Summary
• Fire preventatives head market growth.
•The technology pipeline is driving a strategic shift in the market.
• SWPA offers a 20-year timber treatments warranty.

It has been a “more dynamic year” for the treatments industry. That’s the view of Arch Timber Protection marketing manager Janet Brown, with preventative fire treatments, organic products and a change to supply sources all helping the treatments sector to develop over the past 12 months.

And Osmose European marketing manager Andy Hodge said the changes have been driven by a strategic shift in the treatments market, which he sees as having a “real technology pipeline”.

“We’ve gone from being a one-solution-cures-all industry to a fragmented one that allows solutions to be optimised for the end user,” said Mr Hodge. “This allows us to spot opportunities and gaps in the market to develop solutions. This results in better satisfaction for customers, which means more success and better results for the company.”

Osmose MicroPro is one such product that has been developed with end users in mind, using micronisation technology to create “enhanced colouring systems” for high-end timber products such as decking, said Mr Hodge.

“We want to help wood stand up against competitors in other industries,” he added.

Ms Brown also alluded to a change in tack that has allowed the treatments company to “meet market demands”, with a new tagline – advancing timber treatment technologies – signalling future growth plans. “Arch is in the market of producing systems that meet market demands,” she said. “We have seen stability through our core preservative products and success through doing the right research to meet the market’s demands.”

Strategic shift

PTG Treatments Ltd is also planning its own strategic shift, moving into handling and undertaking logistics and distribution for end users as well as the treatment process. “We are helping to shorten the supply chain,” said managing director Neil Ryan. “Like other companies, we’re looking to become a specialised contractor.”

Mr Ryan added that PTG had seen a shift in timber supply from the Baltic states to central Europe and Canada, which has placed the company in a “strong position”.

“As we have treatment centres at the point of import, we have been able to capitalise on the shift,” said Mr Ryan. “We have had customers returning to us who can’t get treated timber out of the Baltics.”

Ms Brown also noted there is now more home-grown timber being treated, while Mr Ryan said that the amount of timber being treated in the UK has increased.

Investments in treatment machinery around the country would seem to back up this view. James Donaldson and Sons Ltd has invested £350,000 in a new treatment plant to increase capacity at its Leven site by 300%.

BSW Timber has recently installed timber treatment equipment at its Newbridge-on-Wye sawmill, increasing output to 90,000m3 a year,, and is also planning to install treatment facilities as part of its new £26m Fort William facility, while importer James E Smith (Timber) Ltd will use its recent acquisition of a site in New Holland, North Lincolnshire, to establish a new treatment plant. “We have been looking to add another treatment plant for some time and this acquisition gives us the chance to do it,” said finance director Bradley Hurst.

Environmental awareness

The treatments sector has also been affected by the worldwide growth in concern for the environment, posing further questions for the treatments sector to answer.

“The world is getting more environmentally-savvy and wood is such a good product for this market,” said Mr Hodge. “However, it is essential we market and treat wood properly to maximise its potential.”

“It must be in the minds of every laboratory developing [treatment] products to use environmentally-friendly products,” added Chris Dilks from Fire Retardant UK, which imports the water-based, organic HR Prof treatment.

Such is the environmental drive, Mr Dilks said that the interest in HR Prof, which he describes as “100% green”, has been “extraordinary” but more often to do with the environment than the protection it offers.

“We’ve had lots of enquiries based around HR Prof’s green credentials, not the actual aspects of what the product does,” said Mr Dilks.

He added that environmentally-sound products often required greater investment, but that the industry would have to dig deeper into its pockets to back them. “I’m convinced we all have to do that little bit more if we want to go forward.” he said. “The success of HR Prof is evidence that there is a market out there for these kinds of products.”

Another market that has grown considerably in the past 12 months is fire preventative treatments for the construction sector.

Fires at timber frame developments in Hatfield and the University of Northumbria, Newcastle, coupled with the London Fire Brigade (LFB) report into the Colindale blaze in north London in July 2006, have put pressure on the sector to do more to protect timber frame buildings during construction. The Precast Flooring Federation even used a picture of the Colindale fire in an advert questioning the safety of timber frame during construction.

“Public perception is the big problem,” said Mr Dilks. “People are asking ‘is timber frame more risky than other building types?’.”

Arch’s Vacsol FR and FrameGuard from Osmose have been developed with this in mind and offer the timber frame industry a means to stop the spread of flame.

Mr Hodge said that Osmose was working with trade associations to see if a preservative-based solution would fit in with safety management strategies being proposed by the timber frame industry, a move welcomed by the UK Timber Frame Association.

“It’s really encouraging that the supply chain is investing in cost-effective treatment solutions to bring to the market,” said UKTFA chairman Stewart Dalgarno. “In the right circumstances and on the right sites, I think these things can only complement the enhanced fire safety measures that UKTFA, wood for good and its partners are currently considering.”

Developments in European treatments markets could also play a part in the future of the UK sector.

The Swedish Wood Preserving Association (SWPA) recently launched an industry-wide initiative offering a 20-year warranty on all treated timber products bought by Swedish consumers that match Nordic Wood Preservation Council (NTR) standards.

Safeguarding the name

It, said SWPA managing director Mikael Westin, was part of a drive to safeguard the name of treated timber and to give consumers confidence in the products they buy. Backed by SKr3m from SWPA, the warranty even extends to products and treatments that may not exist towards the end of the 20-year period.

Currently only available to consumers in Sweden, Mr Westin said he would like to see the initiative copied in the UK.

“We would like to think that we are setting an example,” said Mr Westin. “If third-party control [such as NTR] was brought into other European nations we would like to see the idea exported to other EU nations.”

This all adds up to give credence to Ms Brown’s notion that it has been a dynamic year for the UK treatments industry, and shines a positive light on the next 12 months. “Is it a sign of things to come?” asked Ms Brown. “Hopefully, and long may it continue.”