The North East Coast Timber Trade Association (NECTTA) and the Yorkshire and Humberside Timber Trade Association have merged to create the North East Timber Trade Association.
The move was welcomed by Timber Trade Federation (TTF) vice-president John Tong, guest speaker at the NECTTA dinner in Newcastle last week, who said the merger would strengthen the trade’s voice in the north-east.
Mr Tong said that in 2002 the trade in timber materials supplied to the manufacturing, conversion and end-use markets was estimated to be £2.3bn or 16.4 million m3 in the UK, an estimated 1.2% increase over the previous year.
“We know that compared to other EU market places the UK has room for even further growth in timber consumption,” he said, adding that promoting that consumption is one of the key tasks of the federation.
He cited the wood. for good campaign as being central to the mission of creating conditions in which the trade could thrive, adding that he hoped members would support an initiative, proposed by Michael Walker, president of the Scottish Timber Trade Association, to raise funds by means of a promotional levy on timber.
During the evening the NECTTA Structural Timber Awards 2003 were presented. Students from the architectural department of Newcastle University had been invited to design a hide and instruction centre for bird watching activities and their projects were judged by TRADA.
The winning team was led by Elena Revell, with a group led by Judi Ashcroft in second place. Award sponsor Neil Donaldson of Donaldson Timber Engineering presented the prizes.
With the demise of NECTTA, chairman Ian Robinson presented the NECTTA chain of office to secretary Alan Wilkinson in recognition of his years of service to the association.
