The British Woodworking Federation has hit the 500 members mark.
BWF president and chief executive of Leaderflush+ Shapland Roy Wakeman made the announcement at the organisation’s first annual dinner in London last week.
‘It is a very significant milestone for us,’ he said. ‘We got 100 new members in the last year, which is a remarkable achievement.’
Mr Wakeman acknowledged that the BWF has not quite achieved another of its goals – annual overall income of £1m, but he said it is heading the right way here too.
‘We won’t hit that level this year, but our income has been increasing,’ he said. ‘This is all the more pleasing given the malaise affecting some other organisations.’
The growth of the BWF was attributed to a number of factors, notably the popularity of its fire door and wood window quality and performance accreditation schemes.
‘The fire door scheme has been a great success, and it now covers the entire doorset, with the BWF label appearing on the door leaf, frame and glazing,’ said Mr Wakeman. ‘We’re also working with FIRA to extend the certification scheme to the installation of doorsets.’
The window scheme is also having a significant impact.
‘I believe the scheme is literally saving the industry for wood windows,’ said Mr Wakeman.
Supporting his claim that the market is coming back to wood windows he pointed to the latest Palmer Research report (TTJ November 11) which showed housing associations buying 33% more last year.
But the BWF could not afford to be complacent, Mr Wakeman concluded, and must maintain the profile of its accreditation schemes.
‘We must also firmly put the low price drive behind us,’ he said. ‘We must focus on giving consumers better, higher added value products.’
