This week it emerged that in 1956 the French prime minister secretly proposed a union between France and the UK. The tabloids made a meal of the story and the clichés flew thick and fast. Brits, apparently, choked on their fish and chips at the news, as the French spluttered into their red wine.
Of course, such a merger was never going to happen – the only reason I mention it is that an unnamed source this week expressed the contentious view that collaboration in the UK timber was just as unlikely!
I had to disagree. For the past six years we’ve had the example of Wood for Good pooling the resources of the UK and Nordic industries to promote the interests of timber generally. Now the Wood for Gold initiative is bringing together interests across the sector with one goal: to win market share for wood in London Olympics developments.
This week we also talk to the new Institute of Wood Science (IWSc) president Geoff Taylor about its plans to tackle cross-industry technical and training issues, and to Tony Willenbruch, first joint director of the IWSc and Institute of Carpenters, about these bodies’ strategic co-operation.
In addition we cover The Timber Trade Federation‘s membership drive to get more of the industry to form a united front under its banner.
That’s not to say the trade couldn’t get together even more. There are certainly more instances where it could be an advantage. This week, for instance, Marks & Spencer launched a £200m sustainability programme. Part of this entails giving preference in timber procurement to one environmental certification scheme, which is potentially prejudicial to a large section of the trade. Time for industry-wide action.
Getting potential competitors to work together isn’t easy, but the benefits can be huge. Just think if we had merged with France. We’d have cheaper wine and better trains, they’d have a more dynamic economy and our joint GDP would equal Japan’s. We’d also have a team that could actually challenge the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup – well, maybe.
