Summary

  • Steico has a small number of regional distributors.
  • Steico has technical and environmental approvals.
  • The German parent company has Europe’s largest I-joist factory.
  • I-beams can provide large roof spans.

Opportunities and market potential are very much the buzz at Steico Ltd.

In his office in the shadow of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at Dartford, an enthusiastic Mark Wilson, the company’s managing director, thumbed a copy of The Times, drawing attention to an article headlined “Family friendly eco-towns to cut carbon footprint”. The article talked about government plans to establish five new eco-towns, each containing 5,000-20,000 environmentally-friendly homes, up to half of which would be affordable housing.

For Mr Wilson, these and other noises from the government are opportunities for Steico, which has secured new distributors for its engineered timber STEICOjoist and STEICOwall products. “We are in a position to service the current trend,” he said.

Since opening its office last November, Steico Ltd has been appointing a small number of specialist regional distributors, including Thornbridge Sawmills as a strategic partner in Scotland, Flight Timber Products in Essex, South Wales-based Target Timber Systems, New World Timber Frame in Saffron Walden and Panel Agency Ltd in Kent. Steico is also hoping to appoint a distributor in the Midlands and northern England shortly.

It has been busy securing technical and environmental approvals – including CE Marking, Robust Details for floors and Forest Stewardship Council chain of custody. The beams also meet the requirements of both NHBC and Zurich for floors.

And, recently, parent company German-based Steico AG completed a partial flotation, raising €73.5m gross proceeds to finance further development plans – which shows the financial muscle behind Steico Ltd.

Steico AG has built Europe’s biggest I-joist factory in Poland (producing joists comprising a fibreboard web and solid timber flanges), with a 50,000 linear metre annual capacity and production speeds of up to 120m/min. The company also has an estimated 35% market share of the European wood fibre insulation market.

With Steico’s stated aim to become the market leader in I-beams and associated insulation products in Europe and a promise to be price competitive, the new entrant has inevitably ruffled a few feathers in the established

I-joist sector. “I think people are watching us carefully,”said Mr Wilson. “While these are early days for us, it is not a case of us coming in and trying the market and then leaving. We’re here to stay.

“We do not want to just produce I-joists for floors. We are interested in the whole house concept using the full Steico Building System.

“I believe I-beams will become a mainstream construction method in the UK for whole house designs. Current timber frame growth is encouraging and I see that increasing. The government says housebuilding has to increase in the UK. I-beams are here to stay.”

For Steico this means using its joists in floors, wall panels (with wood fibre insulation either side of the web), and roofs, in combination with the array of Steico insulation products and sheathing boards. Basically, its mission is to be a one-stop shop for timber construction.

Steico is currently looking to work with smaller companies that are typically serving the higher spec market, such as self-build, but it also has an eye on larger timber frame manufacturers and regional and national housebuilders.

Recent projects which have used Steico joists and studs include New World Timber Frame’s Barton Hill Junior School, Bristol, Modus Global’s five-bed eco house near Oxford, and Urbane Sustainable Homes, while Panel Agency has completed several school projects and the roof structure of Avenham Park Pavilion, Preston. East Lothian Council has used 450mm-deep sections in a school roof. “The big advantage of I-beams is big roof spans and the ability to maximise on insulation while reducing thermal bridging,” said Mr Wilson.

He added that the timber frame industry had moved to 140mm solid studs due to changes in Part L and the next “logical step” in view of pressure to reduce carbon emissions is even deeper wall sections. With rising timber prices and thermal bridging issues of solid timber, I-joists had a clear opportunity in wall applications, he said.

But Steico realises that technical support will be of crucial importance if is to realise its ambitions. To this end it has put in place technical staff in Dartford and Germany.

“This is not a commodity product but an engineered product. Making an I-beam into a commodity product is not the way forward.”