Timber Update August 2021

• The Timber Trade Federation’s Head of Technical and Trade Nick Boulton, has confirmed that ending CE marking for construction products cannot happen at the end of 2021. Instead, this will be delayed for 9-12 months until after the Building Safety Bill has achieved Royal Assent.
• Eleanor Deeley of Deeley Group is calling for construction workers to be exempt from self-isolation rules. Deeley states that 90% of sites have been hit by staff shortages due to being pinged by the NHS Test and Trace app.
• Information provider Glenigan reports that the rapid roll-out of the vaccination programme has supported a faster than anticipated upturn in both construction and the wider economy. Independent forecasters predict that the UK economy will grow by 6.7% this year, whilst the Bank of England expects that UK output will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021.

To download the full Glenigan report, click here.

• The government has said it is “committed to trebling tree planting rates by the end of this Parliament” and creating more woodlands, which will boost the supply and demand for timber grown in the UK.
• The Confederation of Timber Industries (CTI) and Swedish Wood have issued a joint market statement stating that timber and joinery sales were up 30.5% in Q1 2020 from Q1 2019, with overall construction activity expanding at the fastest pace since June 1997.

To read the full CTI report, click here.

We currently have stock of Composite Prime HD Deck Pro and HD Deck 3D available.

The HD Deck Pro is available in two contemporary shades, Champagne and Oyster. The extra wide decking boards have a traditional wood grain finish and a reversible design that can be used to create bespoke patterns or borders.

The HD Deck 3D is available in three shades, Golden Oak, Black Oak and Burnished Oak. The deeply textured boards have a unique True Grain Colour System™ - a subtle variation that replicates the natural tones seen in timber - which ensures that no two boards are the same. The boards also come with a patterned/grooved side, allowing for multiple design options.

To find out more, contact us.

London’s most common tree is the London Plane (Platanus x Hispanica), a hybrid of the American Sycamore and Oriental Plane. It was first discovered in London in the 17th century by a famous botanist John Tradescant and then widely planted in the 18th century. The tree, which can grow up to 35 metres tall and live for several hundred years, is common in city parks and along the side of landmarks such as The Mall, Berkeley Square and Embankment.

The London Plane is thought to survive so well in the highly polluted London due to its bark breaking away in large flakes to dispel any pollutants. This gives the trees their infamous mottled appearance.

To read more about the London Plane, click here.