Take a look at some of the most iconic buildings and infrastucture projects around – One Canada Square, Crossrail and The Shard.
They are fantastic feats of engineering, but it is the unsung hero of the timber trade that is formwork plywood that helped make them possible.
Industry stalwart and undisputed king of formwork plywood Pourform-107, made by Savona in Canada, helped build One Canada Square and the redevelopment of Twickenham Stadium, while Tulsa Form – made in Chile – was used in the "Walkie Talkie" build in London.
Despite rumours of some cashflow issues in the large building contractor sector, the business has been fairly buoyant in recent times.
Leading formwork plywood importer Wood International Agency testifies to the growth. "In the last 18 months to two years we have doubled our work in concrete plywood and we’re now not far off pre-2007 levels," said Wood International’s Alan Lamont.
"We see more projects in London."
The company is the UK agent for Pourform-107 and Tulsa Form MDO panels.
The UK & US are very big users of MDO plywood, with phenolic film-faced product big in the rest of the world.
Other products imported by the UK include Finnish plywood (WISA-Form MDO), Brazilian (Plastform MDO & Sudati), Chilean (Arauco) and another Canadian manufacturer Richply’s Ultraform MDO. Chinese phenolic film-faced product is also being offered, as well as traditional good one-side BCX product.
Good technical information, tight tolerances, good quality sanding and bonding, and a good core are all key components for a successful performing concrete forming panel in the market.
A large range of timber companies are suplying the product to market and it is impossible to name all of them, but in addition to Wood International Agency, the likes of Firwood Timber & Plywood, Ocean Timber, South London Timber and Arnold Laver are among those having made it a large part of their business.
German formwork scaffolding system manufacturer Peri is also expanding its influence in the UK. It has a UK representative and has added the formwork plywood to its core offering, making it a one-stop- shop for contractors.
One trader, Mike Perry of Standon Ltd, pointed out that the market was very good for FSC products.
"On most construction sites, contractors will not use anything but FSC-certified product, especially big firms like Carillion and Skansa."
One issue suppliers have to deal with is when contractors experience problems with the finish left on the concrete.
"If contractors do not follow site practice they will have problems," a supplier said. "Nine out of 10 issues are poor working practices on site."
"A lot of the architects are going for the ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) concrete to gain BREEAM points. It’s becoming more and more common but it can make the concrete more alkaline and can eat away at the MDO on the formwork panel.
"This is catching a lot of importers and contractors out because they are budgeting for 8-10 re-uses of the panels and they are getting less re-uses."
Meanwhile, currency movements have had an impact on market dynamics. The North American economic upturn and dollar currency movements have caused an increase in glue and MDO prices for Canadian manufacturers, with a resultant increase in product prices in the past 12 months.
And the weakening of price of South American board – in the space of just two months from February to April, the Brazilian Real tumbled against the dollar from BRL2.7 to BRL3.1. – makes their product more competitive in the UK, with the likes of Plastform coming into the UK.
Plastform is made from elliotti pine, while Tulsa Form from Chile is made using radiata pine and is a main player in the UK market.
Arnold Laver has seen its formwork panel business grow strongly and is today one of the biggest suppliers of the product in the UK.
The company sat on the London Olympics timber supply panel to supply formwork materials to the Olympic site, eventually supplying over 50% of all formwork timber and plywood there. It is currently a major supplier to the Crossrail project.
Lavers director Stan Barrow said Crossrail is very different to the Olympics project with product having to be delivered at a myriad of different locations instead of one central site.
Mr Barrow said the company’s FSC and PEFC cerification on all its formwork products was important to be able to supply the largest contractors such as Kier and Skansa.
The Pourform brand has been very much regarded as the gold standard in the sector for decades, to the extent it has been treated as a generic name, much in the same way as Hoover
"The new guys in the building trade will go for an MDO product and ask for Pourform but we have to work out what they actually want," said one trader.
"Many of the guys used to buying Pourform will not change product. The cost of the plywood is minuscule in terms of the concrete and if they get it wrong the cost of replacing a concrete wall costs a fortune."
