The significance of the government’s Delivering Sustainable Communities summit in Manchester’s GMex this week was brought home to me when a stern security woman confiscated my cherished old Swiss Army penknife. The reason for her sensitivity was that the political big-hitters were queuing up to be associated with the event and the overall strategy for encouraging construction of more “sustainable” housing. Mr Blair himself did a tour of the exhibition, which featured latest examples of how to build low-cost, high energy efficiency and high quality homes. Deputy prime minister John Prescott, the driving force behind the sustainable communities initiative, was there too and chancellor Gordon Brown also pressed the flesh and made a speech.
The politicians inevitably indulged in a little showboating, but there was also clearly serious commitment to the sustainable construction strategy from government and local regeneration agencies. The latter were the other key exhibitors and laid out their bold plans for building tens of thousands of new houses, with the stress on eco-performance and use of offsite and other “modern methods of construction” (MMC).
Many believe that for the timber and timber frame industries this all adds up to a huge opportunity and they did put on a good show at the event. Several leading timber frame companies had impressive stands, and the UK Timber Frame Association, wood. for good, TRADA, British Woodworking Federation, Naturally Wood and the Woodland Initiative Network put on a joint “Wood Works” exhibit. TRADA’s frameCHECK operation also had a presence.
But there was still a feeling that the timber sector needs to do more to capitalise on this revolution in UK construction. “There’s a worry that, because timber is the default sustainable construction material, the industry hasn’t felt compelled to promote itself so strongly, while this fact has made steel and concrete industries market more aggressively,” said one exhibitor.
The good news is that neither regeneration agencies, nor many of the big developers, seem yet to be locked into one type of sustainable construction system. And even a spokesperson for Barratt, which has its own steel frame plant, said that the demand for MMC housing in the next 10 years would be big enough for potentially everyone to benefit. The key, it was felt, was for the timber sector to put itself forward and promote its construction solutions even more strongly to win its rightful share of the market.
