FEATURE THE BIG INTERVIEW
Changing the Timber Mindset Vastern Timber is the largest hardwood saw-milling company in the UK, with the vast majority of its wood bought and sold within one hundred miles of its sawmills. We spoke to managing director, Tom Barnes about homegrown wood, thermal modification and supply and demand.
Q:
How has the last 12 months been for the business?
and sycamore. In many cases the homegrown versions are cheaper
It’s been a rollercoaster but with more ups than
than imported timber. We do not have enough wood to satisfy the
downs. Apart from the initial lockdown in March 2020,
huge demand in this country but recent supply shortages and huge
demand for our timber has been strong and the last nine
price increases of Canadian cedar and Siberian larch demonstrate that
months have been our busiest ever. As well as general high demand,
our reliance on importing leaves our plans to build with more wood in
shortages of imported timber and an increasing focus on supply chains
jeopardy. I believe that we must aim to be more self-sufficient which
have pushed specifiers and customers towards homegrown timber and
means planting more and using more.
we have definitely benefited from that. Q: The timber market appears to be very busy right now and prices are rising. What is driving this and is it affecting the homegrown market? The construction sector drives the timber market, and I am surprised by how busy that has been. I think most of us were expecting a recession on the back of the Covid pandemic but it seems the opposite has occurred. High demand in this country has been replicated in the USA, Australia and across Asia, which has created a very competitive environment. At the same time, supply has been constricted by lockdowns and for various reasons large supply countries have reduced felling. The consequence is that prices for some timber products have doubled and availability has halved over the last year. The knock-on effect is that UK softwood log prices have increased by 40% and competition for them is fierce. The hardwood log market is less affected because there are fewer companies able to process them but prices are rising. It’s a good time to own woodland! Q: What are the reasons for using homegrown timber cladding as opposed to imported species – e.g. Canadian western red cedar? We grow plenty of species in this country that are suited to exterior timber cladding. Homegrown western red cedar, larch, oak and sweet chestnut are all suitable due to their natural durability and with the help of thermal modification we can now also use native ash, poplar
Timber Construction Magazine
Summer 2021
22
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