Meeting of minds

In 2006 to mark 30 years of the brand, Medite launched the Medite 2016 Forum. The idea was to give the industry an opportunity to look to the next 10 years, to discuss and debate the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.

In association with TTJ under the Wood Futures banner it has hosted conferences and commissioned monthly articles from people in and associated with the timber industry from around the world. Now halfway through its decade, the 2016 Forum, with TTJ, decided to host a round table discussion to consider what the next five years have in store.

The participants were UCM Timber plc trading director Mark Bowers; Building Centre director Andrew Scoones; James Latham plc and PEFC UK chairman Peter Latham; professor of Timber Engineering at The University of Bath Richard Harris; Malaysian Timber Council director Sheam Satkuru-Granzella; Wood for Good campaign and Scottish Forestry and Timber Technology Advisory Group (SFTTAG) chairman John Kissock; and Timber Trade Federation chief executive John White. The Medite 2016 Forum was represented by Geoff Rhodes, marketing and business development director of Medite producer Coillte Panel Products, and Peter Travis from marketing consultancy +travis. From TTJ were editor Mike Jeffree and news editor Stephen Powney.

The discussion covered:

Five-year forecast
Timber markets
Supply issues
Environmental issues
Marketing and communication