Prado Museum Leads the Way for FSC Timber in Spanish Construction - April 25th, 2007

The extension of the Prado, Spain’s premier art museum, is the first major Spanish building project to include significant amounts of FSC certified timber.

The Rainforest Alliance verified the source of the timber used throughout the project and concluded that well over half came from sources certified by FSC. Forests certified as meeting the FSC’s standards are well managed and meet comprehensive environmental and social criteria.

In 2005 the Ministry of Culture introduced new requirements for the construction including a demand for certified sustainable timber to be used. Of the timber installed since that instruction, some 70 per cent came from FSC certified sources according to the Rainforest Alliance’s verification report.

The new building includes exhibition rooms, an assembly hall, conference room, a drawings gallery, restoration rooms and administrative offices. Solid oak flooring throughout the building, birch plywood and yellow pine used in floors, wall paneling and ceilings, door frames made in beech come from FSC certified sources.

According to the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood Regional Coordinator, David Hadley, UTE El Prado – a temporary union of Spain’s leading construction companies Dragados S.A. and Constructora San Jose S.A. which built the extension – has led the trend towards sustainable timber sourcing in Spain with this unique project.

David Hadley says: “This sends a strong signal to all major building projects in Spain, and Europe, that sourcing certified sustainable timber is not just possible it should be a basic requirement. We urge all Spanish public administrations, from national to municipal level, to introduce sustainable timber procurement policies to ensure all future public building projects require certified, sustainable timber and build on the great achievements of UTE El Prado.”

Source: Rainforest Alliance Press Release 18/04/07

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