New Economy, New Opportunity

21 November 2016


The UK’s post-Brexit economic reinvention provides an opportunity for the timber sector to highlight its potential in wealth and job creation and in contributing to low carbon growth and development, writes Timber Trade Federation managing director - Dave Hopkins

The upheaval caused by the EU referendum result is forcing a total re-think in the way the country is run. If indeed we are to truly cut free and become an independent trading nation, we have to decide what sort of society we are and the type of economy we would like to create.

It makes sense in a changed world post-Brexit, and now with President Trump in the Whitehouse, to try and build as much resilience into our economy as possible. That will require a strong mixed portfolio of economic actors and sectors, all providing their own multiplier effect. So, while we have yet to see evidence of it in action, Theresa May’s talk of producing a new “industrial strategy” was certainly welcome after the referendum.

Given our new economic and political environment, each and every business and industry sector is working to re-engage and highlight their contribution in terms of jobs, skills, wealth creation and meeting socio-economic need.

The timber industry needs to do the same and reintroduce itself as a key business sector to policy makers who have little to no experience of grappling with issues of this magnitude.

And our credentials are strong. We trade internationally, sourcing product from across the globe. Through the sustainable procurement policies we enforce in the UK, we have a positive effect on countries we trade with. We help enshrine best-practice timber and forest sector governance and management policies, in-turn supporting sustainable global economic and environmental development.

We create high-value, high-performance goods, with very low-energy inputs and low-carbon footprints that add value throughout the chain and can compete on price and performance against all of our competitors. As such they are increasingly specified by the UK’s expanding low-carbon design, manufacture and construction industry.

We also employ people across the skills spectrum, from hi-tech designers to skilled joiners, installers, merchants and warehouse workers. And we’ve estimated that the timber sector provides jobs in every political constituency nationwide.

What greater resilience could there be in the economy than provision of skilled trades and employment at the heart of every community?

Our latest statistics from the Timber Trade Federation also show that we are not only one of the larger manufacturing sectors in the UK economy, but one of the fastest growing.

So, we have a great story to tell and one that becomes truly excellent if we join the dots and tell it from the perspective of the whole supply chain.

And, that is exactly what we’re doing on November 30. Coming together under the umbrella of the Confederation of Timber Industries, the TTF, BWF, STA and BMF will be jointly presenting the case for the timber industry to an audience of MPs and industry members in a conference at Westminster.

It’s the first in a series of events planned for the coming year. Each will be designed to engage policy makers with the timber supply chain and demonstrate its vital contribution and its huge potential in this new era in national and local economies.

Dave Hopkins