Almost 17% of new homes constructed in the UK are now timber frame, according to the UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA).
The organisation recorded an industry market share of 16.7% in 2004, 1% up on the previous year, with wood. for good estimating that almost 33,000 timber frame units were built in total.
Timber frame housing in England and Wales, the traditional bastion of brick and block, broke into double figures for the first time, with an almost 11% market share. Even Jamie Oliver has chosen a timber frame solution for an extension to his house.
Perhaps key in the UKTFA’s research among leading housebuilders is the indication that most of them no longer perceive any customer resistance to timber frame.
The greatest growth last year was seen in flats and multi-storey residential projects – use of timber frame construction for housing over two storeys went up by 27% in 2004, while its market share in the social housing sector grew to nearly 55% from 40% the previous year.
Chandos Timber Engineering is one such company enjoying strong growth, expanding more than 50% year-on-year for the last four years. It has recently invested £1m in its Rochdale factory, to boost capacity by 50%, and last year opened a second production facility in Kidderminster to service the Midlands market.
Chandos director Paul Abbott said: “The market for timber frame systems is growing year on year as developers recognise the advantages in terms of build speed and its impact on the financial success of the project.
“That is especially true of the apartment sector, which is enthusiastically embracing timber frame in preference to traditional brick and block or steel frame construction.
“We are finding that developers and contractors are more willing to use timber frames for apartments because the eventual buyers are, in most cases, less conservative than the purchasers of traditional houses. That, in turn, is encouraging developers to use the system for houses if they have a good experience with the apartments, so it is a self-perpetuating success story.”
One of Chandos’s recent jobs was 230 flats in the Quay 5 development in Manchester for LPC Living.

Thoughts from abroad
And it’s not just the British who are getting in on the act – the Germans, Canadians, Irish and Scandinavians have all seen potential in the UK.
German-based WeberHaus has recently opened an office in Brighton and established partnerships with St Albans-based building contractor William Verry Ltd and Precision Engineered Homes of Scotland.
IKEA is a surprising addition. Its BoKlok Swedish timber frame home concept, designed with construction company Skanska, is expected to be built on various sites this autumn.
BoKlok UK, a partnership of Home Group subsidiary Paramount Homes and housing association the Hyde Group, says the homes will feature 140mm external walls, steel web engineered floor joists and factory-finished Scandinavian double-glazed timber windows.
Meanwhile, deputy prime minister John Prescott continues to make encouraging noises, such as his plan to grow the number of UK homeowners by one million in the next five years.
At the recent BRE/SmartLIFE OFFSITE2005 show he said: “There’s a wonderful opportunity for offsite manufacture and other modern methods of construction (MMC) to deliver better value for money and help tackle the shortage of traditional craft skills.”

Government competition
Timber frame companies are heavily represented in Mr Prescott’s Design for Manufacture competition, which challenges the construction industry to design buildings with a build cost of £60,000.
Martin Donohue, chief executive of Westbury plc, which manufactures modular timber frame home at its Space4 factory, said: “MMC plays a major part in the government agenda to encourage sustainable communities and urban renewal. All the signs point to an increasing market share for off-site manufactured products.”
But it has not all been plain sailing – recently the UKTFA has had to refute several statements made in the press. This included a steel frame company which said its products “protect the environment by reducing the demand for trees”, while the Traditional Housing Bureau, which represents the masonry construction industry, flagged up its concern that timber frame could present a fire risk.
A key debate surrounding timber frame growth is whether merchants are benefiting. Both wood. for good and the UKTFA say about twice as much wood is used in a timber frame house compared to other housebuilding methods.

Specialist suppliers
But it is clear much of the timber is being supplied in volume by a few specialists. Sales of timber frame components from International Timber‘s Newport operation to the south of England have been growing steadily. A second shift will be introduced shortly in response to market demand.
John Bagshaw, managing director of International Timber, said: “Traditional building methods are being replaced by a more solutions-based approach for products such as timber frame components, floor cassettes and I-beams.
“We are still in an evolving market and I think the merchant sector has not really benefited yet because it is unsure how the market is developing. It has implications for their product offer, style of trading and margin expectation and currently they do not have the facilities or flexibility to serve this market.
“Merchants largely operate on a model of stock and serve standard products whereas the timber frame market requires component manufacturing and packaged solutions that are bespoke to their requirements.
“If merchants are to capitalise on the potential offered by the timber frame market, they must also change their mentality on margin. Timber frame components cannot be traded as a commodity product, which is the tendency with timber generally. The cost of entry into an emerging market versus margin expectation is something they must consider carefully.”
Finnforest‘s Beamlock glulam system has given many merchants the opportunity of offering a modular building solution. The system can be used by anybody from a homeowner to a national housebuilder.
Other news from the sector includes BRE’s development of a recognised standard for MMC, such as SIPS, while connector manufacturer Simpson Strong-Tie predicts further developments in specialist timber frame fixing to replace traditional nailed timber studs, making structures more resilient to earthquakes.
All in all, the only way for the timber frame industry would seem to be upwards.
The UKTFA estimates the industry will capture a 23% share of the housing market by 2007 – some 52,000 units – virtually trebling market share since 1998.