Positives to build on in 2014

The new year may not have blown in much cheer weather-wise - although the gales did deliver about two years' supply of firewood to our back garden in the form of next door's 50ft leylandii. However, 2014 has brought a couple of prospective positives for the UK's use of timber in construction.

First the anti-timber building website, timberframefires.co.uk, looks set to get its comeuppance. It has been a thorn in the sector's side since 2010, its central premise being that timber frame is a greater fire risk than other construction types. It was off the mark at the outset, making its point by highlighting construction site fires, without giving a cause, or setting them in the context of wider industry fire safety. Today its case is even more untenable. Timber frame's safety was already proven globally, but thanks to the UK Structural Timber Association (formerly UKTFA) and its SiteSafe initiative - with its construction site code of practice, Design Guide and listing of tested, approved products - it is now safer and higher performance still.

But timberframefires continues to bang its anti-timber drum regardless, with the added frustration for the sector that it can't challenge the site's creators as they've never identified themselves. But now that looks set to change. Thanks to an enquiry by TTJ news editor Stephen Powney, internet registry services body Nominet is investigating the site, and if its authors don't come forward, it could deregister it. So it has to put up or shut up.

What lies behind it, and the wider antitimber building lobby, is clearly concern in rival materials sectors at timber's increasing UK construction market share. This has come about partly because of architects and designers rediscovering its design and performance potential, plus the advent of new engineered wood products and systems. But it's also the result of an increased focus on construction's green credentials, both in the industry and government. That's why, the second positive for 2014, the latest Next Generation report, is so significant. It shows that focus intensifying.

The annual report benchmarks our top 25 builders' sustainability and the new edition shows it becoming ever more significant for them. Overall sector sustainability performance in 2013 rose more than in 2012, and for the first time one firm, Berkeley, scored over 90%.

This, in itself, indicates that UK construction is becoming more receptive of environmentallysound materials. But there's evidence too that sustainability for builders specifically means more timber use. The report's top four performers, also including Miller Homes, Crest Nicholson and Wilmott Dixon, are all timber frame exponents and it's clearly no coincidence that the icon it uses to designate the highest ranked companies is half-tree, half house.

All this doesn't mean that timber can afford to sit on its eco laurels. Other material suppliers will continue to develop and actively promote their sustainability stories, even if timberframefires goes up in smoke. But the added good news, underlined in our marketing focus this week , is that complacency is not on the industry's agenda. As Wood for Good director David Hopkins highlights, last year was one of the most active to date for timber promotion, with a range of events and initiatives further raising its profile, including the campaign's own Wood First Plus programme, a busy Timber Expo, the Wood and TTJ Awards and AHEC's Endless Stair project. Marketing experts also describe the wider sector making its case increasingly effectively via the full range of modern media.

So positives aplenty to build on in 2014.