Clad of the titans

Can two of the timber industry's stalwart crusaders protect its rise as a building shield?

THE TIMBER industry might have developed the formula needed to dispel architects’ and contractors’ reservations about specifying timber cladding.

It has come in the form of the organisation that has spurred best practice for timber decking since the turn of the century matched with the timber industry’s largest promotional campaign.

The Timber Decking Association (TDA) and Wood for Good (WfG) are putting their might behind a campaign to give architects greater confidence in using timber for cladding. The seed for its success has already been planted. Timber frame currently has more than a 20% market share of new housing and has more than doubled its share in the last 10 years.

With the onus on the environment and using materials from renewable sources, there is only one material that ticks all the boxes as categorically as timber does. But its growth as a protective material is under siege from falling standards and insufficient information on specification and installation.

TDA mark II

Through its quality assurance scheme and supply chain co-ordination the TDA has brought quality and consistency to the consumer and the trade sector for timber decking.

It now plans to replicate its success for the timber cladding market.

TDA operations director Steve Young says the campaign is principally targeting architects and specifiers. “Over the last two years we’ve been approached by a lot by architects asking us to help raise the specification for a cladding that would match a decking. With that we’ve witnessed the growth in the timber cladding market.”

Young says there is currently a lack of guidance about how architects can treat and look after exterior wood products that are coming in to the country pre-finished.

Young is concerned there appears to be little awareness over what constitutes good installation practice for cladding. “We feel a lot of the technical information is being allied from suppliers, so architects are often thinking there is a vested interest in what they are promoting. We are talking about developing a more generic code of practice about the specification and installation of wood cladding.”

The area of the market currently falling down, Young says, is the DIY and small builder market. “The big players like Vincent Timber and Timbmet know their products inside out,” he says. “But once it leaves the manufacturer it’s in the hands of the installer – where a lot can happen.

“We have major concerns over quality of materials and installation practices and if there are any bad practice examples it is coming from the DIY and small builder sector. That’s the sector that keeps our support services busy.”

The TDA plans to replicate its successful Deckmark quality assurance scheme for cladding to ensure that installers will be independently verified to the highest standard. “They must be capable of meeting our standards before they become members,” Young says.

It is hoped the campaign will give architects the confidence to use the association’s members with the knowledge that specifiers and installers can be trusted.

Cladded value

Young says there will be a separate fee for membership. “We already have funding for the priority projects, such as the code of practice and quality assurance schemes, but the more people that join us the more we can invest in getting the message across.”

The move will pool investment into one marketing budget, says WfG project manager Tony Traynor. This, he says, will allow it to be promoted properly. It will also significantly boost the commercial prospects of coating specialists and timber suppliers.

“Let’s not take any shame,” he says. “The idea is to increase the market share of timber products as opposed to others, where appropriate.”

The code of practice will give decking manufacturers and installers an enormous opportunity to carry their skills into the cladding sector. Part of the strategy includes online CPD training modules.

Young says one of the biggest challenges it faces in getting the message across is inertia in the supply chain. “It is the one thing we face constantly with decking,” he says. “You can talk to people about specifying the right quality and good installation practices but at the end of the day people tend to do their own thing.”

The campaign will have a formal launch in April, with the TDA becoming the de-facto outdoor wood arm of WfG. “We’re all talking about carbon footprints and the environment and designers are increasingly turning to wood,” says Young. “We’ve got to make sure that momentum continues and in the best possible way.”