In recent years, the Wood Protection Association (WPA) has transitioned into an independent technical authority specialising in all aspects of industrial wood protection.

It is playing an increasingly vital role in providing the support services needed to help the timber supply chain to grow the demand for high durability, added-value products.

To better reflect this role, the WPA is about to relaunch its operations with a new brand identity and website.

New Logo and Website

The roots of the WPA go back to 1934 and the formation of the British Wood Preserving Association (BWPA). At this time, impregnating wood with copper-based preservatives was an emerging science.

The BWPA’s role was to help establish and promote the new preservatives and processes that would subsequently open new markets for wood, many of which still exist today.

This pioneering work is probably how the Association came to be perceived as a ‘preservative manufacturers club’. This is now history and today’s WPA represents a much broader range of membership.

In 2006, the scope of WPA technical capabilities was expanded to include modified wood alongside high and low-pressure preservative pre-treatments and flame retardants. The chemicals and processes used to turn softwoods into durable construction products face increasing regulatory control and the WPA is well positioned to support the market through these challenges. Regulatory affairs expertise and influence with UK statutory bodies such as the HSE are a core strength of the Association.

The WPA’s heritage is grounded on its technical and regulatory experience and capabilities – and these are still vital to continued success. In recent years though, strategic service and support programmes tailored to the needs of those who manufacture or sell pre-treated and modified wood products have been introduced.

These include a major preservative treated softwoods field trial in partnership with BRE, training and educational initiatives as well as quality assurance and product approval schemes. Such programmes are often developed in collaboration with other timber trade associations, here and in Europe.

A good example of this is the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed earlier this year with the Timber Trade Federation (TTF), aimed at strengthening the UK market for treated wood (TTJ April).

The WPA of today is more commercially focused and the Association’s board is keen to ensure that work priorities and strategy are closely aligned with those of the timber supply chain. This was a key factor in the decision to relaunch the WPA. The new logo and website better represents where the WPA is today and its vision for the future.

Strategic Priorities

In early 2018 the WPA and TTF joined forces in an opinion poll of member organisations.

The results were very clear. To underpin the continued growth potential of the market for treated wood products, three important issues had to be addressed:

  • the general failure of buyers to specify treated wood correctly;
  • improving awareness about how to install and use treated wood correctly;
  • and building confidence in the performance of treated wood through independent verification of treatment quality.

In March 2019 a strategic partnership agreement between the TTF and the WPA was announced committing the two associations to a unified strategy aimed at tackling the issues identified by the survey. The fruits of this partnership have already started to appear in a series of co-branded publications and guidance notes about preservative treated wood aimed at buyers and merchants. More resources are in the pipeline.

Progress has also been made on paving the way to a verification policy on treated wood produced or imported into the UK. A pilot programme to assess WPA Benchmark quality scheme procedures for preservative treated construction timber is about to commence.

The successful completion of this pilot will mean that the TTF will be able to push ahead with its plans to make independent verification of treatment an integral part of its membership policy.

Quality schemes for treated wood have operated successfully in all other major treated wood markets for years. In the US, Canada, the Nordic countries and France for example third-party quality schemes have played a key role in driving sales growth. WPA believes the same will happen in the UK.

Fire Protection

As a consequence of Grenfell and subsequent apartment fires at Barking and Worcester Park, the combustibility of building materials and fire protection measures has topped the construction industry’s agenda for the past two years and is likely to remain there for some time.

It was surprising to note that in a recent survey of architects carried out by a WPA member, 70% of them did not understand the term ‘fire resistance’ and just under 60% did not understand the term ‘reaction to fire’. Such evidence emphasises the need to improve specifier knowledge.

To specify or (in the case of Building Control officers) regulate flame retardant treated wood correctly, understanding key terminology, flame retardant products and treatment processes is vital. The WPA is working hard to provide and promote key resources to help with this. The WPA Flame Retardant Specification Manual is already established as the industry standard reference for specifiers and designers and quality assurance initiatives like the WPA Benchmark FR Scheme have been widely adopted throughout the UK market.

In addition, we have created a suite of information literature including a range of Guidance Notes. These focus on specific issues and, using plain English, give clear answers to the various technical and regulatory FAQs. Guidance notes on timber cladding and fire and compliance with CPR have been produced under the Strategic Partnership Agreement with the TTF to ensure a consistent message.

More will follow.

The WPA has also worked with Local Authority Building Control (LABC) and Wood Campus to produce an on-line training resource on the correct specification and testing of FR treated wood, aimed at building control officers and specifiers. It offers CPD accreditation and is soon to be RIBA approved.

Interlocking FR Quality Schemes

WPA Benchmark was first introduced as a flame-retardant product approval scheme. In 2012 it was expanded to include treatment process verification and in 2018 further expanded to incorporate the final link in the supply chain – FR treated materials distributors. WPA Benchmark is unique in that it is an interlocking system – only materials treated with an approved FR product by an approved factory application process will be promoted by the WPA.

It is pleasing to report that the WPA’s FR quality system has attracted significant interest in the Scandinavian market. Woodsafe Timber Protection AB of Sweden recently became the first wood treater outside the UK to be certificated under the WPA Benchmark FR scheme. Woodsafe is a service treatment business with a reputation for quality. It was already using humidity resistant and leach resistant FR products approved by the WPA but saw a commercial benefit to becoming fully accredited in its own right.

WPA is better resourced than ever before, looks to the future with confidence and is excited about the opportunities that its close alignment with the needs of the entire treated wood supply chain will open up.