What Next in 2021?

This is a year to embrace collaboration, new regulation and huge opportunities, says Helen Hewitt, CEO of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF).

s a trade organisation we’ve always been by the side of A our members, helping them to navigate challenges and seize opportunities, but in 2020 this took on a whole new meaning. We’ve seen the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our members and we’ve worked hard to ensure we are reactive and support them, and the wider construction industry, in the best way we can.

Facing challenges together

For all of the challenges of the pandemic in 2020, it has brought our sector and the wider supply chain closer together for the first time in a long time. To help the construction industry co-ordinate when it reopened after the March lockdown, everyone came together under the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and Build UK.

Through the BWF’s membership of Build UK and the Construction Products Association, we were able to represent the woodworking and joinery manufacture sector and ensure its voice was included in the creation of the CLC Roadmap to Recovery as well as discussions over product availability and site operating procedures. This cross-industry collaboration has been hugely beneficial to immediate post-COVID lockdown recovery and was a clear demonstration that together we can tackle and overcome challenges of unprecedented size. This collaborative approach was vital to the overall effectiveness of the construction supply chain, and it must continue into 2021 to help us move forward and tackle challenges together.

Navigating regulation

A considerable challenge for 2021 will be the introduction of new regulation. For the manufacturing industry, this puts extra pressure on our members, who often don’t have the time to unpick complex new guidelines and regulation. One of the biggest challenges of Brexit will be the introduction of UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking, which will cover most goods that previously required CE marking.

The Government expectations in terms of conformity for UKCA marking is not easy for everyone to understand, but all manufacturers are obliged to comply. Helping BWF members understand and navigate this change will be a core part of our focus next year. Providing access to simple-to-follow guidelines as well informative sessions such as webinars, we will ensure that members have the knowledge and understanding to conform to the new regulations. Regulation and policy have a large influence on our members, and so lobbying Government to protect their interests and influence policy will remain at the heart of the BWF’s work in 2021. We will continue to lobby the Government over fire safety standards, the use of timber as a preferred construction material and for truly sustainably-minded incentives to stimulate the home renovation market.

Our hope is for incentives to be based on whole-life carbon assessment and material choice rather than being solely based upon operational carbon. Although the recent Green Homes Grant is a positive economic stimulus, it provides no guidance on the types of materials that homeowners should use and is therefore a lost opportunity for our sector.

Personal growth and development

Although the pandemic and Brexit continues to influence our sector, we can’t allow this to detract our attention from skills and development as they remain integral to growth. By providing access to quality training provision, the BWF continues to support efforts to reduce our sector’s skills gap by encouraging new talent into the profession and developing the skills of individuals already working in the sector. Retaining and developing existing talent through continuous learning is crucial to skills retention. The impact that Brexit will have on the labour market is not yet clear, but we’re working hard on behalf of members to ensure that they have access to the relevant courses and qualifications to help plug any skills gaps. There are also significant changes on the horizon, brought about by the Fire Safety and Building Safety Bills, which will impact our sector. Both bills have competency and standards as a key focus, so we’ll be representing our members and helping guide them through the changes that will come into force – with an emphasis on skills, training and certification. 2020 was a challenging year but I’ve been so encouraged by the resolve and determination of our membership to get through it, and I’ve no doubt that our resilience will see us grow stronger in 2021 and beyond. We must continue our essential focus on collaboration, skills and development, and ensuring timber is at the heart of sustainable construction.

LIGNIA® is ‘wood made for life’, beautiful, durable and highly sustainable. It starts out life as a softwood, from FSC® managed plantations, and we then modify it, giving it all the properties and beauty normally associated with hardwoods.

LIGNIA is used for decking, cladding, fl ooring and general joinery items such as window frames and doors. It’s a small movement timber and has been independently tested by leading bodies in the UK, Europe and North America for stability, hardness, termite resistance, density and slip resistance. It also comes with a 50-year warranty against fungal decay and rot in above-ground conditions.

LIGNIA®, BEAUTIFUL MODIFIED TIMBER FOR LIFE

In addition to our regular LIGNIA product we also manufacture ‘LIGNIA Fire’ which is used for decking, cladding, doors and many other applications and features built-in improved fi reretardant properties (so no need for additional impregnation with fi re retardants). LIGNIA Fire is available in the USA from April (Class A - ASTM-E84) and will be on the market in the UK and Europe later in 2019.

Please contact our exclusive UK & Ireland distributor Timber Connection for further details at lignia@timberconnection.co.uk

e w lignia@timberconnection.co.uk lignia.com

LIGNIA Wood Company Limited, Ty ^ Coed, Unit 10, Atlantic Trading Estate, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, CF63 3RF, UK