The Sunday Times property supplement the other week was an inspiration for the timber trade. It featured a cover shot of TV presenter Kevin McCloud in a sauna wearing nothing but a small towel and a big grin.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to suggest the industry does one of those bare-all calendars to raise money for the Timber Trades’ Benevolent Society. It wasn’t the photo that was the inspiration, but the article Mr McCloud had stripped off to signpost. It was headlined “Let’s learn Swedish”. The gist was that, as our need to save energy and cut fossil fuel consumption becomes ever more urgent, we should move over to the Scandinavian model of building.
Mr McCloud waxed lyrical about the Swedes’ use of cellulose insulation and heat recovery systems. But his greatest enthusiasm was reserved for the fact that so many of their homes are in wood, making them “healthy to be in and sustainable to build”.
He concluded that UK building had a lot of catching up to do. But he also acknowledged that it was showing some positive signs. In TTJ and our sister title Timber Building, we’ve endeavoured to bring these to the fore. There is a burgeoning wood construction culture in this country and this could help change opinions of the material overall. Timber frame is on the rise and, as last week’s Wood Awards highlighted, there is some tremendous timber building talent among UK architects and designers.
Among the cautionary notes in all this is that the concrete, steel and brick sectors will continue to fight their construction corner and knock timber in the process. There is also a growing number of overseas suppliers of advanced timber building products and whole building systems targeting the UK and, as one architect pointed out at the TTF conference, there’s a perception in his profession that they are a step ahead of the industry in this country.
To get its rightful share of a developing market, conference speakers urged, the UK trade must improve perceptions of its product. Critically, it must also continue to raise its profile as an industry through lobbying and promotion. So perhaps that calendar’s not such a bad idea after all – only joking!
