12 minute read
Timber Expo 2021
Back with a Buzz
Timber Expo is back again as a live event at the NEC this October, retaking its place as the UK’s only dedicated timber trade show and one of the key highlights of the awardwinning UK Construction Week (UKCW).
It’s a welcome sight. After 18 months of being cooped up at home, unable to benefit from the serendipities of networking, making new contacts or discovering new products without having to spend hours trawling online, the return of trade shows is being greeted with open arms by many in the timber industry. The rate of registrations for the first major construction event in two years has already got off to a record-breaking start, running at 22% higher than for the same period in 2019. Those who pivoted towards digital-first last March were the first off the starting blocks during lockdown. Now it’s the other way around – those who are prioritising face-to-face communication are gearing up to reap the benefits of a post-Covid business bounce.
Two years’ worth of products, solutions and innovations
There’s a lot to catch up on. Timber Expo was last held in 2019 and since then there have been significant advances in key legislative areas around fire and life safety, net zero and post-Brexit trading, not to mention huge strides forward in digitalisation and two years’ worth of exciting new products and services for the sector. In recognition of the quality of its events, UKCW has won two major awards in the last year, scooping the Best Trade Show award from Exhibition News and the Best UK Tradeshow award by the Association of Event Organisers. It is testament to the innovations, positive delegate experience and sustainable procedures around events like Timber Expo. This year it will all be put into practice once again.
Timber Expo is free to attend, with delegates able to share and update their technical knowledge and debate topical matters around all the latest ideas and developments from across the timber sector. There will be many opportunities to network with both new and familiar faces and learn about the trends that are currently affecting the market, making UKCW one of the most important dates for the rest of this year.
What’s on?
Timber Expo is a dedicated area in the UKCW event which runs from 5-7 October at the NEC in Birmingham. UKCW 2021 is expected to attract more than 20,000 specifiers and buyers with at least 300 exhibitors providing launches, demos and offers on more than 6,000 products.
The UK’s largest timber showcase
FEATURING PAVILIONS FROM: Russia - Czech Republic - Germany
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www.timber-expo.co.uk
Burger & Cie GRAD system Baumann Sideloaders
Products being put on show at Timber Expo will be relevant to a breadth of timber applications, including timber frame construction, sawmills, merchants, glulam, SIPs, CLT, fixings and fastenings, timber cladding, doors and windows, mouldings, skirtings and flooring. Reflecting the interest in the booming UK market following Brexit, exhibitors at this year’s Timber Expo are not just from the UK but from an increasingly diverse international market. These include Adkalis (a subsidiary of Groupe Berkem in France), one of the major players in the protection, treatment and decoration of wood materials, which is using Timber Expo to promote its 100% organic microemulsion guaranteed to preserve wood’s natural state and longevity through bio-based materials.
Burger & Cie, another French business, has an exclusive fastening system on show, for use with timber decking and other timber products. Its GRAD system has no screws, is invisible, reliable, and removable for the interior and exterior of buildings, revolutionising how we fasten materials.
Baumann Sideloaders is coming over from Italy to promote its vehicles and machinery, including unveiling its newest 120v electric model, the ELX Plus – the first of its kind seen in the UK, perfect for handling timber or roof trusses, and with zero emissions. The ELX is the most compact machine of its type ever produced and features a completely new chassis, battery and power train configuration. DHS International from the Netherlands will be promoting its popular European Oak and Siberian Larch hardwood beams and boards, pine and spruce timber, and finished product wooden panels. Among the major UK brands at the show, PRO-TEK Flooring will also be introducing new products for the first time, with 28 new styles, including 12 herringbone patterns expanding its ever-growing range of designs. There will also be a state-of-the-art virtual showroom unveiling from Hanson Plywood, the perfect platform for architects, designers and specifiers to view all Hanson’s plywood products along with their accompanying technical data.
Spoilt for choice
In addition to Timber Expo, there is much to see at this years’ event. Each day has a topical theme, with day one focusing on sustainability, day two on diversity, equality and inclusion in construction, and day three dedicated to major updates on quality, social value and building safety. UKCW’s long-established half-day summits on Quality and Wellbeing will also be scheduled during the show (you can add a ticket to these summits at the same time as registering for Timber Expo), along with the BMF’s Young Merchants Conference. Grand Designs Live is also running next to UKCW from 6-10 October and is free to attend from 6-7 October. Don’t miss the insightful line-up on the UKCW main stage, with keynote talks and panel discussions from industry experts, commentators and disruptors. This years’ main stage, sponsored by COINS, will see presentations by senior leaders from, among others, McKinsey, the Construction Products Association, CIOB, Willmott Dixon, Barratt Homes, Bioregional, Grimshaw, the Sustainable Energy Association and the Construction Leadership Council. The COINS ‘Future of Construction’ series of seminars will be looking at how the last 18 months have changed the way we build and how that catalyst for change can now be used in a positive way. These sessions will cover updates in technology, procurement, sustainability, wellbeing and more. The pandemic saw a real rise in demand for digital transformation and the adoption of new technology. The Digital Construction Hub, sponsored by Procore, will feature more than 30 presentations and over 10 hours of learning. There will be a large Sustainability Hub, supported by the Renewable Energy Association, plus the Regeneration Hub, sponsored by Easy-trim, which will focus on social value and quality issues in construction.
Timbermark at Timber Expo
Timbermark ID Systems Ltd will be showcasing its latest range of thermal inkjet (TIJ) printers at this year’s Timber Expo.
B
rand new from Timbermark are the B30 and B80 handheld devices from Zhuhai Bentsai Printing Technology in China. The new products offer some exciting new features for handheld TIJ printers.
Firstly, they come with a 1” printhead as standard (twice the height of the standard HP product), which is perfect for printing HT stamps on pallet blocks and bearers. The B30 machine is ideally suited to this application (see image).
