tropical locations when these places were still on blueprint. Decades of wind and weather have ravaged the surface of the timber but this damage is only skin deep. At the heart of Ashwell’s mission is the ability to repurpose the wood that’s still got decades of alternative use in it.

    The process starts with engineering. A marine civil engineer, working on a project that involves the removal of timber, contacts Ashwells to see if any of the material is still usable. Sometimes, the call comes from the Thames, sometimes from around the coast, and sometimes from demolition projects, but they will all lead to the same outcome: a person from Ashwells goes to survey the timber, identify which species it comes from, and assess how suitable it is for repurpose. Sometimes, the timber is in a condition that allows it to be machined and reused immediately on that same project, but this takes place later, once the timber arrives at Ashwells mill yard.

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    None of the timber that is reclaimed is machined until there’s a confirmed request for use. This helps minimise waste cuts, and preserve the majority of the timber for use in viable projects.

    Ashwells has reclaimed timber from all around the UK: pitch pine from Newcastle jetty, greenheart from the banks of the River Thames, Jarrah from the Olympic Park. These are strong, solid timbers that are resistant to insect attacks and weather, and have come from locations as far as West Africa and Australia. Newly-milled, they have a lovely, interlocking grain, and tend to run the spectrum of colours, from a deep, rich brown to a dappled gold.

    New, they are expensive. Reclaimed, they are priceless for their long, textured existence and hard-won acclimation.

    The problems with reclaiming timber

    Timber is an organic material. While it has some natural weathering properties, the nature of all organic materials is that years of exposure to the elements will take its toll on them – and it won’t be immediately visible.

    Every timber that Ashwells collects is audited, becomes FSC-certified, and is then placed in stock. Once an order has been placed, this timber is taken from the stock, and machined into the required size and shape.

    Sometimes, defects become present then: cracks along the grain, or insect damage that has gone too deep to repair or restore. Sometimes, it’s something less dire: metal bolts that have been in place for years, and have rusted into a part of the overall timber, which can nevertheless take time to remove.

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    Why use reclaimed timber

    The environmental cost of sourcing, milling, cutting, and then exporting tropical hardwood to the UK is substantial.

    It’s estimated that there will be an 88% growth in industrial wood harvesting, which would require that we harvest about 600 million hectares of secondary forests and 200 additional million hectares of existing plantations. Exporting that wood into the UK then also produces high carbon emissions, and reduces the overall efficacy of its native woodland to reduce the damage of climate change.

    Both at Ashwells and at Furnitubes, there is an understanding that we need to reduce our reliance on dwindling resources. Our planet can recover from the overconsumption of its natural beauty, and we are a step towards that better future.

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    The tropical hardwood that Ashwells uses is sourced from around the UK, from places that no longer have use for it. It has grown slowly, with a dense, tight-packed grain that allowed it to withstand the tropical environment of its place of creation. This process took hundreds of years, and then it was taken from that place, and brought to the UK, building the landmarks of a growing country.

    Tropical hardwood of that age, and that calibre, can have a second, third, and even fourth life, and we owe it to ourselves, the planet, and the places we love to give it that new lease, as often as the timber can withstand.

    Are you reading this somewhere lovely, on a bench that was once a galleon?

    This is the beginning of its new story.

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