50 | Sector Focus: Preservatives & Fire Retardants
SUMMARY
■ The TTF is making third party quality assurance mandatory for members producing treated wood
■ The WPA is in partnership with the TTF in an educational campaign
■ Confor and the TDCA are also involved in the campaign
■ Members should be preparing for the Code for Construction Product Information
UNITED WE STAND
The TTF and WPA are united in their campaign to grow demand for preservative treated wood. The WPA’s chief executive officer, Gordon Ewbank, reports
The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) is making third-party quality assurance mandatory for members producing treated wood products by July 2022. In the meantime, in partnership with the Wood Protection Association (WPA), a campaign to raise supply chain knowledge about how to specify and use treated wood correctly has been launched and the campaign’s first advertisements are appearing in key trade magazines (ttjonline February 23). At the same time, actions to improve the description and traceability of treated products through the supply chain are under way. The Confederation of Forest Industries (Confor) and the Timber Decking & Cladding Association (TDCA) have joined forces with the TTF and WPA to drive the campaign’s educational messages into the supply chain to help improve buyer understanding and change perceptions about the performance of preservative wood protection. The members of all four trade bodies are regarded as ‘supply chain influencers’ and have been invited to use the campaigns communications materials, key messages and webinars with their own customers.
THE TTF ACTION PLAN
The TTF treated wood action plan has been developed in close collaboration with WPA and is designed to build confidence in the choice of preservative treated wood for ground contact applications, so creating the conditions required to grow demand for added value wood products. The key elements of the three-point plan are:
• Preservative treated wood must be accurately and unambiguously specified/
Above: Deck substructures are now Use Class 4
TTJ | May/June 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
purchased, for use or resale, and be clearly identified at all points of the chain as fit for the intended purpose.
• Customers purchasing treated products from TTF members must be provided
with adequate information and, where appropriate, training to be able to use and install those products safely and effectively.
• Preservative treated wood must be produced by or purchased, directly or
indirectly, from a treatment provider whose operation has been assessed and approved under an independent and reputable accreditation scheme (by July 2022).
To quote the TTF’s managing director, David Hopkins, “Using the right product in the right place – and actively making sure the wrong product does not go into a project – is a responsibility that runs right throughout the supply chain and something that we must get right. It is only by working together that we can achieve this.
“This means labelling the goods properly so they can be clearly identified by customers and making sure an accurate product description is carried all the way through the supply chain – from the treatment plant through to merchants, to builders to architects, and others.”
THE CODE FOR CONSTRUCTION PRODUCT INFORMATION
This campaign also connects into a broader stream of work which all TTF and WPA members should be preparing for, which is the Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI). The CCPI arises from the issues across construction first crystallised by the Hackitt Review, which was followed by two further reports from the Competency Steering Group for Building a Safer Future, including ‘Setting the Bar’.
The Construction Products Association (CPA) is launching an industry-wide
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