Seven months into my job at the TTF and my enthusiasm for the industry has, if anything, grown. The potential for timber is huge whether in construction or in manufacture – it is so versatile, environmentally unsurpassable, and beautiful.
Just one example of the potential to demonstrate all these things resides in the London 2012 Olympics. There will be a lot of wood used, but it would be even
better if we could boost that further and persuade an architect to design a really iconic wood building. If the shortlist for this year’s Wood Awards is anything to go by, there is no limit to what an imaginative architect could do.
But to realise the Olympics’ potential, and the other opportunities available to us, we as an industry will have to work hard, both on the political and commercial front, to explain that using wood is the best way of delivering sustainability (now a chronic political watchword); the best way of making the things people want at the price they want it, and the best way of improving our aesthetic environment.
The work of wood. for good demonstrates that architects, engineers, builders, craftsmen and the public are highly receptive to these concepts. We need to keep telling them.
And that takes money as well as effort, but the prize is great – nothing less than a shift in thinking about wood. Wood deserves to become the first choice material for everything from buildings to barge boards, furniture to fascias, or decking to doors.
By working together, looking to our real competitors in other sectors and delivering on our promise, I believe we can do it.
