Thermally modified timber has been on the market for many years, with production largely based in Scandinavia, Europe and the US. Now, however, the product has been seized upon by British timber specialist Vastern Timber as a way of adding value – and in some cases creating value – for native woodlands.
Vastern’s Brimstone brand of thermally modified timber was launched at Ecobuild earlier this year and has been warmly received since then. More recently it was shortlisted in the 2016 TTJ Awards in the TRADA-sponsored Timber Innovation/ Product Development category.
Brimstone was a couple of years in development and resulted from discussions between the Grown in Britain campaign, the BRE, Timber Strategies, Vastern Timber and Tyler Hardwoods, all of which were keen to find more uses for British timber.
A feasibility study into thermal modification of British timber followed and Brimstone woods are currently being tested by the BRE for durability, strength and hardness and results will be available at the end of this year.
Brimstone wood is also included in the recent long-term above ground durability trials at BRE and long-term in situ trials of Brimstone ash and sycamore, sponsored by Grown in Britain, were started at the Sylva Foundation near Oxford in 2015. Results indicate even weathering, free from any staining.
It became clear that the time was right for commercialisation of the product. “I could see the modified wood market was in its infancy and suppliers were jostling for position, so I thought this was our opportunity to jump in and carve out a bit of space,” said Tom Barnes, Vastern’s managing director.
Initially Tyler Hardwoods collaborated on the production but since then Vastern has gone it alone in producing thermally modified ash, sycamore and poplar – of which ash has proved the most popular. At the moment timber is sawn at Vastern and sent over to Ducerf in France for heat treatment but the hope is that funding can be secured in order to invest in the technology in the UK.
“We are in talks with three or four equipment providers, including Jartek – whose wood ovens Ducerf uses – Luxhammar and Maspell,” said Mr Barnes.
“We have an idea or two about where it might be located and I hope that when we bring the technology over here it will be a collaborative effort,” he added. “I think that would be good for the home-grown industry all round.”
Once the kit is on home turf he conservatively estimates that production will be between 5,000-7,000m3 per year and said he sees Brimstone as being “more boutique market” than the mass market of, its imported cousins.
“I see it going into upmarket self-builds and small eco-house developments rather than supermarket chains,” he said. “But it’s quite a nice volume to aim at and it would make a significant difference to the fortunes of our mixed broadleaf woodlands.” In the meantime, the interest garnered at Ecobuild encouraged Vastern to go into production mode rather than marketing mode.
“After Ecobuild we started sawing here but also put quite a lot of ash and poplar into Helmdon Sawmills just to get the volumes up. When you’re selling ash to furniture makers they only want a couple of cubic metres but if you suddenly get a 1,000m2 cladding job, that’s a huge amount of wood to cover.”
Vastern is also planning further value adding in the shape of finger-jointed and laminated door and window scantlings and is working with Dutch finger-jointing and laminating specialist Mevo Houtindustrie on the production of batches for testing. In the meantime the company has produced some windows via a joiner for the Crown Estate.
“They are excited about it because they have a lot of ash and poplar. Taking ash from the Crown Estate, thermally modifying it and making windows to go back into the Estate makes a lovely loop for them.”
