While the UK is still a long way off building the 250,000 homes a year that everyone seems to agree is required, the housing market continues to move in the right direction.

According to the most recent NHBC figures, new home registrations for 2015 remain at a higher level than last year, with strong growth reported in May when there was a 9% increase over 2014.

For the rolling quarter March-May registrations increased by 15% compared to the same period in 2014 (43,987 in 2015 against 38,247 in 2014).

The slow but distinct recovery in housebuilding is welcome, particularly to the timber frame sector, which now claims a very creditable 24.8% market share of new build homes. market share of new build housing now nudging 25%. Sally Spencer reports "It’s the highest market share we’ve had since we started keeping records 10 years ago," said Andrew Carpenter, chief executive of the Structural Timber Association (STA).

"Add that to the fact that glulam, SIPs and, particularly, cross-laminated timber (CLT) are on the rise and the overall picture looks very rosy for structural timber."

An increasing number of housebuilders are seeing the benefits that timber frame has to offer and speed of construction has been a key factor in helping them meet the growing demand. Build speed, a robust supply chain and the requirement for fewer resources on site has made timber frame and offsite construction the perfect solution, according to Alex Goodfellow, group managing director of Stewart Milne Timber Systems.

Another point in timber frame’s favour is the ongoing brick and block shortage, along with the reduced availability of bricklayers.

"The construction industry as a whole lost about half a million people during the recession," said Mr Carpenter. "Bricklayers are very scarce at the moment and they can command pay of £400 per day so some companies are saying they no longer want to use wet trades because it’s too expensive – and they can’t get the materials or the labour."

"Housebuilders are material agnostic but at the moment market conditions mean that the use of offsite timber solutions is delivering value to the developer," said Ian Loughnane, business unit director of Kingspan Timber Solutions. "The need to satisfy demand is being hampered by a lack of bricklayers and no doubt many housebuilders are finding timber frame a useful way of delivering efficient build rates whilst minimising their reliance on bricklayers."

Robin Dodyk, technical director of Oregon Timber Frame, agrees: "By far the largest factor driving market share is the shortage of skilled labour to build all the masonry required – closely followed by scaffolders, plumbers and roof tilers.

"The true value of using timber frame and other offsite methods is being properly considered now that labour and material shortages are being taken into account."

"If we’re going to make a significant leap forward [in market share] it’s going to take the volume housebuilders to enable us to do so," said Mr Carpenter.

However, it’s not just the national housebuilders who are enjoying a growing market. The self-build sector, which accounts for 10% of the overall market, has also strengthened. Timber has long been the preferred building material for self-builders, with three out of four homes in the sector being timber frame construction.

Peter Hall, marketing manager at self-build specialist Scotframe said that although business "dipped" when property markets slumped, even then it "remained steady and quite buoyant". Eighty per cent of the company’s annual turnover comes from its small builder and developer clientele, with the remainder coming from the self build/ one-off market.

Now, he said, the worries about job security, obtaining affordable mortgages and the cost of available land has started to diminish and confidence has returned to the market.

Kingspan’s Potton brand also caters for the self-build market, the importance of which is now acknowledged by government, said Mr Loughnane. "Self-builders are very knowledgeable and place great importance on quality, durability and cost in use of their new home, which is why all our designs are based on structural timber."

Residential leads growth
While commercial construction is still going on (Kingspan Timber Solutions reports that 30% of its workload is non-residential), the recovery in construction is fairly heavily weighted towards the residential sector.

Traditional housing remains "the bread and butter" but there is a growing uptake of timber construction for hotels, care homes and student accommodation.

Stewart Milne Timber Systems, for example, has played a part in a number of ‘Excellent’ BREEAM-rated student accommodation projects, such as Plymouth University’s 232-bed, seven block development in Truro, and Essex University’s 228-bed townhouse complex in Colchester.

The schools building programme is also proving good for business.

"The school sector is short of 900,000 places and government has pledged around £2bn to refurbish and rebuild 277 schools," said Mr Loughnane. "And the speed, quality and reliability of timber build fit with schedules demanded by the academic year."

However, the method of choice is not exclusively timber frame, he added. "We’re finding the education sector uses a wide range of systems with insulated frame, SIPs and CLT all featuring in the designs we see."

Timber targets affordable homes
While private housing slumped in the recession, the drop in social housing was less dramatic. Its recovery is similarly less steep and, according to the NHBC, while private sector housebuilding increased by 17% during March -May, the public and affordable sector was up by just over half that at 9%. However, where affordable homes are being built, there is a preference for timber.

"Registered social landlords (RSLs) are interested in timber frame because of its energy efficiency and the fact that their tenants will be able to pay the heating bills," said Mr Carpenter. "Housing associations are concerned with asset management in a way that private developers aren’t, so I think they are more likely to use timber frame."

