42 | Sector Focus: Cladding & Shingles
Right: Black coated Accoya PHOTO INTERNATIONAL TIMBER
Centre: Coated Siberian larch PHOTO INTERNATIONAL TIMBER
Far right: Uncoated western red cedar PHOTO INTERNATIONAL TIMBER
Below: The cladding sector has seen a pick up in line with building recovery from 2021 PHOTO JAMES LATHAM
Bottom: The growth in timber building is influencing the cladding market PHOTO JAMES LATHAM
◄ diversification in UK cladding as construction methods, aesthetics and buyer priorities change and new products enter the market. There has been growth in demand for alternative materials such as cast stone and rendered blockwork – and, it stresses, timber. “Among other product sectors, demand for timber cladding continues to increase, due to both design trends and the ongoing move towards sustainable construction, which favours the use of timber over materials that require more energy to manufacture, such as concrete, metals – and bricks,” AMA states. In particular it sees growth in timber building, notably in the offsite and modular housing sector, as influencing specifier, consumer and developer cladding choice. The argument goes that, with greater sustainability regarded increasingly as a key reason to opt for a wood-based building, so it becomes increasingly logical that more architects, builders and buyers should opt in conjunction to have the most sustainable cladding, ie wood. “And continuing growth in offsite and modular construction suggests timber’s market share will [increase further] in future years,” says AMA.
Timber cladding suppliers generally concur with AMA’s market interpretation and outlook.
“Cedar has been more difficult due to costs, but [otherwise] the cladding market has been pretty positive for us, with solid sales and margins in modified softwood and recently success in modified meranti,” said one importer distributor.
“The timber cladding market in the UK has been growing and is forecast to grow more over the next five years,” said another supplier. “Ever since 2020 at the start of
TTJ | January/February 2023 |
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the pandemic and the increase in property refurbishment, demand from home owners has grown and timber has increasingly been their go-to product.”
Some suppliers say the home improvement boom, which helped drive cladding sales through the health crisis, has increasingly worked its way through the system, with consumers now free of health crisis restrictions and free to spend on travel and other leisure activities. One supplier said, consequently, that most of their cladding sales are now B2B or via merchants. Others, however, say they’re continuing to see property repair and refurbishment driving sales. “We are still experiencing lots of interest in home improvement,” said a supplier. “House owners fell into it in the pandemic, having no chance of spending money elsewhere, but the trend has continued.”
Suppliers are taking a wait and see stance on the impact of the rising cost of living and interest rates on market confidence and cladding sales. But, it seems, so far, so good. “Most projects have a long planning period, so maybe [we’ll feel the effect] next quarter,” said a supplier in January. “But we’re not seeing it yet. Enquiries are still very positive from developer/multi-house, commercial and public building sectors.”
An importer/distributor concurred. “We are still seeing plenty of interest, not only from private home owners, but small to medium building and construction companies all looking at timber cladding and how it can feature in their projects,” they said. Another supplier, however, felt that the commercial sector was “keeping timber cladding at arm’s length” due to latest fire safety rules. “This isn’t as important with
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