The Irish timber industry has seen some major changes in fortune over the last 12 months, not least the sudden decline in housebuilding. This was the message from Christy Conway, deputy president of the Irish Timber Trade Association (ITTA) at its annual dinner on December 4. The event, held in Dublin’s Burlington Hotel, attracted around 185 guests.
“There has been a 40% drop in output in the housing sector, down from 90,000 units in 2006 to 58,000 this year, and it’s taken some people by surprise,” said Mr Conway.
However, he added, the decline in newbuild had released some skills from the construction market and these were being diverted to the repair, maintenance and improvement market, which is performing extremely well. “There is not a street you could travel down in any town or city in Ireland where there are not several massive refurbishment or extension programmes in progress,” he said.
Mr Conway went on to describe some of the work of the Wood Marketing Federation (WMF), of which the ITTA is a member. The WMF’s timber manual “Woodspec” is in great demand, he said.
He added that WMF, along with the Northern Ireland organisation Wood-NI, had held a conference in September, which covered issues surrounding sustainable procurement and indicated that a similar event may take place next year.