Ian Loughnane agrees: "Affordable home provision has a different set of values. Keeping space standards, energy performance and sustainability are very much at the core of the operation. The synergies here are obvious, which is why offsite timber has such a strong presence in this sector."

Alex Goodfellow points to Glasgow City Council selecting his company’s timber frame for the Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village as showing the public sector recognising timber frame’s viability.

"The Village has now been converted into homes for local people," he said.

Post-recession housebuilding has seen a return to more traditional "family homes" but the picture changes according to geography and we’re going to have to head skywards to hit the number of homes we need, according to Ian Loughnane.

"Style of dwelling is predominantly driven by land prices in urban areas and location planning constraints," he said. "Where land is at a premium, such as London and Cambridge, developers need to build up to maximise particularly return on investment.

The picture varies regionally, but we’ve seen significant increase enquiries for apartments." In the self-build sector, Scotframe said there’s rising demand for standard house types from its more specialist Rural and Coastal house kit ranges and a growing number of customers are working with architects on bespoke designs.

Timber frame is also reported to be spreading increasingly UK-wide. Scotland is still very much a stronghold. But while it remains Scotframe’s biggest market, it supplies its self-build kits to customers UK-wide and beyond – even the Falklands – and is beginning to promote to "steadily growing" markets in England and Wales.

Other manufacturers also still see room for growth in Scotland, despite market maturity, but see the quantum leap coming in England.

"There’s interest in timber frame from developers in England who used to only use masonry," said Oregon’s Robin Dodyk.

"Timber frame developments are well represented across the regions, with the south-east, south-west and eastern counties favouring it particularly," said Mr Loughnane.

"That’s supported by the Timber Frame Construction Market Research and Analysis report, which estimates that these areas alone will create demand for around 14,600 timber frame units.

London, east Midlands and the west Midlands, although densely populated regions, demonstrate lower penetration and are forecast to generate around 6,700 timber frame units in 2015."

Since a dip in 2011, timber frame housing in Wales is expected to grow to 1,800 units this year.

Capacity to grow
Timber frame manufacturers’ capacity is reportedly up to meeting this demand – Stewart Milne Timber Systems is capable of producing around 10,000 homes per year from its two factories, for example.

And there’s plenty of "headroom" that can be created in a relatively short space of time. The most recent STA Timber Trends survey stated that factory utilisation would reach around 80% by the end of 2016.

At Kingspan Timber Solutions, for example, where turnover is £35m across the group, the Gransden factory could increase labour, work weekends and double shifts. Scotframe is averaging around 1,500 units per year, which are a variety of housing types and commercial structures.

But Peter Hall said that, depending on kit type, size and specification, it could add capacity.

Oregon’s current single shift capacity is about 2,000+ units per year. Its Burton and Selkirk factories are both very busy and the company is awaiting a planning decision on proposed additional factory space in Selkirk.

Timber framers are focused on efficiency too. Kingspan Timber Solutions, for instance, is rejigging manufacturing at Gransden and investing in mechanical handling to boost closed panel crane erect systems capability.

As testimony to the confidence in the timber frame industry, German machinery manufacturer Hundegger with its SC3 machine has seen a number of installations in recent times.

Talbot Timber, Roe Group, Tailormade Timber, Lowfield Timber, Alexanders and Robinson Manufacturing are some of the companies that have invested to improve productivity, benefitting from what Hundegger describes as the seamless link between the timber frame CAD design software and production environment with the SC3 machine.

"Timber frame manufacturing is highly price sensitive and the latest technology plays a large part in ensuring competitiveness," Hundegger said.

Companies are recruiting and training too.

"It’s easy to get focused on factories but the main constraining factor is design, rather than production," said Mr Loughnane.

"Skilled designers take time to train and we are currently investing heavily in technical people to make sure we are well placed to take advantage of the market improvement."

Mr Dodyk said that Oregon Timber Frame had been recruiting since last autumn in a bid to be "ahead of the wave, allowing time to train the new starts – so far successfully".

Mr Goodfellow added that Stewart Milne Timber Systems has been investing heavily in apprenticeships and skills development.

The STA has a target of 30% market share for timber construction by 2019 and it sees no reason why that shouldn’t be achieved. Any constraints on future growth are more likely to come from installation and erector than from timber frame manufacturing capacity.

Skills building is key
"Erector resources are shared across the sector and are fundamental to the good reputation of the industry," said Ian Loughnane. "A good frame, badly erected, is not going to reflect well on the manufacturer."

Timber frame installation is a highly skilled trade and the image of construction as "all muddy boots and dumbed down skill sets" had to be eradicated, he continued.

"The issue of attracting people into the industry is a common concern for everyone and our sector is not immune."