TTJ: How has the market for roof battens been in the last 12 months?
Shaun Revill: It has been a very challenging year for businesses in general and the best that I thought SR Timber could hope for would be that growth was flat. However, we have seen small but positive growth in the volume of sales of timber roofing batten.
The strength of our supply chain has really come to the fore this year and has been an instrumental factor in what we consider to have been a good year – given all the challenges we’ve faced.
The relationship with our sawmill in the Baltics enabled us to secure raw materials for 2019 – which meant that we’ve had a consistent supply of batten throughout the year. This has been pivotal because some former customers returned to us after realising the lure of marginally cheaper batten wasn’t backed up with consistent supply – in some cases they were waiting up to four weeks for deliveries. This is no good to contractors who often need very quick turnarounds to get roofs completed.
TTJ: How do you think 2020 will shape up?
Jenni Forrest: “Whilst we saw sustained activity in construction in 2019, the ongoing Brexit uncertainty had a knock-on effect on building and investment decisions. Although the impact of Brexit is still unclear, the decisive start to 2020 has brought a more positive outlook for the construction sector.
There is still a huge demand for high quality new homes across the UK and this is a strong opportunity for the roofing battens market, as housebuilders look to boost output. Housing demand still outstrips supply and this trend seems set to continue, which will only be solved through either a response from private housebuilders, or through social housebuilding programmes.
Whilst the government’s commitment to boosting the number of new homes is very welcome, given the concerns raised in the recent Bartlett report, it is important that any initiatives focus on the quality, not just the volume of housing.
SR: We’re approaching 2020 in the same way as we went into 2019 – with the “keep calm and carry on” attitude. We have the certainty of leaving the EU, so at least we all know where we stand and hopefully now the UK economy can gear up for what happens next – whatever that may be.
In respect of the housing sector, any positive noises that the government makes on housebuilding are always very welcome, but we’re at the end of the supply chain, so we don’t always feel the immediate bounce benefits of any government statements or sound bytes. For us, the proof really will be in the pudding of seeing the positive impact of any actions by the government.
TTJ: Which construction sectors do you think the growth will come from?
JF: It looks likely that the most construction growth will come from private and affordable housing, as well as education and healthcare.
SR: We typically deal with merchants and roofing contractors – which means we don’t always get visibility directly with housebuilders. Therefore we only get anecdotal information about how our batten is used but we’re confident that growth will come from all sectors – with the exception of commercial for us because we supply batten that is used on pitched roofs and the vast majority of these are houses.
TTJ: Are there any regulatory changes to report? Will brexit lead to any confusion regarding standards?
JF: There are no regulatory changes to report and Brexit shouldn’t lead to any confusion about standards. However, aside from this, there are ongoing concerns that not all roofing battens actually meet the strict requirements of BS 5534:2014. This is a serious issue, given that they can be used as a foothold and are a structural and load bearing element.
Therefore, we hope there will be further scrutiny over the quality and grading processes of roofing battens in 2020. Our JB Red battens are machine graded and BBA certified to give peace of mind that they are fully compliant.
We have held the BBA accreditation since 2012 and we are audited twice a year to ensure the continuing and consistent high quality of our battens. Despite the introduction of stricter grading requirements as part of BS 5534, there is ongoing concern that there are still significant quality differences between battens. This means that, as well as BS 5534 compliance, it is increasingly important to be able to provide third party assurance of batten quality to customers in the roofing and building trades.
The BBA accreditation is stamped on every batten, reassuring specifiers, architects, contractors and merchants that they can rely on JB Red to not only be BS 5534 compliant, but also provide them with extremely high manufacturing standards.
SR: BS 5534 was the game-changer for our industry when it came in back in 2014 because it set the standard for the installation of new build pitched roofs, including vertical cladding, and for normal re-roofing work, including repairs, using slates, tiles, shingles and shakes and their associated components. This was updated a couple of years ago with BS 5534:2014+A2:2018 – but there’s been nothing since then of any note.
This has become a well-established standard and I don’t envisage that Brexit will impact directly on the standard itself. However, what has concerned us since it was introduced – and will no doubt continue to trouble us after Brexit – is the influx into the UK of poor-quality batten because of the lack of policing of the standard.
The standard came in for a reason and responsible manufacturers produce batten that is compliant with the standard, but we’ve seen an influx of batten come into the UK that we know doesn’t meet the standard.
This is wrong and it’s important that industry – including bodies such as the National House-Building Council (NHBC) and the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) – keep the correct standards firmly in focus for the sake and benefit of the housebuilding industry.
Even though we’re compliant, we still set higher standards for ourselves which is why we partner with BM TRADA to audit our batten and we carry the Q-Mark. It’s a belt and braces approach, but it works for us.
TTJ: Are there any concerns regarding raw material supply?
SR: As mentioned, we have a strong and robust supply chain that starts in the forests of the Baltics, through the sawmill, to the ships that bring it to the UK and finally to the hauliers who get it to site so it can be fixed to the roof. These relationships mean that we get in early to secure raw materials, as we’ve already done for 2020. This means we can offer customers the security that there won’t be an interruption of supply.
Stockpiling was an issue in 2019 ahead of the original date for Brexit in March. The problem then was that a lot of batten was either obviously poor quality or was masquerading as compliant – which is very worrying.
As mentioned, substandard batten remains a concern that the industry should stand together on.
TTJ: Have you made any investments recently – are any planned for 2020?
JF: We have significantly increased stock levels to ensure continuity of supply to our customers throughout the Brexit process. We are also constantly investing in our state-of-the-art Goldeneye scanner to ensure the highest degree of accuracy and quality standards for our JB Red batten.
SR: The biggest investment SR Timber makes, and continues to make, is in our stock holding levels.
We pride ourselves on being able to deliver batten within 48-72 hours to sites across the UK. This means we always have a consistent flow of materials in production, on the water heading for the UK or readily available at our ports around the UK.
This level of commitment extends beyond the standard range of batten. We don’t just keep the standard dimensions of 25x38mm and 25x50mm in stock, we also have a good supply of other timber products that are relevant to roofing such as counter-battens, arris rail and wood mop roll, so we are a onestop- shop for all roofing timber products.
The other key investment we made last year was in people. As well as creating a new role for a new national account manager, we appointed a trading manager who is responsible for the care of the stock we have in the UK.
We have increased the number of visits to ports across the UK where our stock is housed with more quality checks.
