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Sales showed the first signs of easing as we entered the winter months, but we should be aware that availability is likely to top the agenda again in 2022.


The BMF’s central role within the Construction Leadership Council’s Product Availability Group (PAG), bringing together 70 senior executives from manufacturers, merchants, house-builders, contractors and major trade associations, has helped to develop the widest possible picture of availability issues, find ways to work around them and share this information across the industry through the PAG’s monthly statements. The Group will continue into 2022 with an extended brief to include horizon scanning to flag up potentially disruptive, medium-term issues that can be mitigated by an agreed, planned response. Despite these challenges, this is an


exciting time for the building materials industry. Many merchants have fast-tracked development of online trading sites, which are becoming an ever-more important part of their customer service offer. There is undoubtedly a new spirit of collaboration throughout the construction industry. Another example is the merger of The Institute of Builders Merchants with the BMF, which opens up career-long training and development opportunities. In doing so, we are looking to attract a far wider, more diverse talent base, with an ultimate ambition to achieve Chartered status for the IoBM.


nstructZero Business Champion status since the programme launched last year. I’m sure we will see more members joining them in 2022, and the recently launched BMF Sustainability Forum will provide a great platform to share knowledge and promote discussion as we seek to build excellence together. ■


nstructZero, the cross-industry change programme to drive carbon out of all parts of the supply chain, is a further example of collaboration. BMF members have been swift to respond to the government’s call to reduce our carbon footprint. Together they account for 20 of the 50 companies achieving CO2


The BMF’s appointment of LEAP as our new full-service apprenticeship provider in 2022 is another exciting initiative to support skills development. LEAP, the apprenticeship delivery team to the Travis Perkins Group, will work with BMF Apprenticeship Plus providing a service tailored to suit all members. There are already over 1,000 apprentices enrolled onto a LEAP programme. With the current intake being 40% female and 60% male and encompassing an increasing number of BAME colleagues, these apprenticeships are again nurturing a more diverse workforce within the industry. CO2


A future as carbon storage giga-factories


KEITH FRYER FORT BUILDERS’ MERCHANT DIRECTOR


Let’s start with a prediction: there will be Christmas presents under the tree in 2022! For some in the trade, staring at piles of stock that need turning into cash, this is a worrying time, but it will sort itself out. Despite a global pandemic (or because of it?) demand for timber products is strong. At the time of writing, the US futures price for lumber is around double the February 2020 level. I know, we’re not in the US, but the sheer scale of their demand carries forward to the rest of the world. The US is telling us they’re going to be busy.


COP26 reconfirmed what we know. Timber, in all its forms, stores carbon. We need to change our own perception of the industry we work in. This is the carbon storage industry. Sawmills are carbon storage giga- factories! We’ve never seen so much interest from governments and the media, as they clamour to get on board the carbon storage train.


Even SMEs like Fort can do their bit – we’re telling customers how much carbon they’ve stored from the timber products they’ve bought. We promote low energy construction, using amazing local materials, grown, sawn and constructed into beautiful buildings, all within less than a 50 mile radius.


Building with timber is growing exponentially. We’re shoving competing materials off site and this growth in demand will put pressure on the production supply chain. It means we’re going to have to get used to paying more for timber and that’s a good thing. For far too long it’s been under-valued; 2020 and 2021 saw us smash that glass ceiling and, while falls will occur, mainly through imbalances, the


underlying trend is for increased demand. Geopolitics have a big impact on UK timber trading. Global sawlog availability is a problem and some big players are flexing their muscles. Russia, quite rightly, wants to preserve its raw material and add value inside Russia. It has introduced a log export ban, which means other ‘log poor’ countries (China in particular) are on a global hunt. That inevitably puts pressure on log prices. Other countries have implemented bans and alongside increased forest fires and bark beetle infestations, there are plenty of reasons to see sustained or increased prices. Your place in the supply chain will give you different perspectives, but, taken as a whole, timber demand is going to be strong in 2022. Large volumes of material, such as constructional softwood, currently giving some of you palpitations will be used up and then you’ll be replacing that stock. That’s when the market will decide where prices will really be; all we see currently is a need to turn overstocks into cash. Adding value is the way forward. If raw material is in short supply, why bother producing cheap products? The best way to protect our businesses is by selling the incredible benefits of timber. When I first started in the industry ‘carcassing’ was wet, sawn lumps of wood. Now it’s kiln dried, planer regularised, strength graded and usually preservative treated. Flooring grade chipboard used to be 18mm-thick sheets of material. Now it’s mainly 22mm, moisture resistant, TG4, often with protective surfaces. We’re perfectly capable; we just need to be confident and stop going to the lowest common denominator.


It’s an incredible time for our sector.


We have the opportunity to take market share from competing materials. Governments are on our side. Be positive. Enjoy the benefits! ■


Timber, in all its forms, stores


carbon. We need to change our own perceptions of the industry we work in. This is the carbon storage industry. Sawmills are carbon storage giga-factories! We’ve never seen so much interest from governments and the media, as they clamour to get on board the carbon storage train. Even SMEs like Fort can do their bit – we’re telling customers how much carbon they’ve stored


www.ttjonline.com | January/February 2022 | TTJ


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