While wider economic gloom continues to weigh heavily on the construction industry, the drive towards greater build performance and sustainability is undiminished and has kept timber floor, roof and increasingly wall cassette systems in the ring, boxing for a share of the subdued construction market.
The success of system manufacturers and component suppliers to increase market share against traditional build has only been realised from continued product development and improved manufacturing and supply channels. And it is these efforts that players in the market believe will continue to drive demand.
"At one time these solutions were primarily about speed of construction to meet the demands of a very busy construction industry," said Karl Foster, sales and marketing director of Wolf Systems, which manufactures metal webs and the easi-joist system. "With a much changed landscape, now the real benefits of off-site construction or MMC (modern methods of construction) lie in the performance and quality of the product.
"I think these systems stand or fall on their benefits, not necessarily on the state of the economy. Sure, there is price pressure more now than in previously ‘good years’, but we and our customers have the right products and are finding the right markets to sell into."
Jason Ruddle, business development manager of Gang-Nail, the connector plate and Eco-Joist system supplier, said there was "no question" that although cassette systems were price-dependent, the industry remained geared toward fabrication and MMC. "The volume is not there for national housebuilders at the moment but when they open up a site they still want to drive through the show homes and early build, and then there is a clear question mark between brick and block and timber."
Floor applications still represent the majority of sales, however, demand for roofing systems continues to grow and use in walls is gaining momentum due to reduced incidence of thermal bridging. Open-web metal components are gaining greater market share against I-joists, but the suppliers of I-joists remain adamant about their future.
"I-joist floors have always been cheaper in both purchase and installed costs, and at a time when everyone is seeing squeezed margins, I-joists still provide a cost advantage," said Neil Lewis, national product manager for engineered wood products at Crown Timber, which supplies Boise Cascade’s BCI-Joists. "The single biggest USP for metal-web joists – the open spaces in the joists – often does not offset the price premium sufficiently. It becomes a philosophical argument rather than a financial one."
However, Tim Widdershoven, marketing manager for ITW-Industry, the component and open-web system supplier, which acquired Gang-Nail last year, said the partnership of the two companies had led to a new solution. "You cannot compare traditional and I-joist as like-for- like with open web because it is a fully engineered product, but if you look at ease of throughput and at the design stage the cost saving overall provides a benefit for the builder," he said.
The two companies have launched the SpaceJoist SJ10 open-web system to supersede ITW’s Alpine SpaceJoist and the Gang-Nail Eco-Joist, which reduces the amount of timber required in the floor and allows for longer spans and fewer webs. There is also an online calculator so that a customer can put in details and price, and compare costs.
The companies believe the SJ10, which has additional perimeter teeth to provide more bite, improves joist stiffness and reduces deflection, and improves acoustic performance. "The original design for the open-web component is over 20 years old but bringing together the expertise of metalwork and joists between the two brands has moved the idea forward and brings the cost closer to I-joists," Mr Ruddle said.
Mark Tilston, business development manager at James Jones Timber System Division, is adamant I-joists remain the more cost-effective solution for all applications, especially where large holes and mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems (MVHR) are required. "Floors are still the main market, with an ever-increasing market for roofs where large spans and high levels of insulation are required. We have developed new deeper/thinner I-joists to provide a more cost-effective solution for all markets. Walls are the new market and we have supplied several projects with our new treated I-joist solution for advanced panel solutions."
Kevin Riley, vice-president for construction at Metsä Wood, said the I-joist market had been stable in 2012 and was forecast to grow by 3% this year. He dismissed competition between the two as white noise. "One size never fits all and we acknowledge that metal-web joists have a role to play in the market but, as a product that is more scalable, engineered timber I-joists remain the market leader. CLT has developed a strong profile in the market, but it is not necessarily the most appropriate product to use in all cases."
Floor applications still represent the majority of I-joist sales at Crown Timber, however, Mr Lewis said roofing continued to grow and use in walls was gaining momentum due to the high performance of I-joists in reducing thermal bridging. He added, though, that most projects still required bespoke design and this would remain the case until I-joist wall details could be fully standardised.
Wolf said more and more metal webs were being specified for roof construction as a natural progression, but was also software-driven since Wolf developed a new version of software to specify its easi-joists as a roof component. "We are seeing more metal webs used in wall construction but, at the moment, these tend to be for specific projects or for high-specification domestic houses."
Engineered timber specialist Pasquill concentrates on the roof sector, marketing SmartRoof, IntelliRoof from James Jones and MiTek’s X-rafter. Demand had been hit by the construction slump, but the intrinsic benefit of panellised roof systems was unassailable, the company said.
"In the central belt of Scotland we have seen some builders go back from timber frame to traditional build, and at one point the message from some of the majors was that it was cheaper to build three storeys rather than 2.5," said managing director Stuart McKill.
"But there is no doubt demand will come back and quite strongly in terms of speed, cost, insulation and regulation. With gable-to-gable roofs, it does provide a good solution."
Metsä Wood launched FinnRoof for the residential market and FinnSor for commercial projects in 2012 and Mr Riley said he expected increased sales this year as the number of room-in-the-roof house types showed little sign of reducing.
"There are fewer prefabricated engineered wood roof systems readily available for the commercial markets and with this in mind we have Kerto Ripa – with clear spans up to 18m – and our FinnSor that was developed where clear spans of up to 6m are needed for schools, offices and leisure applications," he said.
Pasquill, like other suppliers, is preparing for the raft of upcoming legislation such as CE marking, Eurocode 5 and the EU Timber Regulation. Mr McKill said he welcomed the tightening up because it would be another driver to raise quality. "It’s important to be ready," he said. "If you are talking about the removing of trusses because they are not certified, that could be a very expensive mistake. But there is going to be a drive toward higher standards and we have been investing in an effort to control our own destiny in terms of manufacturing our own products with our own equipment. That is work in progress and we are evolving with detailed testing."
ITW and Gang-Nail said they had spent £300,000 on preparing for CE marking, testing and working with truss fabricators or merchants.
Software development has been an important part of preparations. Wolf has developed design software to EC5 for floors and roofs. James Jones, which has FloorMaster, plans a new software release this year that will provide whole house system design and engineering, including cassettes and Building Information Modelling (BIM) integration.
With all these opportunities in cassette systems, suppliers believe there could be openings for merchants, however, James Jones’s Mark Tilston said early efforts to support those channels needed to be evaluated.
Wolf’s Karl Foster agrees: "I think the benefit of using metal-web joists and rafters to many contractors and builders is that they are buying a bespoke product. This sort of approach simply can’t be offered or provided from a supplier that doesn’t specialise and manufacture in this way. Having said that, many of our manufacturers are partnering merchants to provide the best of both worlds for the contractor and client."
"We know some merchants have tried selling I-joists as off-the-shelf products," said Crown’s Neil Lewis, "but the value proposition for this is so diluted that some of the reasons for choosing them becomes lost to the customer."
However, as one supplier said, merchants could access I-joist systems by "brass plating" from a local supplier. This could attract local customers who want to use their relationship and account facilities at the merchant.
