UKTFA figures: houses built from timber continues to rise

If the acid test for gauging a product's penetration into a market is an ability to withstand the tough times as well as take advantage of the good, structural timber appears to be passing with flying colours. In fact, it seems to have managed to do just as well in both bull and bear markets for housing.

According to the UK Timber Frame Association's (UKTFA) statistics based on returns from its members and government statistics for housing starts, the market for timber-frame structures rose 3.3% last year, while the overall market fell 4.4%, taking the overall proportion of houses built in the UK last year from timber frames to more than 22%.

This comes hard on the heels of the success of timber in taking advantage of the booming housebuilding sector over the past decade. Ten years ago, the market share was only just over 8%.

UKTFA chairman Stewart Dalgarno believes this trend is set to continue. "The UK timber-frame industry has shown its strength, resilience and maturity in 2007. Despite a difficult time for homebuilding and the housing market, timber-frame manufacturers - through the aggregation of their own forecasts - believe that the market will continue to expand in 2008 and beyond."

The reason for this optimism is clear, Dalgarno says, and relates largely to its environmental and sustainability credentials. "This confidence comes from timber frame's ability to comply with, and often exceed, the current and future requirements of Building Regulations and the low-carbon aims of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

"We believe the popularity of timber frame will continue to increase because of this ability to offer home builders and developers cost-effective compliance with these requirements."

Domestic dwellings

Another reason for such a positive outlook is the success timber has had in cornering the Scottish market for domestic dwellings. According to Scottish-based timber-frame specialists Stewart Milne, about 70% of all houses built north of the border use timber.

As ever with statistics, however, this only tells part of the story. "This is 70% of all domestic accommodation, that's to say including a proportion of buildings that can't be built from timber such a multi-storey residential blocks," explains Paul Mitchell, managing director of Stewart Milne Timber Systems. "As a proportion of buildings that could be built from timber, it is higher still."

It is high enough to put it on a par with figures from avowed timber-frame markets such as Scandinavia and North America. "About 90% of all houses built in North America are timber-framed," says Dave McElroy, deputy commercial managing director at OSB manufacturers Norbord. "The Nordic countries are similar and Scotland isn't far from that level."

Yet its success poses something of a conundrum. The popularity of timber-frame products in Scotland has not developed overnight - the process has been ongoing since at least the 1980s. While environmentalism and sustainability were far from unheard of in Margaret Thatcher's heyday, they were also a long way from being taken as seriously in corporate boardrooms as they are today.

All of which indicates that the rise of timber-frame structures in Scotland has been brought about for other reasons, according to Mitchell. "It's simply that builders in Scotland saw the benefits that could be derived from this building method. You improve the building efficiency once you're on site. In a short time you have a wind and waterproof envelope and you can get the follow-on trades on site quicker. Anything that gets you past the weather issue more quickly and simply, goes down well."

This construction efficiency also appears to be at the root of recent growth in the rest of the UK as well.

"In social housing, the market share for timber frame rises to about 50%," says Joe Martoccia, sales director for Kingspan Offsite. "The two main factors for driving this growth have been the speed of build, and with this increased efficiency, the ability to overcome shortages of skilled labour in certain areas, both of which have been crucial in a booming market."

Offsite benefits

Another virtue is timber's ability to marry the benefits of offsite with the flexibility to meet the individuality requirements of the UK housing market.

"In Germany, they have a 'pattern-book' approach to housing, whereas we have a lot more unique houses, which can mean re-inventing the wheel every time we build a house," Martoccia points out. "This makes it difficult to make a complete offsite package work financially in the UK."

"Timber frame has the right volume and flexibility to accommodate this," adds McElroy. "The building community is used to the on-site aspects of the build and, of course, timber frames have been around for a while now."

Nevertheless, according to Mitchell, there is still a significant shift in approach required to maximise the benefits of using timber frames.

"There's not just the timber frame itself. You need to change the whole building process away from that associated with traditional brick and block," he says.

"Take foundations, for example, there's no point laying them to meet the requirements for a tradition house as they're not necessary for timber house. You've got to embrace the process completely to make the most of it."

Assuming the process is embraced, then, the future for timber-framed houses in England seems healthy.

"The main driver now is environmental concerns, and these are becoming a lot more important in housebuilding from two sides: from consumers and from the government," says McElroy.

"These are coming together in the Code for Sustainable Homes, and the most environmentally friendly product is timber."

"We've noticed a growth in the popularity of our TEK structural panel system as the impact of the Code takes hold," says Martoccia. "The rigorous assessments of thermal performance, combined with ongoing concerns about space availability, suit timber frame. Timber, in general, provides the option for code compliance through its sustainability credentials as a material, while it can also comply in terms of building envelope and thermal efficiency."

Stringent regulations

The impact of the Code is likely to increase as well - level three is already required for social housing and will apply to private developments from 2010. "I've heard of a planning authority already insisting on level three for a private development. The Code is not going to go away. It's going to get more stringent, and timber frame and other offsite fit the code particularly well."

The link to offsite, and in particular the reduced build time associated with pre-producing a significant proportion of the end-products, is an important factor in the anticipated growth of timber-frame construction.

"Speed is crucial," says Mitchell. "It's been crucial to take advantage of the good times and will help in leaner times as it reduces the risks associated with speculative developments. You can sell then build, and you won't tie up your capital for so long."

Dalgarno agrees. "At a time when costs are being slashed and margins squeezed tight, the highly integrated nature of the timber-frame supply chain, its increased output for lower cost, and its ability to cut out inefficiencies and defects makes timber-frame construction an attractive option to housebuilders concerned with quality. I also think the OFT report, due out later this year, will put the spotlight firmly onto quality issues once again, and offsite construction methods such as timber frame will get another boost in 2008."

"All forms of modern methods of construction are increasing, but timber is ahead of the rest in terms of acceptance," concludes McElroy.

"The question is how much can it expand in the next 10 years. Getting to 50% market share might be stretching it a bit, but it's possible, it's not beyond the pale. Certainly, market share will continue to rise. In terms of the environmental impact and costs associated with other products, the pressure is increasing to use timber frame, and this trend will only accelerate," he adds.

Offsite - the way forward?

Fully offsite timber frame is still some way off, says Tony Glanville, sales manager at Composite

"It is just over two years since Composite successfully completed a development incorporating prefabricated timber modules manufactured in Denmark for Portsmouth Housing Association.

Our five two- and three-storey homes were designed to fully satisfy the Housing Corporation's offsite Modern Methods of Construction and achieved excellent thermal, acoustic and fire ratings. The houses were constructed in half the time expected for the more traditional approach.

However, we now find ourselves considerably frustrated by lack of progress since. There are several reasons for this: there is still no UK supplier that can meet our desired volume requirements quality levels do not meet Composite's exacting standards and costs of imported product from Denmark are still too high to satisfy UK social housing landlords' expectations.

We remain keen to pursue modular methods of construction in the housing sector and continue to look for solutions to the issues that are frustrating our plans."