'Scotland's Forest and Timber Industries employ around 40,000 people and are worth £1.7bn to the economy, possessing significant growth potential'¹.

The planting and maintenance of our forests are vital to the timber supply chain and to achieve the Scottish Government's target of 25% land cover by forests in the second half of this century².'

Establishing new areas of planting, restocking and maintaining growing forests requires a high labour input which, when combined with increasing fuel and operating costs, creates very tight profit margins for businesses who undertake this type of work.

As part of its work to support the sector, Scottish Forest and Timber Technologies have developed tailor-made software which can be used to assist establishment and maintenance contractors with job costing and business planning.  The Planning and Costing Tool [PACT] is a simple-to-use spreadsheet which generates accurate prices for a wide variety of work - from restock planting to spraying and from 'day work' to fencing.  Designed to keep input to a bare minimum, it will quickly produce a whole range of critical data.

Wide interest from a number of contractors and forest managers was received during a series of workshops held across Scotland in March 2011.

Quote: 'I'm sure my foresters will promote the PACT approach to contractors and the use of the PACT Forum' - District Forest Management Forester, FES.

If you would like to receive a free copy of the PACT and accompanying guidance, please  contact:

Charlie Fulton:  charliefulton44@hotmail.com