Strength in unity

The recently published James Review into the way that capital funding is spent on schools in England made an interesting recommendation that new school buildings should be based on a clear set of standardised drawings and specifications that will incorporate the latest thinking on educational requirements and the bulk of regulatory needs.

This is exactly the sort of thing that some in the timber industry have been doing for years. I remember visiting the BRE Innovation Park three years ago and being blown away by the Craig White/ Eurban schoolroom made from cross-laminated timber.

It has been a few years since I was in a classroom but this one felt warm, nurturing and inviting – material and design coming together to deliver the educational requirements James demands. And on standardisation and cost this ticks the boxes too. Standard designs, manufactured offsite, and then rapidly constructed.

Once again wood is the solution to another one of the challenges currently before the construction industry. Yet, I still find myself nervous that these opportunities are going to pass us by because we simply can’t get our act together. Our competing materials are co-ordinated and we are not. We don’t speak with one voice sufficiently clearly or loudly, we don’t have enough people to sit in all the fora we need to sit in, we don’t spend enough on promoting our products.

I know I’ve banged on about this before but companies in this industry have got to invest in it; from innovation to education to the trade association to Wood for Good. I know it is easy for me to say and the market isn’t exactly booming, but nobody else is going to do this. We don’t have companies the size of Lafarge or Tata Steel to pour millions into this kind of work.

I applaud the work all the industry trade bodies are doing and there is no doubt we are doing better at working together. It is work that has to continue and I’m pleased that the response to TTF president Martin Gale’s invitation to come and discuss these issues over lunch in May has had such a positive response. With a bit of effort there is no reason we can’t grasp all the opportunities going.

? TTJ Industry Updates are a forum for trade bodies to address key issues.