Precise figures on the cladding market in the UK may be thin on the ground but that doesn’t disguise the fact that the sector is enjoying good levels of business and seeing promising take-up of new products.
The last major market analysis of the sector by the Timber Decking & Cladding Association (TDCA) was in 2007, at which time the total UK market was estimated to be worth around £30m a year, equating to 1.6 million m² of cladding. At that point the TDCA forecast growth to £75m by 2015 and £100m by 2020.
Of course, in the intervening period the UK has experienced the worst recession in (almost) living memory, which no doubt will have skewed those predictions so with markets now on a steep upward trajectory the time is right to carry out more research.
"We are about to conduct a market survey," said Janet Sycamore, director of the TDCA. "This will be done within the confines of the TDCA and all information supplied will be treated in the strictest of confidence," she continued. "We aim to estimate the market size for decking and cladding and find out how it is structured with regard to material types. Any manufacturer that participates will have access to the results free of charge and anyone who doesn’t participate will be able to buy the data."
The survey is likely to make good reading. Timbmet, for example, reports sales of cladding in the April-June quarter up 30% in value on the previous year. Howarth Timber quotes a 10% year-on-year increase in cladding sales and shakes and shingles specialist John Brash says that while sales of shingles are almost identical to 2013, shakes sales have rocketed up by 140% – albeit from a very low level.
Latham’s cladding success can be extrapolated from its sales of western red cedar (WRC).
"Cedar is still the dominant timber [for cladding]," said Richard Mosson, Lathams’ group product champion for cladding. "If we compare WRC sales in the first six months of this year to last year we’re probably about 70% up. If we follow the same pattern this year we could see phenomenal growth."
Lathams has applied a special focus to its cladding products and reports a lot of "activity" from its merchant customers. Timbmet’s cladding sales are split between its merchant customers and end users and commercial director Sean O’Sullivan estimates that 80% of its cladding is destined for commercial projects.
However, as housebuilding continues on its road to recovery more architects and developers are starting to incorporate cladding into their designs, said Neale Brewster, Howarth’s marketing and product development manager.
"We’ve started to get some decent enquiries from some of the regional and national housebuilders," he said.
"More new build developments are opting for timber cladding systems," agreed Mr O’Sullivan. "The improvement in the performance of timber cladding over the last few years, plus the aesthetic appeal and the multitude of available finishes is driving this."
Shingles are still a relatively new product on the market but are being used with increasing frequency in residential and self-build projects, said Christian Brash, managing director of John Brash.
And, added Mr Brash, the company’s CPD on shingles is already pre-booked for the rest of the year.
"The main change as far as we can see is in the use of cedar shingles for social housing," he said. "Over the last few years there have been many projects using shingles as both cladding or cladding and roofing, including incorporating solar panels."
Softwood still dominates hardwood in the cladding stakes, although some hardwood species have their champions.
"Around 90% of our cladding sales are softwood with WRC the dominant species, followed by larch and Thermowood," said Timbmet’s Mr O’Sullivan. "On the hardwood side, red louro/iroko and oak are being specified – all for commercial build."
"Cedar is by far the most popular species," said Howarth’s Neal Brewster. "People tend to specify it because they know it, it’s tried and tested and it’s traditional, so until they see something different they don’t really think of anything else."
WRC is also the species of choice where shakes and shingle are concerned, although John Brash has recently added oak and chestnut to its range.
Modified timbers are finding increasing favour, particularly as specifiers want guarantees of uniform aesthetics and performance.
"There can be a wide colour variation with cedar and that’s not always what an architect wants," said Mr Brewster. This, he said, is where heat-treated wood comes into its own.
"We’re experiencing phenomenal interest and success in our thermally treated claddings," he said, adding that Howarth’s ArborClad range now includes Platowood and a new addition, Thermory, produced by Berestol in Estonia and for which it has exclusive UK distribution rights. Thermory is available in southern yellow pine and ash.
"It changes colour in a more uniform manner under UV exposure and the southern yellow pine is a cheaper spec than cedar so it gives architects another cost viable option," said Mr Brewster.
"On the hardwood front we have the ash Thermory and the frake Platowood."
These are the next level up and more expensive than cedar, he said, but are proving popular with architects wanting to differentiate their projects. "You won’t find this cladding on every street," said Mr Brewster, adding that the thermally treated frake had been particularly well received.
For Lathams it’s Accoya cladding that is showing the greatest potential for growth. At the end of last year and after testing by TRADA, the company launched AccoyaLathamCLAD. And by February the product had gained real momentum.
Its success can be attributed to the trend towards coloured cladding and the enhanced coatings performance that can be achieved through using a modified timber substrate.
"More architects are specifying coated cladding because they want to put their individual stamp on a building," said Mr Mosson. "We’ve seen both translucent and opaque colours being specified but what they want is a substrate that is going to perform. We now have a product that lengthens product performance and looks better for longer."
Mr Mosson added that another advantage of using Accoya for cladding was that thinner boards and wider spans could be achieved.
"We’ve had 15mm boards tested at 195mm wide with no detectable cupping. TRADA has said that at 15mm thick it would stay free of detectable distortion for its life – and that’s going to be a minimum of 50 years."
The result was, he said, that Lathams was seeing "a big lean towards top end products that are designed for longevity and low maintenance." One sector that has remained immune to the modified timber march thus far is shakes and shingles.
"In our opinion cedar shingles and shakes are maintaining their market share," said Mr Brash. "As yet there isn’t a modified timber alternative in this sector for discontinuous products – ie tiles, shingles, slates and so on. "And, far from being seen as traditional, cedar shingles are seen by many architects as an interesting product that opens up new ideas. They are a forgiving material to work with, hence they are chosen for challenging applications."
Wood/plastic composites have been making inroads into the timber decking market and it’s thought that composite cladding is on the horizon.
"It’s very much a product for the specification market at the moment," said Mr Mosson. "But wind the clock forward 5-10 years and it may be a different story. I’ve seen the product first hand and it definitely has a market in the UK but at the moment it’s just too early."
However, the spectre of composite cladding has prompted timber cladding manufacturers and distributors to take action. Timbmet, for example, recently launched Timclad to counter any threat and to take advantage of the trend towards painted cladding.
Timclad is a range of factory painted and matched cladding featuring natural and contemporary coloured surface coatings. The cladding, which is manufactured in Finland by SIPARILA, is made from centre cut joinery quality Nordic spruce prior to being factory coated.
The demand for factory-finished product is growing, said Sean O’Sullivan.
As construction returns to normal there is also increasing demand for fire retardant treated cladding and where this is used in conjunction with a top coating, Neale Brewster sounds a note of caution.
"It is very important that the merchant gets full agreement on the specification from all the parties," he said.
He’s hoping to see this element of specification in the new British Standard on cladding, which is at draft stage. According to the TDCA, BS8605 will be released for public consultation this month The standard, said Richard Mosson, is likely to drive future growth.
"The market is growing rapidly and we need to respond to that to ensure best practice. This will give the whole industry more structure and specifiers a lot more confidence in future."
