Green mainstream

Summary
• About 24,000 visitors attended the exhibition.
• Modified wood was high-profile.
• Timber structures were the biggest visual interest.
• Austria and Canada had a big timber presence.

The rise and rise of Ecobuild has been startling.

Starting life in 2004 as a small green building conference in Brick Lane, the show, also now incorporating Futurebuild and Cityscape, has grown exponentially. This year it filled two halls at Earl’s Court and attracted over 24,000 visitors.

The exhibition has grabbed hold of the green agenda and thrust it into the mainstream. Add an exhaustive conference agenda to the 550-stand show, with speakers such as Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and RIBA president Sunand Prasad, and you have a recipe for success. TTJ also bumped into Kevin McCloud at one point.

Steico Ltd managing director Mark Wilson summed up the Ecobuild mood. “The show has changed beyond recognition. The main players have all realised that the green issue is a commercial issue, not just an add-on. This has really become an understudy to Interbuild.”

Event director Moira Edwards said exhibitors, speakers and other contributors pushed total show attendance to about 30,000.

“That says sustainability is no longer a Cinderella issue, but one that is high on the agenda of every serious business and professional in the sector,” she said.

The good news for the timber trade was that wood businesses were very prevalent among exhibitors.

Modified wood was firmly in the shop window, with Accoya and Kurawood both having prominent stands and the former sponsoring one of the seminar theatres, complete with Accoya doors and windows.

BSW Timber, exclusive supplier of Accoya in the UK and Ireland, reported strong interest in the brand, despite being launched here less than a year ago.

“We are trying to get the brand out there and give marketing support for our manufacturers – and hopefully pick up new joinery companies too,” said BSW marketing manager Brian Crennell.

Rival Kurawood used Ecobuild to announce it was on the brink of major market breakthroughs in the UK, as well as spreading the word about increasing capacity (300,000m³ at the New Zealand plant next year).

It displayed Kura-brand flooring and windows made from the company’s Vecowood timber, plantation softwood modified to perform like hardwood.

“We are close to an announcement on a major contract to supply Kura flooring to a DIY multiple and are also discussing distribution of Vecowood with a number of stockists,” said sales and marketing director Kevin Fraser.

Specialist Joinery (South) Ltd, which made the Accoya doors and windows for the seminar theatre, exhibited an Accoya door on its stand and has used 60m³ of the material to date.

“I think there’s been a wider spread of visitors geographically this year,” said David Pattenden, the company’s managing director. “Last year most people came from London and the south. But this year there has been a wider base, with people from as far afield as Nottingham and Northern Ireland.”

Eye-catching structures

Timber structures easily outdid rival materials in the visibility stakes, with the biggest eye-catcher being the ruralZED carbon zero house, featuring a whitewood glulam frame and floor joists by Inwood Developments.

Frame UK’s timber frame house was a focus, as was Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Canteen.

The UK Timber Frame Association also sponsored the café in the UK Green Building Council seminar arena. “This show is about raising awareness,” said the UKTFA’s Bob Davis, reporting “lots of interest” from builders wanting to convert to timber frame.

Capricorn Timber Ltd made a last minute decision to attend after being contacted a week earlier to supply an FSC-certified larch worktop for the Canteen. It was the first time it had exhibited at a show of any kind and staff were pleased with the response to its cladding.

Fellow cladding specialist John Brash & Co Ltd constructed its stand from its products – JBAntislip Plus decking, JBShingles and shakes, JBRed roofing battens and JBTimber cladding, including hot oil stained cladding and its new painted range made from western red cedar and a Sikkens coating. Managing director Christian Brash reported a “good cross-section” of architects, specifers and self-builders, most of them asking about durability and sustainability.

Engineered wood products were high-profile, with Finnforest and Steico showing what their I-joists could do in whole house construction and how they could help meet the PassivHaus standard.

Steico’s European sales director Heiko Seen said visitors ranged from main merchant groups to self-builders, builders and other construction professionals, and he was impressed with their “level of knowledge”.

Finnforest said it was looking to bring its licensed PassivHaus system to the UK market, with timber frame manufacturers, housing associations and builders expressing interest in its technology on display.

And Arnold Laver looks likely to exhibit again next year judging from joinery buyer David Oldfield’s enthusiastic response. “We’ve seen everyone from self-builders to representatives of the Tate Gallery who wanted to use more recyclable material in exhibitions,” he said. “This show gets busier each year.”

New Laver products included Danback, a flexible timber backing system for mounting heavy fixtures on plasterboard walls, plus Accoya Oxford planters.

Clifford Jones, the UK’s biggest manufacturer of machine round timber, was promoting its latest business line – wood pellets. A pellet manufacturing plant is being constructed at the company’s Welsh production site, with the plans displayed on the stand. Chairman Alan Jones said consumers were looking for eco heating options and boiler suppliers wanted to find pellet suppliers.

Travis Perkins (TP) distributed a new brochure showing builders and specifiers how to comply with the Code for Sustainable Homes. “We’ve aligned our product offer with the Code,” said Jez Cutler, TP group environment manager. “We’re not giving people a total solution, but product information.”

The brochure explains the various Code categories and which products fit into those categories. But TP has steered clear of saying how many points could be earned or details of the various Code levels.

“We’re making the customer aware that the Code is on its way and is going to be a big part of their decision-making,” said Mr Cutler.

Panel producer Sonae used the show to launch TerraForm, an acrylic-coated OSB for outdoor applications. Available in four colours, with the company providing a colour matching service, the board can be coated on one or two sides. To push its eco message, the company was also giving visitors a sapling to help ‘carbon offset’ their journey to the show.

Overseas presence

Austria and Canada were two of the biggest overseas exhibitors. The former’s pavilion featured companies looking for a UK route to market, such as Mosser, one of Europe’s largest glulam manufacturers, with annual production of 220,000m³.

Sawn timber and glulam manufacturer Hutter was given a world exhibition premiere to its Faszino cladding system, which comprises Austrian mountain spruce which is finger-jointed and coated with a lacquer featuring nanotechnology – silicon particles to give added weather resistance.

Canada Wood UK’s Patrick Cooper, who was on the Québec Wood Export Bureau (QWeb) stand, said Québec companies were keen to establish representatives in the UK, or make Super E homes under licence, as Alouette has done with BSW.

“There are some good opportunities, including for timber merchants – if you are selling trusses why not sell walls panels from Canada too?” said Mr Cooper.

QWeb was also promoting white cedar which is now available in the UK through suppliers such as the Deck Supply Co and Capricorn Timber.