Summary
• Coillte is a Timber Expo Gold sponsor.
• Stand G1 will comprise Enterprise Ireland, Coillte Panel Products, Grainger Sawmills, Murray Timber Group and Glennon Brothers.
• Coillte Panel Products has exported €2.25bn-worth of panel products from Ireland.
Irish sawmillers have always regarded the UK market as an extension of their home market and felt that their products competed with imported material rather than UK-produced product. These mills have built up a strong reputation in the market and believe that Timber Expo is an ideal opportunity to meet current and potential new customers in the UK’s first timber-only exhibition.
Coillte, the Irish forestry and forest products company, is a Timber Expo Gold Sponsor. In co-operation with Enterprise Ireland (EI), and as part of a wider collaboration with Coillte Panel Products, stand G1 will include Grainger Sawmills, Murray Timber Group and Glennon Brothers. These are three of Ireland’s largest and most technologically developed, progressive and flexible sawmills with state-of-the-art timber processing operations.
EI is the Irish government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. The organisation works closely with all the major Irish timber businesses, which are exporting and provides support to these companies, particularly in the area of product and process development. This work will be outlined by EI’s senior development adviser, construction and timber markets, William Fitzgerald, who will give a seminar on Irish timber products in the Timber Talks Theatre on the first day of the show (September 27).
Coillte Panel Products comprises SmartPly Europe Ltd, based at Waterford, and Medite Europe Ltd, based in Clonmel, leading OSB and MDF manufacturers respectively. As part of Coillte, the company owns 442,000ha of FSC certified forest, and uses the very trees they grow to make their products. This guarantees Medite MDF and SmartPly OSB with security of supply and investment for constant innovation.
This summer, Medite reached a significant production milestone with 7 million m³ MDF panels produced by its Clonmel factory since it was established in 1983. In addition, SmartPly has manufactured 4 million m³ of OSB since it was set up in 1996. This totals 11 million m³ of timber panel products produced in Ireland from Irish timber, with an estimated value of €2.5bn. With 90% of these products exported, €2.25bn worth of timber panel products have been shipped from Ireland over the life of these plants to markets across the world.
As one of Ireland’s largest and most technologically developed sawmills, Grainger Sawmills Ltd is located on a 20 acre site in Enniskeane, Co Cork. Since it was established in 1977, Grainger Sawmills has generated consistent growth and an increasing market share. With processing capacity of 250,000m³ per year, it prides itself on its extensive product range serving all markets.
Murray Timber Group has grown to become one of the largest, most progressive and flexible sawmills in Ireland. The company continues to invest in state-of-the-art sawmilling equipment to satisfy both domestic and export customer requirements and demand.
The Group supplies products to the construction, garden and fencing and packaging markets in both Ireland and the UK and has the capacity to process in excess of one million m³ of round logs annually. The Group markets its construction timber under its own SNR (Sustainable Natural Resource) brand.
Glennon Brothers has a strong presence in the UK – from Adam Wilsons (Troon), and Windymains Timber (East Lothian), in Scotland to the eponymous mills in Longford and Fermoy in Ireland.
The company specialises in providing a wide range of strong, enduring, and attractive timber products, offering a one-stop-shop for sawn softwood. Products include kiln dried strength graded carcassing, pallet and packing case material, and CLS, as well as timber frame homes and engineered roof trusses. In October 2009, Glennon Brothers began shipping home-grown timber to France.
