It’s always dangerous to predict the weather, but there is already much talk of another hot summer.

If true, this could provide a boost to the timber garden products market, and this year there’s no World Cup to deflect the attention of DIY-ers.

Legislation is likely to be the real temperature setter for the market in 2007, as the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces comes into effect from July. Almost everyone seems to be talking about this. The logic is that the hospitality industry will invest in their outdoor spaces to retain smoking customers.

This has happened in Ireland and Scotland where bans are in place. And some companies have already won big orders in England, with Finnforest to supply 150 deck kits to the Charles Wells pub chain.

Meanwhile BSW Timber is briefing more than 150 stockists ahead of the ban. The company is using the lessons learned in Scotland, where hundreds of businesses applied for planning permission to construct beer gardens, canopies and smoking shelters amid fears smokers would be driven away.

“We are prepared for the increase in orders from our customers and believe the smoking ban offers terrific growth potential in England,” said Bryan Crennell, BSW marketing manager.

Stylish facilities

Catriona Nicholls, decking product manager of Richard Burbidge Ltd, said businesses were all searching for quick and affordable ways of creating safe and stylish outdoor facilities for customers who smoke.

“The ban is expected to have such an impact on trade for those pubs without outdoor smoking facilities that land-locked pubs with no space to expand are already being sold in advance of the ban’s implementation this summer,” she said.

Smoking bans aside, the vogue of seeing the garden as an outdoor room continues. “Consumers continue to invest and add value to their property and value individuality in the design of their homes and gardens,” said Finnforest channel marketing manager Marcus Sanders.

“There is a continued demand placed on manufacturers and suppliers to create new and innovative products and value-added services,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rowlinson Garden Products has branched out into garden furniture, with its new range including the nine-piece Saigon hardwood dining set.

“More and more homeowners are now using and investing in their gardens as they would with the interior of their homes, so it is logical that demand for outdoor accessories like furniture is on the rise,” said Paul Taylor, the company’s sales and marketing director.

M&M Timber has started a build service for customers buying its thatched pergolas. Nigel Poyner, M&M’s managing director, said this service, which will be rolled out to other products in M&M’s range, would serve the growing “do-it-for-me” sector.

M&M now has 41 thatched gazebos displayed at garden centres following the product’s launch at Glee 2006.

Mr Poyner is optimistic for the coming season. “We have done far more pre-season orders this year then we did last year.”

Shed makeover

The humble garden shed is a target for a makeover by the Deck Supply Company. To sell more cedar shingles, the company is marketing the product as part of a suggested makeover of people’s garden sheds. The company intends to take the concept to garden centres.

One of the barometers for confidence in the sector is the Glee show. Organisers report 75% of last year’s exhibitors have already re-booked for the 2007 event and, for the first time in many years, almost all of the leading names in garden timber products will be present, with Rowlinson and Metpost returning after a short absence.

Glee landscaping sales manager Matthew Mein said the major names seemed to be upping the ante in terms of promotion, with the mood “definitely buoyant”.

But the organisers have also picked up reports of poor availability of rough sawn timber which have led to a shortage of fence panels. M&M concurs with this, saying fence panel shortages are likely to persist well into the summer due to storm damage earlier this year and changes and demands in the world timber market.

Meanwhile, the Timber Decking Association (TDA) expects the decking market to grow further. It says the sector was worth £130m last year, up from £124m in 2005, and it believes £140m is realistic for 2007.

“A lot of the growth has come from an increase in commercial specification,” said TDA director Steve Young. “We have noticed a big increase in the number of architects that are now coming to us through our website and are looking for guidance.” Some 162,000 individual visitors were recorded on the TDA website in 2006.

New from the TDA is the DeckMark Plus scheme, intended to meet architects’ growing interest in formal performance ratings of decks and associated structures. It recognises products that combine quality assured manufacturing with a performance rating.

Hoppings‘ Q-Grip board, designed with anti-slip properties and tested to BS 7976, is the first deck board to achieve the accreditation.

The TDA said pre-finished decking, and modular systems which can be placed on existing surfaces, could be new growth areas.

The organisation is also trying to broaden specifiers’ interest in the properties of wood rather than focusing on a species. “We will talk to them about durability, colour, stability and abrasion resistance,” said Mr Young.

“People who want a hi-spec deck are looking to ipe. But we have other perfectly acceptable products coming on the market, such as denya from Ghana.”

London-based EcoChoice Ltd, which supplies a wide variety of certified decking timbers, is also doing this. It has managed to persuade a Brazilian mill to quote on performance and colour, rather than species. EcoChoice’s Mike Bekin says one UK distributor is already interested in this system.

“It seems like the trade is slowly starting to realise that in order to get FSC product in constant supply we have to move away from a single species,” he said.

“Decking is still increasing in popularity and our sales year-on-year are up,” said Nick Taylor, managing director of The Deck Supply Co, who also reported rising ipe prices and some balau supply problems.

Time and storage

Arbordeck, Howarth Timber’s decking brand, is set to launch its Arborail boxed handrail kits aimed at the DIY user. “The consumer can easily purchase and construct different handrail styles that they may have been a little apprehensive about building otherwise and the kits also make it easy to build any deckrail,” said Arbordeck product manager Marc Foster. He said it also saves time and storage space for merchants.

“More and more merchants are now looking for quality softwood decking products whereas in the past they were looking for the cheapest product,” said Mr Foster.

Composite decking is increasing its presence in the UK but the TDA believes the product is still niche. US composite deck manufacturer Trex recently pulled out of the UK citing production problems.

International Timber has expanded its Interdeck range with the Canadian-made composite product Brite, which it will sell through the merchant sector.

Although more expensive than hardwood, the company sees market opportunities for composites with the top-end customer, and opportunities also arising in the specification and contract market for city apartments, leisure parks and sea-front or pier applications.