The structural timber sector’s fortunes over the last year have, unsurprisingly, mirrored those of the wider construction industry, with a short period of closure at the end of March 2020, followed by a re-opening that for many turned out to be business as, or better than, usual.
“When lockdown came [in March 2020] we had an SOS management meeting to discuss what was likely to happen to us as a sector and as a trade association and we laid plans in place for quite a significant downturn in income last year,” said Andrew Carpenter, chief executive of the Structural Timber Association (STA).
“But, actually, that never materialised and some of our members have been as busy as they have ever been. Certainly, if you look at the housing sector and the performance of the major house developers, they are all showing record profits – and that flows through to how busy STA members are.”
Structural timber’s market share of the UK housebuilding sector is still hovering around the 25% mark, although in Scotland it is considerably more, with estimates at 75-80%.
Growth opportunities for the sector are “massive”, said Mr Carpenter, thanks in part to the government’s New Deal for Britain and its ‘build, build, build’ mantra, which includes ‘build back greener’ – a drive to net zero carbon, ‘build back better’ – the quality agenda, and ‘build back faster’ – the smart construction agenda, including modern methods of construction (MMC).
“We are right at the sharp end of the road map to recovery,” said Mr Carpenter, adding that he has just been appointed onto the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) CO2nstructZero programme for industry change.
The programme invites companies to become business champions by committing to CO2nstructZero and to sharing tangible evidence of their net zero carbon plans against its nine priorities.
Of the nine priorities, Mr Carpenter cites numbers eight and nine as being most significant for the structural timber sector.
Number eight is: “Become world leaders in designing out carbon, developing the capability of our designers and construction professionals to develop designs in line with circular economy-reducing embedded and operational carbon, shifting commercial models to incentivise and reward measurable carbon reductions”; while number nine is: “Support development of innovative low carbon materials as well as advancing low carbon solutions for manufacturing production processes and distribution”.
“I am going through applications from companies purporting to be net zero champions and what is interesting is that there is an understanding that timber is the material of choice in terms of performance, particularly on embodied carbon.”
And, he added, clients of STA members are also on board with the message. For example, hybrid specialist KLH suggested concrete floors and some steelwork to a client who rejected the idea on the grounds that it would affect their carbon footprint.
WELSH GOVERNMENT INCENTIVE
In addition to the UK government’s incentives, the Welsh government has decreed that from 2022, all new affordable homes should be timber frame and it has enlisted the help of the STA and its Welsh members to work with the 11 councils in Wales to form a consortium to help facilitate that.
“I can only see that growing as the net zero agenda gathers pace,” said Mr Carpenter. “When you consider that construction accounts for 40% of all carbon and, of that, 8% is cement, it just shows you how important the use of timber is in terms of achieving the government’s 2050 target.
“What we are doing as part of the Confederation of Timber Industries (CTI) is to say to politicians and councils, ‘don’t wait until 2050, you can go net zero now with the use of timber’.”
Of the market sectors performing the strongest, residential is “out front by some margin”, with private developers either buying into timber frame manufacture (as with Barratt buying Oregon Timber Frame in 2019) or forming “strategic relationships” with STA members.
“I think we’re going to see an increase in affordable homes from next year and that health, education and warehousing will be quite buoyant,” said Mr Carpenter. “There also seems to be a lot of redevelopment of city and town centres where commercial buildings are being turned into apartments.”
Capacity in the structural timber sector is around 50,000 homes per year, with the view that could be doubled through the existing factory network by adding shifts. And, given the right incentives, it could be trebled.
“Capacity could be significantly increased to 150,000 homes per year, but to do that our members would need guarantees of future work – as is happening with the Welsh government – so they could make the necessary investments.”
Investment in new technology and developments in design are inevitable, said Mr Carpenter.
“We have to appreciate that it’s a journey, not a destination and we have to keep innovating,” he said. “Pre-manufactured value (PMV) is going to be a key performance indicator for a lot of clients in future and I think we need to acknowledge that we have to do more in the factory than on site. There is a move from open panel to closed panel for example.
“I also think we need to acknowledge the part that BIM will play. As a sector we have been reluctant to buy into it because clients haven’t been asking for it but I don’t think that’s acceptable anymore. We have to step up to the plate and make sure that what we are doing is compatible with the rest of the supply chain in terms of digitalisation.”
At the STA itself, work continues on the Assure programme, which is moving ahead “at pace”.
“STA Assure now includes a timber frame erector competency scheme and all our members are required to use STA Assured erectors,” said Mr Carpenter, adding that, as a consequence, the organisation’s contingent of erector members had grown from around 36 to somewhere between 250-300 in the last two years.
“We are now doing the same thing with designers and making sure that our members only use STA Assured designers and engineers. We’re not just doing this for our health but because it’s the direction the UK construction industry is moving in. The Hackitt Review put significant emphasis on quality and compliance and STA Assure provides that.
“The NHBC and LABC have adopted STA Assure and more and more clients and other bodies in the UK construction industry are applauding what we are doing. In fact, even the Canadian structural timber sector wants to take a look at what we are doing, with a view to replicating it.”
STA Assure developments dominate the organisation’s activities, but not to the exclusion of other work. For example, it has commissioned a major market analysis report, which should be available at the end of this year. As well as interrogating capacity within the sector, it will also investigate whether timber price increases are going to affect market growth.
Meanwhile, STA Assure director Andrew Orriss has been promoted to chief operating officer, freeing up Mr Carpenter to look outwards into the industry more. It has allowed him to take up his role on C02nstructZero for example, and he is also now on the board of the Housing Forum, which has a focus on affordable housing and housing associations.
“It also gives me time to work more with other timber related bodies, such as Timber Development UK [the merged Timber Trade Federation and TRADA], the CTI, Wood for Good and with the new Timber Accelerator Hub [established by The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products with the aim of enabling more timber construction]. It’s been a really good move for us and is taking us to the next level.”
Looking forward, there are certainly challenges along with the opportunities. One is the long awaited decision on whether the threshold for the use of combustible materials will reduce from 18m to 11m. The hope is that the government’s drive for net zero will win out over that particular debate, but the jury is still out.
Other challenges include materials shortages, the ever increasing price of timber and the skills shortage, which said Mr Carpenter, could worsen as infrastructure projects such as HS2 start to suck up a lot of the available labour.
As for the opportunities – it’s net zero carbon all the way.
