Time to dance to the same tune

Even the dour International Monetary Fund has raised its UK growth forecast, doubling it to 1.7% for 2013 and giving chancellor George Osborne the chance to hit back at its earlier criticism of his austerity programme.

The latest from construction industry bodies and pundits also makes encouraging reading. Forecaster EY ITEM predicts a 12% house transactions rise to over a million this year and the Construction Products Association forecasts construction output growth of 2.2% in 2014 more than doubling in 2015.

So, after five tough years, is it finally time for timber to kick back and order another full fat latte? Sadly, according to speakers at the recent ProTimber Summit, not quite yet.

The Summit was held at Timber Expo where the mood was upbeat. There were more exhibitors and visitors and the general consensus was that the industry is turning the corner with the rest of construction.

But ProTimber was looking beyond this year and next to the major challenges set by the government's Construction Strategy 2025 released this summer. It made it clear that these mean the industry cannot afford to just float along on the economic upturn.

The Strategy sets hugely ambitious goals for UK building over the next 12 years. These include a 33% cut in build costs and staggering 50% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and project times for new build and refurbishment.

Key to hitting these targets, ProTimber heard, was supply chain efficiency and collaboration, plus adoption of the tools to facilitate them, such as Building Information Modelling. And key to individual companies adapting to this new co-operative environment, was their industry doing likewise. Hence the Summit's title, "One Vision, One Voice".

British Woodworking Federation chief executive Iain McIlwee said the sector still has its work cut out on this front. It remains too fragmented and unco-ordinated or, as he put it, "looks like it's having a fit rather than dancing".

Timber Trade Federation chief executive John White also said the industry needed to develop "real, robust, systemic supply chain links" if increased demand from an improving economy is to translate into more wood use.

More unity of purpose is also needed in communication, said TRADA marketing manager Rupert Scott, one result of its lack being wood's "overwhelmingly positive carbon message" failing to reach government.

But the good news, speakers agreed, is that a more collaborative outlook is emerging. The framework for pan-industry co-operation that is the Timber Accord group of trade bodies is coming increasingly into focus. The crossindustry Wood First Plus initiative to create a BIM and life cycle analysis database is also building momentum and the Grown in Britain campaign, which released its report and plans this week, also demonstrates what an industry united in one aim can achieve.

What's needed now is for these strands to draw together. If they do, UK timber plc, with its material's inherent environmental and aesthetic advantages, can make the most of the economic upturn, confident that it can also turn future challenges to major advantage. Time then for coffee and cake.