Heading the white way

It's an over-used word, but in the case of John White's time as chief executive of the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) there's no better description. It's been a journey.

During his nine years in the job, the road travelled by the TTF has had rocky patches and testing twists and turns. The organisation may also not have travelled as fast or far down some stretches as he would have liked.

But, as he now steps down from the driver's seat, Mr White is clearly happy with the direction he's steered and the distance the Federation has come since 2005.

Not only has membership doubled, the organisation, he believes, has a renewed sense of purpose and, thanks to its efforts, the timber industry is also differently and more positively perceived. Although he's swift to stress this is not all down to him, but is the result of working with the "incredible support and input" of members and a "fabulous team of professionals" at the Federation.

"The TTF today is in a different place and it's been a tremendously rewarding experience getting here, working with some really talented, committed people," he said. "Overall it's been a blast!"

On his arrival, however, he recollects, it was a downbeat picture.

"Financially things were difficult and membership numbers down," he said. "There was no clear strategy for the TTF, or the market's development and, since market development is the fundamental function of an industry federation, it wasn't actually fit for purpose."

The first task was to stabilise the organisation.

"Then we had to understand exactly what we were trying to achieve," he said. "That crystallised in our core mission statement, 'Growing the Use of Wood', which has informed everything we've done since."

This led to the next big challenge, to alter prevailing market perceptions of wood and the industry.

"On one side, the public's opinion was framed by the media debate, which meant Sting singing about deforestation and illegal logging," said Mr White. "At the same time there was the view that timber was this beautiful, versatile, unique natural material. But that positive couldn't be used to sell wood if people's predisposition towards it was constantly undermined by the perceived link to destruction of tropical rainforests."

The solution involved tackling disinformation about timber through communications. More importantly, it meant removing the danger of the industry being associated with illegal logging.

"The bedrock for this had been laid with growing environmental certification and, vitally, the creation of the TTF's Responsible Purchasing Policy (RPP), its due diligence system for minimising the risk of members trading in illegally sourced wood," said Mr White.

"But in 2005, we still had to embed the RPP and everything it stood for in the trade generally. It was tough and there was resistance. But then came the sea change in 2008; the vote to make RPP a compulsory condition of membership from 2010. That's when we could put hand on heart and say we were doing due diligence."

Zero Tolerance
Once the RPP was in place, it was a case of zero tolerance of any breaches.

"I don't apologise for that," said Mr White. "Reputationally we are in such a stronger position thanks to the RPP and that cannot be put in jeopardy. If someone breaks the rules and doesn't take corrective action, they're out."

Integrating the RPP into their Code of Practice also left TTF members ideally placed to meet the requirements of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), with a ready-formed due diligence system.

"In fact we and the RPP were formative influences in the development of the EUTR," said Mr White. "We were actively pressing Brussels for compulsory due diligence and regulation to make trading in illegal timber an offence in the EU."

Once this came to fruition in the EUTR, the TTF backed it to the hilt, working with the UK's Regulation enforcement agency, the National Measurement Office and pledging support for prosecutions.

"The UK trade deserves congratulations for implementing the EUTR so effectively and, as with the RPP, we can't tolerate that good work being undermined," said Mr White.

Never one for mincing his words, he condemns Greenpeace's recent "reprehensible tactics" in covertly recording an employee's comments about Jewson's timber legality systems. But, he has focused on building bridges with the NGOs.

"Most do an excellent job and we need to inform their debate, and vice versa," said Mr White. "Proof that we've seen a change in culture is that we get far fewer of these Greenpeace type episodes today."

The end result of having the RPP in place, bolstered by the EUTR and better relations with the green lobby, is that the industry is now in a "much stronger position to martial the fantastic evidence we've got to support greater use of wood".

"Once we lost our Achilles heel, that link with illegal logging, selling wood potentially becomes the easiest job in the world. It's versatile, durable, has fantastic aesthetics, and then has that game-breaking unique selling point; it sucks carbon out of the atmosphere and stores it. "

The TTF has actively made timber's comprehensive case through direct liaison with timber markets and users, from construction and joinery, "to the proverbial fork handle makers". It has also worked through the Wood for Good campaign, although Mr White remains puzzled by the latter's stand-alone status.

"I always wondered why the TTF's PR role, indeed the industry's PR role, is effectively being done by a separate company; it is just a campaign after all," he said, "and I still feel its place is inside the Federation or similar."

Close Alignment
As a proxy for this, however, Mr White has aligned the TTF ever more closely with Wood for Good. It is housed in the TTF offices at the Building Centre, to which the Federation relocated to be alongside other key bodies, notably the Construction Products Association, in 2007, and it is, he maintains, "the pot the whole industry should put money in".

"Under director Dave Hopkins it is doing an absolutely fantastic job and its latest development, the Wood First Plus Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) database, is a tremendous piece of work."

The latter, he added, has the potential to deliver far-reaching market impact, particularly in construction. The refrain of building professionals has long been that they're not confident using timber because it isn't backed by the information provided for steel and concrete. The database provides that, initially in terms of LCA, with technical information to be added later.

"Once people like architects and engineers have this at their fingertips they become zealots for wood and we should see increases in areas such as timber frame, large-scale CLT and glulam construction as a result of the database. These may not be bread and butter for every timber business, but by highlighting timber's potential, they can become marketing Trojan horses for other wood products."

Lobbying government has also been a focus for the TTF under John White. But he feels the industry still has work to do here and, particularly, lags behind concrete and steel in wielding influence on the construction agenda and larger cross cutting policy areas.

That leads him to the direction he regrets the sector didn't travel further in his time. A lead advocate of the Timber Industry Accord to achieve greater collaboration between the various trade bodies, he believes it should be taking the next step and establishing one overarching association.

"The different bodies may do fine work, but fragmented representation impedes this industry," he said. "It leads to duplication and things falling between stools. Government wants to deal with one voice for one industry and it would also save money for market development. A trade body should tick three boxes: it should effectively represent the interests of its entire industry, provide top-drawer business services, and offer the best networking opportunities. All that militates against fragmentation.

"I believe we are in a golden age for timber, driven by our need to reduce our carbon impact, QED we have to use and grow more wood. But we'd be better placed to realise that as a truly united industry and I hope the latest moves toward a more cohesive body come to fruition."

Another focus for Mr White has been training and he's "hugely excited" by the suite of timber NVQs and apprenticeships that has resulted from the TTF's partnership with Proskills. However, he warns that government grants will be withdrawn if more don't take up the qualifications.

But what will he miss most about the TTF as he parts to head amusement machine industry association, BACTA?

"It will be my committed colleagues at the Federation, despite the fact they're all hugely more qualified than me and often made me feel an ignoramus!" he said.

"The other thing will be the warmth, trust and friendliness of this industry. That I will struggle to replicate - although my stomach and liver will get a break from the punishment they've suffered as a consequence!"