Summary
• Cygnum Timber Frame is based in Ireland but 90-95% of its business is in the UK.
• It employs its own structural engineers and timber frame erectors.
• It is active in the school and supermarket building sectors.
• It is about to start manufacturing its own cellulose insulation.

Drive through any county in the Republic of Ireland and you’ll witness the very tangible results of the economic downturn. New housing estates that sprang up at the tail end of the years of the Celtic Tiger lie empty. It’s not just that people have moved out – they never moved in, earning the developments the chilling moniker “ghost estates”.

The Irish timber frame sector had its fair share of casualties but one company that has survived is Cygnum Timber Frame Ltd.

“Shutting up shop was never of interest to us,” said managing director John Desmond. “We decided to retain our DNA – the key people who had built the business and the skill sets that went with it – and to identify markets that could use and capitalise on those skills.”

The market it turned to was just across the Irish Sea and now 90-95% of Cygnum’s business is in the UK.

Cygnum began life in the mid-1990s when Mr Desmond and the principals of Palfab Ltd were looking for ways to add value to the sawmiller’s product. At that point timber frame was a “peripheral” construction method but was growing in popularity at the bespoke, top end of the market.

“We focused on that part of the market, which required a significant investment in technical expertise from the beginning,” said Mr Desmond, adding that this proficiency has paid dividends in recent years.

By the late 1990s Cygnum had also entered “the bread and butter market of spec building” and business grew steadily, with the portfolio including volume and bespoke houses and commercial developments. Around 40 timber frame units were produced per week.

In 2005 the company moved from its Palfab premises into a purpose-built factory and invested in state-of-the-art automated production. Turnover hit £24m and employment figures approached 200.

Product development and keeping ahead of the competition were key to the company’s growing success. “When we entered the market the standard stud thickness for an external wall was 89mm, so we differentiated ourselves by offering a 140mm stud,” said Mr Desmond. “That worked well but other timber framers followed suit, so we increased our wall thickness to 200mm and branded it Thermal200. It was particularly popular in the upper end of the market.”

Suffolk sales office

By 2007 the slowdown was registering on Cygnum’s radar but instead of hunkering down to ride out the storm the decision was made to “spread our wings” and a sales office was established in Stowmarket in Suffolk.

That proved to be the right decision as, although production is now 25-30% of pre-downturn output, its value is higher.

“Maybe it was because we didn’t have anything to compare it with but we found UK trade quite good in 2008/09 and even in 2010. Our offering has been very well received.”

One of Cygnum’s early projects was a multi-storey apartment development in St Albans for Nicholas King Homes. After completing the first block, the remaining seven were contracted to Cygnum, providing it with an excellent platform from which to market its business.

Mr Desmond attributes this success largely to the technical expertise he was so keen to hang on to. “We have our own directly employed [structural] engineers who can engage with our clients’ engineers pre-contract. Our work in the UK has demanded more technical expertise than your average three-bed semi-detached market and we’ve found that being able to use our engineers ‘up front’ has made it easier to pick up business.”

Another advantage is that Cygnum employs its own site erection crews. “Our crews have direct access to the people who designed and engineered the building. They have a detailed understanding of how to interpret drawings, so when they’re dealing with the client on site they really are ambassadors for the business.”

While the residential market has contracted, a refocus on specialist construction, such as schools, has proved lucrative.

Last year the company worked with Architype architects and Thomas Vale Construction on a Passivhaus school in Wolverhampton and is currently on site at an Architype school in Caerphilly, this time with Kier Construction.

And Tesco used Cygnum’s newly-developed Smart-Panel system for a store in Newtownards in Northern Ireland last year. Designed for use in commercial and retail construction, Smart-Panel comprises long span (up to 12m) fully-insulated closed wall and roof panels. These can be used as infill panels or as a completely integrated structure, eliminating the need for a structural frame. Exterior timber cladding can be factory fitted.

Product developments

Other recent product developments have included the Precision closed panel range, which complements the Thermal open panel range. Part of the mix is Precision 300, a twin wall system that reduces cold bridging and enables the developer to vary the wall thickness and, thus, the U-value.

Cygnum is also embracing glulam construction – “an intrinsic part of the school structures we’re building” – and cross-laminated timber, which it sources from Austria, Germany and Scandinavia. “We did a school in London with Wates last year that went very well and we’re in discussion on quite a few other CLT projects,” said Mr Desmond.

Also on the near horizon is the manufacture of its own cellulose insulation from locally sourced waste paper. The technology, which is being commissioned at the moment, will take haulage costs out of the process and reduce the company’s carbon footprint, said Mr Desmond.

Although the UK now accounts for the lion’s share of Cygnum’s production, the company has “no appetite” to replicate its Macroom manufacturing facility. “What we have here allows us to be competitive in the UK,” said Mr Desmond. “Initially we were concerned about the additional challenge of servicing sites that involved a car ferry but we just tightened up our procedures and it hasn’t proved to be a problem. It’s gone very well.”