The B80 printer uses 4 of these cartridges to print characters and logos up to 4” (100mm) in height. This high impact, high resolution print is especially suitable for packing cases. A guiderail is available to keep all the printheads in perfect registration.
The second innovation, is to help users bring down the cost of ink use. The printers have an adjustable greyscale setting so that users can decide how light or dark they want their colour to be, optimising print quality and cost per print. For the water-based ink cartridges, which are ideal for printing on timber, Bentsai have introduced a refill kit, so that one 42ml ink cartridge can be reused up to 4 times.
The new handheld printers will be on show and available for visitors to try out on Timbermark’s stand (M135) alongside the fixed position printers from Sojet, which are suitable for installation onto factory production lines. Timbermark’s Sojet range of printers are already used by sawmills and panel factories across the UK and Europe. Their super-sharp print quality can print bar codes onto end grain, or characters as small as 1mm onto planed timber at speeds of up to 300m/min. Like the Bentsai handheld devices, their ink cartridges carry an integral printhead limiting downtime by offering easy maintenance solutions.
Stitching up to 6 printhead together means Sojet’s Elfin VI printer can print over 3” or 75mm in height. The heads can be grouped according to the user’s requirements, which is useful for sawmills running splits on a planning line, or for printing across boards on a grading line in several places. Single or 2-head versions are available for smaller designs.
Timbermark has recently opened a European subsidiary office to tackle the delays it encountered exporting to Europe post-Brexit. Orders from the EU – including the Republic of Ireland - can now be fulfilled from its subsidiary office, based near Bruges in Belgium.
SEE US AT STAND B835
Crystal clear printing every time
• Bentsai B30 handheld inkjet printer • Prints HT stamps, logos, date and batch data in high resolution • Prints one inch/2.54cm high • Prints onto pallet blocks, bearers, packing cases and other packing materials • Prints onto fresh, rough-sawn timber • Print is waterproof once dry • Typically 5,000—10,000 stamps per cartridge • Refillable water-based black ink cartridges
Working with the Offsite Alliance, the Modern Methods of Construction Hub will deliver three days of MMC and offsite construction case studies. The Innovation Zone will also return and will be a huge draw for many, showcasing a collection of the most interesting and inventive products that have allowed construction projects to thrive and keep going through numerous lockdowns.
Celebrate
It’s not just about the products – Timber Expo is first and foremost about meeting, celebrating and being inspired by great people. With skills shortages and talent retention issues faced by many across the construction industry, a highly motivated group of experts are taking the lead to inspire the next generation, as part of the UKCW Role Model of the Year awards.
A total of 102 people from across all sectors of construction have been shortlisted as role models for the industry, with several representing the timber and wood industry. These include Barbara Jones, director at Strawworks, a world leader in climate change mitigation, that designs cement-free foundations as standard and promotes materials that store carbon for construction (straw and timber in particular), and Carl Benfield, the timber business development manager at Benfield ATT. Andy Locker, lecturer of wood machining at Stoke-on-Trent College and Barry Goodwin, carpentry and joinery lecturer at Wigan-Leigh College, are both shortlisted, recognising their contribution to helping to educate future generations on the importance and benefits of wood use. All will go forward to the final of awards scheme, with the winner announced at 3pm on 6 October on the UKCW main stage.
The UKCW Role Models awards scheme provides both personal and wider community benefit, including creating a public platform to professionals of any age and background. And finally, at the end of a jampacked day, attendees are invited to unwind, share experiences and chat over the day’s events at UKCW’s popular beer festival.
Free registration to UK Construction Week is now open: ukconstructionweek-2021-visitor.reg.buzz/pr
One entry badge gives access to multiple sections: Build, Modern Methods of Construction, Building Tech, Timber, Civils, Energy and HVAC, and Surface and Materials, as well as Grand Designs Live, which runs from 6-10 October and is free to attend on 6-7 October.
To get regular updates on the event, including safety protocols and new features, follow UKCW on social media using the hashtag #UKCW2021. More at www.ukconstructionweek.com
Andrew Carpenter, CEO at the Structural Timber Association (STA), a returning partner at this year’s event:
“UKCW is the perfect place to meet with other passionate professionals to learn and discuss the most important industry issues and come together to create real change for the future. In my forty-four years within the UK construction industry, never have I witnessed two topics that are dominating the sector to such effect. I refer of course to the global climate crisis and the Building Safety Bill.
“On the one hand, we have many organisations clambering for the use of more structural timber in construction, and on the other, people suggesting you shouldn’t use combustible materials in the external skin, as has been experienced in the London Mayor banning timber frame in his affordable homes programme 2021-2026. The most sensible approach to this is to deal with both subjects together, as they are inextricably linked. It goes without saying, that any construction has to be wholly safe, but also it should be providing a zero carbon solution.
“The STA is currently working with a plethora of organisations to promote the solutions to fire safety in accordance with the Building Safety Bill, as well as the obvious benefits of structural timber when it comes to net zero. It was two years ago that the Climate Change Committee recommended the use of more timber in construction and this advice has been promoted far and wide within the Time for Timber campaign and in our dealings with industry bodies. Many support this direction of travel and the STA are particularly encouraged having received full RIBA support.
“One particular interesting piece of work being carried out in the industry, is the Construction Industry Council’s CO2nstruct Zero Champions. Here, companies are being identified as ‘champions’ when it comes to their zero carbon credentials. From my position as a CO2nstruct Zero Board member, I am suggesting the timber, steel and concrete sectors need to agree a set of metrics by which carbon can be measured, so that clients, designers and contractors specifying materials, can compare like-forlike. This move has the backing of the CLC. We look forward to discussing these major issues at Timber Expo.”
