profile
Simon Woods
Simon joins the BMBI Expert panel with almost 24 years’ experience of working in the construction products sector and with builders’ merchants. His previous roles include 10 years with the leading adhesives brand Bostik, five years in the bathroom sector working with Twyford & Methan, and five years with roofing manufacturer Icopal.
West Fraser Europe Limited
West Fraser the UK’s number one engineered wood panel manufacturer serving DIY, housebuilding and construction markets. Its extensive panel range, which has now been certified as net carbon negative, includes FSC certified flooring, panelling and roofing products, with well known brands such as SterlingOSB Zero, CaberFloor and CaberWood MDF commonly specified by architects, national housebuilders and specifiers. West Fraser’s European manufacturing operations span three UK plants: Cowie and Inverness in Scotland; and South Molton in Devon as well as Genk, in Belgium
In February 2021 Norbord joined the West Fraser organisation – an international organisation specialising in diversified wood products with more than 60 facilities in Canada, the United States and Europe. From responsibly-sourced and sustainably-managed forest resources, West Fraser produces lumber, engineered wood (OSB, LVL, MDF, plywood, particleboard), and other products including pulp, newsprint, wood chips and renewable energy. Its products are used in construction, repair and remodelling, industrial applications, papers, tissue and box materials.
Visit: www.uk.westfraser.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/norbord-europe-ltd/
Twitter: @WestFraserUK
Launched in 2015, the award winning monthly Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report is the only reliable measure of repair, maintenance & improvement (RMI) activity in the UK. Filling an important gap, it can be widely used in construction, and by economists, Government, national media, commentators and influencers outside the industry.
West Fraser Comment: Q2 2024
We have a new Labour government and increasing new build home volumes is at the heart of their plans. This is great news for many of the manufacturers within the construction products arena, and certainly good news for those involved in manufacturing timber related products.
If we are to build 300,000 per year – starting now – then we need some considerable change. Twenty twenty-three to twenty twenty-four saw less than 150,000 completions, so we are looking at a 100% increase in a very short period.
The last time we built 300,000 was around 50 years ago and at that time the Local Authorities provided approximately half of them, which means that Private Developers will need to flood the market with double the volume, or Local Authorities will need to step back into building social housing, which is very unlikely if we consider the state of public finances.
So, if we assume that it’s left to the Private Developers, then they are going to be competing for labour and materials (at least in the very short term as manufacturers ramp up), which in turn could cause some level of inflation, which is most likely not the ambition of the plans.
For timber related markets, the ramp up could be more focussed than other sectors, as offsite or Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) could be the route to higher volumes without the acute stress of finding skilled labour – and a lot of it.
Many of the major housebuilders have offsite Timber Frame facilities and it could well be these that are most quickly able to ramp up extra volume.
Even so, building one and a half million new houses seems likely to be a stretch. However, even 80% of that achievement would be a welcome segway to better times for all involved in the industry, including RMI due to the property chains involved.