The second ProTimber Industry Summit took place at Timber Expo and saw a wide range of timber industry leaders focus discussions on the opportunities ahead for the timber sector in developing a clear and robust response to the UK Government's Construction Strategy 2025.
The Summit was boosted by cross timber industry trade association support from BWF, CONFOR, TDCA, TIMCON, TRA, TRADA, TTF, UKSIPS, UKTFA (now the Structural Timber Association) Wood for Good, WPA, WWA and WPIF under the framework of the Timber Accord - an agreement between the timber trade associations to work together on key industry themes.
Under the headline banner of ‘one vision one voice' discussions focused on how best to boost three key areas - smart construction and digital design, low carbon and sustainable construction and improved trade performance.
Including some lively audience debate, the Summit had key speakers from the BWF, Timber Trade Federation and TRADA and aimed to identify and agree what steps are needed to respond positively and collectively to the identified key areas and what the timber industry can do to reinforce and grow its position as the leading renewable construction material.
Mark Wakeford, Managing Director of Stepnalls and advisor on the development of the Construction Strategy introduced ProTimber saying: "Business and the construction industry is changing so fast that a co-ordinated response is required by the timber sector especially as sustainability issues and the cost of energy keeps rising, the whole industry needs to act together to cope as there is a danger that the UK will lose out to the many talented overseas operators and companies."
The continual rise of BIM is providing a wealth of challenges but enormous opportunities. Concern was expressed by timber product manufacturers that BIM libraries are ‘popping up everywhere' and it was confusing to know how best to engage. The Wood First Plus initiative was much supported by participants in the room as an open free focus for BIM data for timber products. For it to work best BIM must be used as a vehicle for collaboration before onsite work begins so the designer, contractor and engineer can get everything technically correct from the development phase onwards.
"We should not underestimate the importance of the construction strategy," said John White, Chief Executive of the TTF. "BIM and design data gives users the ability to spot technical problems early and provide a clearly defined route to the end-user's needs on the right product for the application they require. But BIM is a means to an end, not an end in itself, so we must keep building on improving skills, producing better design data for BIM libraries and a better understanding on how building components are put together. That is smart construction."
With so much work in the construction market being in repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) - estimated to be 90% - a smart agenda to low carbon design and delivery is essential to make timber products and systems be an integral part of the green building mix.
Much talk surrounded the energy consumption of buildings and product development plus how questions of embodied energy should be tackled. Here huge in-roads are being made into lifecycle analysis and the increased communication of data through initiatives such as Wood for Good's Wood First Plus. Performance data on products such as timber windows and doors can be communicated clearly, demonstrating where and how customers can save money over the lifetime of the product, save CO2 and reduce time on the building site.
When talk turned to improving trade the speakers and audience were in agreement that a better balance needs to be struck between import and export. The timber industry is in an exciting place and will become even more appealing with increased investment in machinery, equipment, software and improved skills development.
"The window sector has seen a 34% growth in imports from 2007-2012," said Iain Mcllwee, Chief Executive of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF). "The timber industry is energetic and constantly moving but we need to find a rhythm to that so that its behaviour and culture takes better advantage of the huge opportunities available."
This will be helped by programmes such as Grown in Britain that will help kickstart more market development for homegrown timber and provide more raw material for UK plc. In turn this will create a momentum for demand driving forward new skills and market development - particularly in engineered timber products where the potential for growth is exceptional.
"Improving the energy consumption of existing non-domestic buildings is a key area in the government's Construction Strategy 2025, said Rupert Scott, Marketing and Membership Manager for TRADA. "It also plays into the need for increasing rental/property values as developers consider the re-use of buildings such as offices and retail space for use as dwellings for example. Where timber can match other materials in terms of a complete service including design, manufacture, installation and even maintenance it will be well placed to grow market share in this sector, given its aesthetic appeal and environmental credentials."
Through continued collaboration and meaningful leadership, the Accord members (and industry associations individually) will be working together to prove that timber has enormous low carbon benefits, a raft of dynamic high performance products and via improved BIM data will contribute in helping make the UK Government's Construction Strategy 2025 commitments a reality.
