The UK timber industry was advised to up its game in the development of engineered wood products or lose increasing market share to the Continent at The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) conference at the Building Centre in London on October 11.

Architect John Pringle of Pringle Richards Sharratt was asked by TTF members, during an industry panel question and answer session, why some of the award-winning timber building projects he outlined in his presentation featured timber and wood products from Europe rather than the UK.

“The industry on the Continent is more developed on how to engineer wood and use it. They have some very enthusiastic engineers who will travel with you to make it into a building,” he said, adding that in the UK there were fewer people turning wood into useful products.

“There has been very little investment in the UK because we haven’t generated the wealth to invest – and we need to invest in product development,” explained Alan Wheat of BSW Timber, who sat on the TTF’s industry panel

The advice came at the end of a conference, titled “The Customer is Always Right?”, which saw a diverse array of speakers give their view on a variety of subjects from marketing to banking.

Around 60 delegates attended the event, hosted by author and mentor on sales and entrepreneurship, Mike Southon.

Anticipating needs

TTF president Neil Donaldson said the industry needed to anticipate its customers’ needs better.

“The market is tough and supply is tight just now, with prices reflecting this situation,” he said. “Wood is in short supply… this week in my company we ran out of 50x100s, our lifeblood.”

He said the industry must see the situation as an opportunity to get the correct return for what is now a structurally engineered, high value product.

“The trick must be to sustain a level of value, to get the supply/demand relationship more in harmony and continue to promote one of God’s truly fantastic natural resources to our customers,” he said.

Core activity

Presenting the TTF’s business plan, chief executive John White said communication would be at the core of activity. The Federation also intends to make members achieve higher environmental standards, increase its political work and develop its technical services.

He said lack of consolidation in the industry created problems.

“We have all sorts of organisations representing different things, which means the TTF hasn’t answered the needs of parts of the industry. Couldn’t the representation in this industry be better?”

He said the TTF’s mission was “Growing the Use of Wood”, with the aim of making wood the first choice building material for construction and manufacturing by 2017.

To achieve this, the TTF will grow its services, review subscriptions, revamp its website, increase political activity and market the industry through a communications campaign.

The Code of Practice will also be strengthened and a relationship manager could be employed to work in this area.

Andrew Kinsey, group environmental manager at Bovis Lend Lease, outlined to members how timber is procured for use on sites – and the pitfalls that can occur.

“We have lots of trade contractors on a project, some of which will use timber,” he said.

“It is an issue for us, procuring sustainable timber as some 40% of our contracts a year are for some sort of government body, so we need to comply with CPET policies.”

He said a contractor could be required to provide evidence of the timber’s credentials on a project up to six years after the development had been completed – and if they could not provide the proof, they could be required to replace the timber.

He said the company ran training awareness workshops on procurement, and added: “If we get it wrong then we get bad publicity so we try and keep good relationships with Greenpeace.”

Motor industry model

Kingspan Group plc has used the motor industry as a model for much of the development of its TEK building system, according to director Tom Paul. He detailed the company’s success in the government’s SIXTYK competition and said the group was investing £150m in modern methods of construction (MMC).

“The days of taking a bunch of 4x2s to site are over,” he said, adding that Kingspan Century intended to set up a TEK Building System manufacturing operation in the UK.

He said the SIXTYK competition had been very demanding. “It is about joined-up thinking. In 15 months we have gone from being on the starting grid to winning more sites than the other guys.

“We have developed over 60 house types and can go up to four storeys in timber. Forty per cent of UK housing is two-storey, two-bed terrace.”

Mr Paul also said that if the company got involved in the 2012 Olympic Village it could bring material in by rail or water – or even build a manufacturing facility on site. “The three big words are design, design, design, plus flexibility,” he said, adding that the company spent a lot of time in Japan carrying out research on and learning from its car and housebuilding markets.

Arnold Laver‘s group purchasing director Pat Burke had a simple message for delegates – give customers what they want. “We need to listen to our customers, and something we should consider is what the timber trade is not doing and what others are doing successfully,” he said.

Mr Burke said that, as a timber merchant, Arnold Laver carried stock according to demand, amended its stock profiles for seasonal demand, operated summer and winter opening hours, developed new products and services and provided environmental assurances.

“We do all these things because we listen to our customers,” he said, and asked for the same from suppliers.

An explanation of Barclays Bank’s efforts to understand different UK industries was given by relationship director Howard Noye who has been tasked with identifying the timber industry’s needs. He said the bank was working closely with the TTF, which was helping it understand the issues involved, including certification.

Michael Ankers, chief executive of the Construction Products Association, said the construction industry was strong, although it may face some difficulties because of labour shortages.

Talking about construction procurement he said: “We have got to work in a more integrated away.”

He believes the 2012 Construction Commitments document published by the Strategic Forum of the Construction Industry Council will make a difference. “We are pressing hard to get this to be the basis for all construction activity in the future,” he said.

And he said, the drive towards sustainable construction was going to be the biggest change of all.

“The government may be leading the way because it is setting the standard, but I have been impressed by how some of the major developers are asking to know more about sustainability because their clients are asking them.”

Customer feedback

Kylie Minogue made an unlikely appearance at the conference – on a website, courtesy of marketing guru Peter Travis, chairman of Cdp-travissully. Talking about market forces or market failure, he said interactivity was needed to get customer feedback. “Not being able to justify an advertising spend is one of the worst things a company could do,” he said. He advised TTF members to use mobile phone and internet facilities – as had the lingerie company that used Ms Minogue on its website, resulting in hundreds of thousands of hits – and added: “Go back to your companies and challenge the way you are advertising, and demand accountability.”

Delegates were warned of pending interest rises by CBI principal economist Lai Wah Co who took a look at the UK economic outlook. The world economy, she said, was slowing, and this could have a dampening effect on the UK. And, she added, it was unlikely that consumer spending would stay at its current levels – but economic activity was still strong and growth would continue, with manufacturing output recovered from its 2005 downturn.