Supply & Deliver

We caught up with International Timber’s Managing Director, Paul Martin, to find out more about one of the UK’s largest importers and wholesalers of sustainably sourced timber and panels.

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at within the Saint-Gobain OffSite Solutions division, as part of a group of companies that aim to provide a solutions-based focus to our customers. International Timber (IT) prides itself on having years of expertise in the timber industry and are ideally placed to help its customers navigate the oftencomplex world of timber. The timber material supply chain has been under pressure for some time and the Ukrainian conflict has added to this – is it stabilising and where have the pressure points been? “We work hard to ensure that we keep our customers safe through the work we do in sustainable sourcing, says Paul. “Our aim is to be more than just a supplier of timber, but to offer a full-service approach, working with our customers to really understand their needs and develop a solution to fit. Unfortunately, it’s a very difficult time for the timber industry as a whole. The challenging mix of high demand and disrupted logistics which began with the pandemic have been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. But this isn’t a regional problem – every corner of world supply has been affected, from Asia to West Africa and from North America to Europe.

“Other issues being contended with are lack of labour, geographical issues, weather and even forest fires. Any one of these can affect timescales or even stop supply routes in their tracks. But the good news is that we’re finding an overall healthy ebb and flow of timber supply. We are still receiving shipments from across the world, and in the rare case that we can’t supply a species then we can locate a viable alternative.”

Accoya®

IT is a key importer and distributor of Accoya® and the benefits of this modified wood as an alternative to tropical timbers, has seen it become a far more popular choice for architects. “Accoya® is among the very most sustainable and environmentally friendly timbers on the market,” says Paul. “With each cubic metre of Accoya® containing nearly one tonne of CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere, the timber will keep carbon safely stored for decades. Engineered via a process called acetylation, it produces a versatile, strong and aesthetically pleasing alternative product that is quickly rising in popularity. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing Accoya installed in some fantastic projects, from the award-winning The Built: East

Pavilion in Belfast to fenders for the banks of the Thames in London as part of a biodiversity and flood management trial.”

Visualiser tool

IT’s ‘visualiser tool’ is designed to help customers to select, view and explore products in-situ to see how they might work for their projects and has recently been upgraded with several new features. “The latest update to the tool has added different house and building types to the visualiser,” says Paul. “This means users can now pick the build closest to their current project and can now add items currently in place such as walls, doors, sills, or roofs so that they can get as close as possible to the actual project. The visualisation tool also allows the user to view cladding in various positions, both horizontal or vertical, next to a window or around a doorway. In addition to these new features, more cladding types have been added to the visualiser including coated cladding.” IT has built a successful ‘sector-focused business’ and offers a ‘vast array of species and finished products’ – what are the market leading products for the trade and construction sector and how do you keep track of industry innovation? “Our team lives and breathes timber, all day every day,” adds Paul. “We pride ourselves on honing that expertise, whether it’s working with partners across the world to procure specific timber species, investing and implementing new timber technologies, or creating processes to ensure all the stock that passes through our books is sustainably sourced.

“Ultimately, we want to make sure we’re supplying products that address the needs of our customers. For example, we’re seeing an increasing demand for engineered timber, which we see as a correlation to the labour shortages across most sectors and the reduced availability of sawn timbers. Engineered components can help to reduce demand for onsite labour, preventing delays and runaway costs. We are also seeing an increased demand for modified timbers – these are timbers which following a process of modification – offer the benefits of durability and stability for applications such as external joinery, cladding and decking. Regulations where Euroclass B or C. We take our role in treating timber to protect it against fire very seriously, supplying customers with Sentrin FRX, a proven fire-retardant impregnation treatment which is suitable for a wide range of construction projects. We help customers to specify the correct and most reliable fire protection, considering factors such as exterior applications or severe damp situations. Industrially applied fire-retardant treatments provide end users with the peace of mind that in the unlikely event of a fire, the treated timber will be able to withstand fire for a longer period of time.”

