46 | Sector Focus: Cladding & Shingles
◄ continuing to be the case as we launch into new markets. We didn’t push Color in the UK initially as we had decking front of mind for it and that hasn’t been a major market for us here. But now that it’s increasingly used in cladding too, which is Accoya’s second biggest UK application after joinery, we will be targeting it at the market further down the line.”
He added that Accsys thought there might be some cannibalisation of Accoya business by Accoya Color, but that hasn’t been the case.
“Sales have been incremental, so our preferred manufacturers using Accoya have not lost out,” he said. “It’s growing the Accoya pie, rather than resulting in it being sliced up differently.”
In a major strategic move, Accsys is also in a joint venture with Eastman Chemical to build an Accoya plant in the US, where cladding is the biggest market for the product. “It’s a great partnership. Eastman has huge turnkey plant experience and we bring our Accoya technical, sales and marketing capabilities,” said Mr Neel. “There is also major interest in Accoya in the US. I recently did a multi-state tour and the appetite for it blew me away. One manufacturer said its all-round performance made it the ‘Ferrari of timber cladding’ and they loved selling it as they never got call backs.” The new facility, in Kingsport, Tennessee, which is due to come on stream in March 2024, is being built with two acetylation reactors, but with pits set up for a third and fourth, so it can rapidly add capacity. US production will also free up supply from Arnhem for other national markets, including for cladding.
Leading to the start-up of the new facility,
Accsys has been focusing on the US market “to develop a pipeline of sales” for Accoya. “So once the plant is on stream there will be a lot more product available elsewhere, including in the UK and the rest of Europe,” said Mr Neel. To grow supply further and help increase the geographic spread of its markets, Accsys is also looking to develop and diversify its raw materials supply base.
Top: The US$32m Merisol villa in Malibu uses Accoya cladding inside and out
Centre: Google’s London HQ boasts the world’s largest timber and glass facade and features Accoya as cladding and louvres PHOTO MATT BROWN
Above: Accoya cladding and decking at a private house in Cornwall TTJ | January/February 2023 |
www.ttjonline.com
“One thing we’re researching is how we can use more of each individual tree, including through development of engineered Accoya products, using smaller sections of timber, finger-jointed or laminated,” said Mr Neel. “We’re also applying our modification process to different species. Recently we’ve trialled South American taeda pine with very promising results and great feedback from distributors and manufacturers.” Accsys maintains it does not “actively brief against” other timber species in any application. Instead it sees Accoya’s principal competitors as more energy intensive materials, such as aluminium for cladding,
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