WPA conference focuses on collaboration and communication

The April 11 conference at the Marriot Forest of Arden hotel near Birmingham featured a packed programme and kicked off with a presentation by Timber Trade Federation (TTF) managing director David Hopkins, who highlighted some of the TTF’s action plans this year. These include a focus on the panels sector but also on the treatments sector, which will see strong collaboration between the TTF and WPA this year (TTJ April).

Mr Hopkins said clear priorities for the TTF were: to address the common failure in the UK to specify wood correctly; to address the lack of understanding on how to correctly install and use treated wood; and to ensure independent verification of the treatment process. 

These actions will be drafted as Code of Conduct requirements for TTF members and ratified at the AGM in June, said Mr Hopkins, adding that “buy-in” from members had been really good.

WPA chief executive Gordon Ewbank expanded on this collaboration, saying that the key strategies were aimed at building influence, confidence and competence throughout the supply chain. Working with the TTF enabled the message to penetrate the whole producer, merchant and distributor network, he said.

He added that WPA and TTF had engaged with overseas suppliers and had produced a joint guidance document demonstrating how the British standard BS 8417 dovetailed with those of the Nordic Wood Preservation Council (NTR).

“There is no point in us talking to our side in the supply chain if we’re not also talking to the Swedes,” he said.

The conference also included presentations from BRE director (research) Ed Suttie on the role of wood in healthy buildings; and Elisabeth Piveteau and Vincent Marlin of PiveteauBois on the company’s preservative-treated Hexapli CLT.

The conference was preceded by a dinner and awards ceremony on the evening of April 10. Winners on the night were:

• Quality excellence: Bond Timber
• Treated wood trader: Walford Timber
• Outstanding contribution: Dr Mark Hull, field technical services manager at Lonza Wood Protection
• Innovation: Piveteaubois, for its Hexapli CLT panels
• Project of the year: 999 Club Sleeping Pods, with Burnblock FR treated birch plywood supplied by Specialised Panel Products

A special award was given to former WPA chairman, Dr Chris Coggins, the association’s standards and quality director.

A full report on the conference will appear in the next issue of TTJ.