Treated timber awareness campaign set to launch

The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and Wood Protection Association (WPA) are mounting the campaign, promoting the provision of accurate and specific information about treated timber. New leaflets and a poster demystifying treated timber and its applications will be available to merchants from April 1 in the campaign, also supported by the Timber Decking & Cladding Association.

Other educational resources include a new training presentation and webinar.

TTF members will also, from April 1, be highlighting the Use Class applications for any treated timber products they supply. Information will be detailed on documentation such as sales and delivery notes and invoices.

“It’s essential that the sector’s customers throughout the supply chain have accurate information detailing the purposes for which the treated timber they are buying can be used,” says David Hopkins, CEO of the TTF.

“The Code for Construction Product Information, which begins its roll-out from June, although voluntary at present, obliges companies providing information about construction products to ensure their information is clear and unambiguous.”

“Timber Trade Federation members are getting ahead of the curve when it comes to timber treatments, better enabling merchants to make sure that they in turn are selling fit for purpose products.”

“Non-specific terms such as ‘green treated’ will no longer be acceptable in a post-Grenfell world where the accuracy of construction product information is essential,” said Gordon Ewbank, CEO of the Wood Protection Association.

“With the participation of TTF members and the bank of resources available there should be no difficulty for merchants in identifying which timber has been treated for which end use application.”

The new leaflet, ‘Getting the treatment right’, unfolds to provide an A3 poster which merchants can display in-branch to help customers identify more accurately their end use applications, and thus define the level of treatment necessary.

It will be distributed through TTF partners such as the NMBS, and will be available from both the TTF and WPA websites.