Coatings and protection

Timber coatings – including fire retardants – are hugely important and IT are helping customers in several ways when talk turns to wood protection and coatings by explaining to those unfamiliar with timber specification that wood is a safe construction product. Paul says: “When it comes to coatings, we have a dedicated plant where we provide a variety of options to enhance the beauty and prolong the appearance of the timber we supply. This might include coatings that enhance the weathered appearance of the timber or a more traditional painted finish. We are factory coaters for all leading paint manufacturers, which gives customers a lot of confidence that we can deliver any desired finish. “Meanwhile, with the correct use of modern pressure fire-retardant treatments, timber can be considered among the safest of construction materials. Such coatings help timber to maintain strength and integrity in the event of a fire, and can achieve compliance with Building

IT has invested heavily in its manufacturing sites and providing industry apprenticeships and will be developing these aspects over the next 18 months. How will the timber sector develop generally in the coming months? “We will always continue to invest in our sites to ensure that we keep up with changes in technologies and processes. The skills gap that the overall construction sector faces also poses issues for our industry. Recruiting mill machinists and operators is a real challenge, but we will continue to promote International Timber as a great place to work with an inclusive and diverse culture, attracting young and fresh talent into the sector. The sector needs these new recruits if it is to be the material of choice for the future of construction.”

More at  www.internationaltimber.com and you can try the visualiser tool out for yourself at  https://designer.internationaltimber.com/

Go Local Go Sustainable

A new inquiry launched by the Environmental Audit Committee will look at the links between the sustainability of the UK’s timber industry, imports of key commodities and global deforestation.

With global timber demand set to quadruple by 2050 and given the commitment to promote timber use in construction as part of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy, domestic demand is also likely to increase. However, the UK is the second highest importer of wood in the world, importing 82% of all its timber in 2020, of which almost a fifth was in the form of wood pellets. It is estimated that around one fifth of the UK’s imported timber footprint is from countries considered to have high social and/or environmental risks associated with their forestry practices. There are also questions around the ability of domestic supplies to meet future demand. In 2019, Global Forest Watch estimated that 10 football pitches of primary tropical forest around the world were lost per minute. The loss of tropical primary forest in 2021 resulted in carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to the annual fossil fuel emissions of India. It is estimated that agriculture is responsible for around 90% of global deforestation, with half of the food consumed in the UK imported from overseas. Just seven ‘forest risk’ commodities - soy, cocoa, palm oil, beef and leather, paper, rubber, and timber - account for a land footprint equivalent to 88% of the UK in size every year. It is estimated that fuelwood imports account for 32% of the UK’s total timber imports and these have doubled since 2015. Proposals for bioenergy generation in the Net Zero Strategy will likely require an increase in the supply of sustainable biomass feedstocks by 2050.

In this context, the EAC will explore how best to scale up a sustainable and resilient domestic timber sector to reduce reliance on imports, whilst also achieving its wider nature recovery and biodiversity goals through woodland creation. This new inquiry will explore the degree to which UK supply chains contribute to deforestation overseas, the effectiveness of the Government’s efforts to curb this, and how the UK works with international partners to tackle deforestation.

Environmental Audit Committee Chairman, Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, said: “Forests around the world are the lungs of the planet, locking in damaging carbon and breathing out oxygen. Global deforestation is threatening this: it destroys precious biodiversity and is one of the greatest threats to warding off runaway climate change. Yet here in the UK we continue to import over 80% of timber, some of which is from nations that have damaging track records of deforestation. “We must make sure the domestic timber industry is fit for the future and can support our net zero ambitions, while better understanding the impact any imports have on the wider world. This follows up our earlier report on the UK’s footprint on global biodiversity, where we called on the Government to assess accurately the environmental impact of the UK’s consumption of key commodities.”

The Committee will be focusing its inquiry on three detailed areas - Growing the UK timber industry (including: does the UK government, working with the devolved administrations, have an effective, joined-up plan with appropriate incentives to increase the production and use of sustainable, domestically grown timber in the UK to reduce its reliance on imports?), The effectiveness of UK efforts to reduce global deforestation (including: what role can sustainable certification and Government Buying Standards (GBS), have in tackling deforestation? How can the UK Government support the private sector to reduce its contribution to furthering deforestation?) and Working with international partners to tackle deforestation. Speaking about the inquiry, Stuart Goodall, CEO of Confor, said: “We have constantly stressed the need to develop a sustainable productive forestry and timber industry in the UK, to grow more of the wood we consume, rather than relying on ever-increasing imports against a backdrop of surging global demand for wood. As this inquiry announcement highlights, global timber demand is set to quadruple by 2050 and the UK is the second largest importer of timber in the world after China. With few countries producing more supplies of wood, I just cannot understand why the UK Government is not doing more to increase the amount of domestic timber being produced.”

More at  https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/ environmental-audit-committee

Transforming British Woods

Thermally modified wood made from British-grown timber

Brimstone is a beautiful range of thermally modified British wood for cladding, decking and joinery.

We use intense heat to reconfigure locally grown wood into a more durable, stable and consistent material. And by using British species we’re investing in local woodlands.