New secretariat strengthens TRA

The Trussed Rafter Association (TRA) will receive many benefits from The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) running its secretariat, but it will retain its separate identity.

Speaking to the TRA’s AGM in Manchester last week, TTF chief executive John White assured members that “we are not going to do anything to the TRA identity”.

“We have that very much at the forefront of our minds,” he said. “There’s nothing happening at the edges which will weaken that identity.”

He also said there would be no requirement on TRA members to join the TTF.

As the TRA’s secretariat, the TTF will manage the association’s finances, subscriptions, suppliers and website, administer the TRA committees and organise its AGM.

Mr White said the move would also enhance TRA members’ offer by providing access to the TTF’s highly qualified team; access to business and trade knowledge transfer; statistical information; use of the TTF’s Responsible Purchasing Policy; use of facilities at the Building Centre, where the TTF is based; formal representation; and a dedicated TRA phone line.

Outgoing TRA chairman Philip Bell welcomed the new arrangement as a positive step. “From our perspective it’s exciting and will enable us to move the TRA forward,” he said.

Mr White saw the arrangement as a start to addressing the timber industry’s fragmentation and presenting a more unified voice.

In its five-year plan published last year, the TTF proposes the formation of a Wood Industry Council to aid more collective working and over the next few months the TTF will be inviting industry bodies to join.

“We’ll ask them to meet three or four times a year. That’s the next step for the timber industry,” said Mr White.

The TRA’s new dedicated telephone number is 020 3205 0032.