Swedish fire-retardant wood specialist targets UK

1 July 2020


Leading Scandinavian fire-retardant treatment specialist Woodsafe Timber Protection is making moves to establish itself in the UK.

The company, which has 30 years of experience mainly in fire retardant wood cladding and fire-retardant wood surface layers, told TTJ it wants to partner with a select group of UK distributors, as well as educate architects in London about the performance of fire-retardant treated wood.

Thomas Bengtsson, CEO of Woodsafe, said the company had supplied fire-retardant treatment services for over 1,200 projects in Europe. Cederhusen in Stockholm, Mall of Scandinavia, Turning Torso and the world's current tallest wooden building (85m) – Mjöstornet, in Norway are some of the well-known examples in Woodsafe’s portfolio.

"The UK is the largest market in Europe in terms of fire-retardant wood products," said Mr Bengtsson.

“Another reason we are looking at the UK is that a lot of the big architectural firms have a headquarters in London and they work in a number of countries. A strong emphasis of ours over many years is talking with architects – the goal now is to work with them because knowledge of fire treatments and regulation is quite low.”

Woodsafe became the first company in Scandinavia to be certified by the Wood Protection Association (WPA) last autumn. It is also a member of the Timber Decking and Cladding Association and the Timber Trade Federation in the UK.

"We are experiencing a strong demand for our services," added Mr Bengtsson. “We are actively seeking collaboration partners.”

Woodsafe already has one previous partnership in the UK with Sodra Wood Ltd.

The company uses a vacuum / pressure process to treat wood with fire-retardant at its base in Västeras. Its treatment offerings include Woodsafe PRO, Woodsafe Exterior WFX and Woodsafe PRO Plywood, with the company offering itself as a one-stop shop for all interior and exterior fire-retardant treatment services.