Durable, tough, long-lasting, resilient and hard-wearing are all words used to describe the performance of modified wood, a small but growing sector of the UK timber market that takes standard wood species such as pine, maple, and cedar and, by subjecting them to heat, impregnation or acetylation, changes their performance characteristics.
These changes can offer end users increased durability, stability, consistency and extended product life, with the added benefit of low maintenance. What’s more, they also tick all the right boxes when it comes to their environmental credentials.
And yet, despite the obvious advantages, and the influx of new brands (names like Kebony, Plato Wood and Lignia) to join more established players like Titan Wood’s Accoya, Osmose’s Indurite and Finnforest’s Thermowood, market growth has been modest at best. That, say manufacturers, is all about to change, with significant sales increases for several brands – and growing interest and awareness in the others.
Titan Wood, which makes Accoya in Holland, says that its two largest UK distributors have shown sales increases of more than 200% in May to July compared with the same period in 2008.
One of these, International Timber, puts the growth spurt down to durability and aesthetic reasons, plus people looking for a sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood.
Titan Wood now believes there are significant growth prospects for Accoya, taking market share not only from other species but also from steel, PVCu, aluminium and concrete.
“There’s an increasing desire to use wood rather than materials that have a larger carbon footprint,” said European marketing director Sylvie Froger, “yet inherent performance weaknesses of unmodified wood have limited its use. Accoya wood can meet the demand.”
High-performance applications
She said Accoya was already establishing itself at the high performance end and, with expected price increases and reduced availability of tropical hardwood species, its increasing price competitiveness would boost sales further. She acknowledged that Accoya was more expensive than most alternative timber species but that could be justified as it “performs better in durability, coatings lifetime, and cost-effectiveness”. She gave a recent example in Oslo where apartment owners were given the choice of replacement windows made from engineered redwood or Accoya.
“Although the cubic metre price of Accoya was considerably more, to the end customer this only represented a 12% increase in the cost of the window,” she said. “Given this price differential, when every apartment owner was presented with the facts about its far longer service life and reduced maintenance, 66 out of 68 chose Accoya, showing the premium is accepted by customers looking for performance and environmental credentials.”
New kid on the block, Kebony, uses a similar modification process, although here species such as maple, pine and beech are injected with a patented formula that includes furfuryl alcohol, a by-product of sugar cane production. Kebony only opened its factory in January, but has already been used in the UK for a Forestry Commission office in Inverness after the architects were briefed to build offices that were “highly sustainable and ideally using home-grown timber”.
Not that the product has been developed overnight – in fact, said director of marketing Jan Terje Nielaen, it’s taken 12 years to get Kebony to this point, including five years ago commissioning a pilot plant with annual capacity of around 2,500m³. “We’ve now started to take the brand into international markets, including showing the product at Ligna, as well as promoting Kebony as an alternative to teak in the shipbuilding sector,” he said.
Public bodies have been among the first buyers. “This is because Kebony’s technical qualities are a big factor, particularly when you have an exterior product that doesn’t require maintenance,” said Mr Nielaen. “This affords them real money savings.”
Although decking and cladding have been the main uses so far, tests are under way to use Kebony in window joinery and door frames. “We expect this to be a growth area,” said Mr Nielaen.
Turning up the heat
Finnforest is equally bullish about the prospects for its heat-modified Thermowood, volumes of which are again up on the previous year by over 50%, despite the recession. Warren Dudding, Finnforest’s head of marketing, said now that Thermowood was a brand in its own right, requests for technical meetings from architects had increased significantly. “Supported by its environmental credentials and very low – in some cases none at all – maintenance scheme, the product has very clear short-term as well as longer-term benefits,” he said.
This is evident in Belfast’s Titantic Quarter, the largest waterfront development in Europe. Thermowood was specified as an exterior cladding material for the balconies of the 474 apartments, as well as for decking within the communal Podium Garden – a growing area for the brand. And Mr Dudding is convinced that Thermowood’s environmental credentials are a key part of its growth. “The environmental benefits of Thermowood run from start through to finish, making this a highly attractive specification proposition for architects, developers and housebuilders,” he told TTJ.
And, he said, the fact that Thermowood was more expensive than standard softwood claddings was not an issue. “People are willing to pay the price over and above standard softwood claddings for a product that delivers on aesthetics, environmental and product performance,” he added.
Water-based system
In contrast to Thermowood, which modifies the wood using extreme heat, Osmose’s Indurite is a water-based system. The formulation contains a modified natural polysaccharide: put simply, it’s very similar to cellulose, which comprises the vast proportion of timber. Osmose Indurite technology has gone through some extensive development and market research in the US and Europe. In the UK, it was showcased at Ecobuild and has been on display at the Building Centre in London. Andy Hodge, director of marketing for Osmose Europe, confirmed that Osmose manufactured products were in the “final stages” of product testing and would soon be introduced into Europe as “a quality sustainable flooring manufactured from hardened plantation-grown softwood”. These will be available in several factory-finished colours and would be marketed as Indurawood Flooring.
Complementing hardwood
“We are working with a potential marketing partner who will support Osmose in launching the products to the specification market,” said Mr Hodge. “The aim is to complement traditional hardwood flooring, offering a densified sustainable softwood option.” While he said final market price had yet to be established, it was hoped that Indurawood flooring would be competitive to current quality hardwood flooring. “The test products have proven to be attractive and hard-wearing and will provide an alternative to specifiers who are looking for new options in the flooring market,” said Mr Hodge.
Other products looking to make headway in the UK market include Plato Wood from frake, marketed in the UK by Ecochoice, and stocked by Howarth Timber and Russwood, and Lignia, which is available in the UK and Ireland exclusively from Brooks Bros.
Plato Wood frake is claimed to be the only thermo-treated hardwood in the market which, said Ecochoice’s Mike Bekin, means that, alongside Plato’s usual wide boards (up to 200mm) and long lengths, “architects and contractors have access to a knot-free exotic timber, with enhanced stability and durability acquired in a process that is free from any chemicals”.
Mr Bekin said sales of Plato Wood frake were “stable”, given that Ecochoice targets the specifying market. “This ensures our stockists have a constant flow of enquiries and orders for an exclusive product,” he said. “We are in discussion with other potential distributors to take up the space left after the demise of Palgrave Brown.”
The product is mainly being used for cladding, although Mr Bekin said there had been some interest in Plato Wood spruce for decking and other civil engineering applications “since it is the modified wood with the highest durability class”.
Lignia raises profile
Meanwhile, in the UK, demand for Lignia from Fibre7 could be set to soar with the award-winning furniture company Aspace due to showcase its new range in the modified radiata pine later this year.
Lignia is already being used in Asia where Buildersmart plc is making it into flooring, worktops, mouldings and the decorative lining for its ALTI aluminium window and door system; and an announcement is expected on a distributor for Australia and Oceania.
“Mainstream marketing to date has been very modest as the focus has been on creating products and building a good distribution backbone for Lignia,” said Fibre7’s Paul Duncan. “Volumes are modest at present, but [we expect] significant growth internationally.”
Mr Duncan said Lignia offers several advantages. “It is a beautiful and durable product that offers a real alternative to traditional timber,” he said. “It is also available in large, long, knot- and defect-free sections which means you can create stunning products using full-length components.”
