TIMBER
BATTENS WON’T BE BEATEN BY BREXIT
Shaun Revill, SR Timber’s trading director tells BMJ why the Brexit deadline shouldn’t be a supply concern for customers.
I
n what is set to be an unprecedented next few months as the UK leaves the EU, e want to assure merchants that supplies of our Premium Gold timber roofing batten will remain unaffected – whatever happens come the end of March.
Whilst politicians are in meltdown over Brexit, businesses like ours have adopted the ‘keep calm and carry on’ approach because, come what may, the UK will still need to build lots of new houses in the months and years ahead. And for that, the housebuilding industry will rely on the constant availability of materials through the merchants supplying builders and roofing contractors.” We’re very confident that nothing will change with the availability of Premium Gold this year because our supply chain has remained unaffected; in most cases, we can
materials to meet demand. They also have an eye firmly fixed on the long term and take issues of sustainability very seriously, which ensures that the next generations will also have access to high levels of raw materials. It’s these strong foundations that give companies like us the platform and, more importantly, the confidence to keep doing what we do best in producing roofing batten that meets UK standards such as BS5534.
Why the Baltics?
Sawmills in the Baltics are able to produce timber roofing batten that meets UK standards such as BS5534 at source. It is important to strenuously emphasise this point because these sawmills do this as one complete process. Every single batten that leaves our sawmill is fully compliant before it leaves the Baltics for three main reasons.
The first is the quality of the raw material. The Baltics offer great sources of material (derived from both spruce and pine), which accounts for the vast majority of timber used in the UK construction industry – for floor joists, framing, roof trusses, standard doors and, of course, roofing batten.
still deliver roofing batten within 48 hours of it being ordered.”
“More importantly, there’ll be absolutely no compromise on quality or standards: our batten will continue to be correctly graded to British Standard 5534:2014 + A2:2018, so merchants and roofers don’t have to worry about using a substandard product.” So, how are they able to be so certain? We have created a robust manufacturing infrastructure in the Baltic States with support and partnerships in place that start at the top. Ministers in the Latvian government have fostered a collaborative approach with key businesses (such as sawmills) to help to maintain a plentiful supply of high-quality raw
February 2019
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The second is the way that the raw material is processed. When felled trees are brought to our sawmill as cut logs (typically about 25–35 cm in diameter and about 5 metres in length), the sides of the logs are sawn and the bark is
removed so that these side boards can be cut to produce 25 mm thick batten. The main part of the log (also known as the cant) is then cut to produce both 38 mm and 50 mm wide batten. This is an important point to note that we have our own sawmill, which means we have complete control over the entire process so that we can ensure consistent, compliant batten for the UK market.
The third and most crucial is the grading. Every single piece of timber roofing batten is inspected and graded throughout the production process for acceptable quality by experienced, trained personnel, who check to make sure that no defective material gets through the system. Once approved, battens are stamped - ahead of being treated - with their dimensions, timber species code and a code which denotes that the batten has been independently assessed by a third-party quality assurance expert, showing that the grading, preservative treatment, product marking and management processes have all been independently audited and verified by a good third-party body, in our case UKAS. Batten produced this way arrives in the UK ready for use and doesn’t need to undergo any additional processes or treatments. This constant supply of batten continually tops up our existing stock, therefore ensuring availability in as little as 48 hours, Brexit or no Brexit! BMJ
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