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Above: North Dublin Operations Depot clad with Accoya
TTJ: ARE ARCHITECTS’ COMMERCIAL CLIENTS ALSO GOING FOR ACCOYA AND TIMBER PER SE TO EXPRESS THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL ETHOS AND CREDENTIALS? JP: Definitely. As companies are under more scrutiny to be green, building sustainably is a prominent way to achieve this. A good example is Barn X, built for Rare, a Microsoft Xbox Game Studio, on the company’s existing Leicestershire campus. This building has been certified with LEED Gold certification, the world-recognised symbol in sustainable building. We’re proud the Accoya cladding used has helped support Microsoft’s sustainability goals. Other companies Accoya has worked with have included Lidl in the Netherlands.
TTJ: ARE THERE FURTHER STAND- OUT COMMERCIAL PROJECTS USING ACCOYA COMING UP? JP: Indeed. Some are covered by NDAs but there are some projects within transport infrastructure where Accoya is going to be used, plus a university building in Oslo, and Accoya fins will soon be installed as part of the Park Central project in Gothenburg.
TTJ: HOW HAVE ACCOYA AND ACCOYA COLOR CLADDING SALES DEVELOPED IN THE DOMESTIC MARKET – AND ARE YOU DIRECTING MARKETING AT CONSUMERS? JP: Though our focus for marketing is architects and specifiers, we target consumers directly via social media marketing. The use of Accoya cladding in residential properties is primarily driven by specification, and we are continuing to see increasing demand for this. In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in biophilic design as well as overall building sustainably.
TTJ: THE CHARRED LOOK AND TEXTURED FINISHES IN ACCOYA ARE ATTRACTING INTEREST – IS THAT IN BOTH COMMERCIAL AND DOMESTIC APPLICATIONS? JP: Demand for textured surfaces is mainly driven by the residential market. In the commercial sector, the low-maintenance properties of Accoya with a charred finish have been the primary appeal. For example, the M&S cladding project near Leicester, now over seven years old, still looks fantastic. This perfectly aligns with the client’s vision of a wood façade that offers the aesthetic appeal of timber without the need for intensive maintenance. Actual charring of Accoya is being offered by some of our distributors, others offering the look achieved with surface machining and a look-alike finish as a more cost-effective option.
TTJ: HOW WELL DOES ACCOYA MACHINE TO ACHIEVE A TEXTURED SURFACE – AND IS THE TEXTURING PROCESS UNDERTAKEN BY DISTRIBUTORS OR EXTERNAL PROCESSORS? JP: Accoya is significantly harder than most common cladding timbers, which means
achieving a high-quality textured surface that showcases the distinctive grain pattern of the radiata pine it’s made from requires expertise. This is provided both by our distributors and some third-party processors.
TTJ: HAVE REGULATORY CHANGES IN RECENT YEARS ON USE OF COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS IN EXTERIOR WALLS AFFECTED ACCOYA SALES IN THE COMMERCIAL MARKET? JP: Since the changes relate primarily to high-rise residential buildings, they have not directly affected Accoya sales in the commercial market. However, we see that insurers often have more stringent requirements than the regulations and this has impacted opportunities for timber cladding in general.
TTJ: DO YOU THINK TIMBMET RECENTLY BECOMING AN ACCOYA DISTRIBUTOR WILL UNDERPIN SALES INTO THE CLADDING MARKET? JP: Timbmet has primarily been brought in to maintain and grow sales of Accoya in the UK joinery market, but we certainly see opportunities for them to grow the cladding market too. ■
Above: The Unusual Rigging HQ
www.ttjonline.com | January/February 2025 | TTJ
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