Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

Despite the UK economy as a whole finally returning to its pre-financial crisis levels of activity, and the woodworking sector seemingly benefitting from improved sales figures over the last few months, the latest Construction Industry Forecasts note that it will be 2017 before construction output grows to its 2007 pre-crisis peak.

Few could have predicted this state of affairs back in 2007, but the possibility of a ‘lost decade’ does beg the question as to how the next ten years will benefit our industry. Although perhaps short on genuine 'sliding doors' moments, the last few years have themselves thrown out a few hypothetical ‘what ifs’, for example:

Would a project such as the Green Deal have got any closer to its lofty retrofitting ambitions if government had listened to industry and made it less complex?

What would the sector look like today had government invested in housing and refurbishment during the darker days of the recession?

The next decade is almost certain to yield familiar challenges in terms of upskilling the industry, succession planning, additional regulations and competition with rival materials and imported products. What is less certain is whether government will address the housing crisis, BIM will become a prerequisite or the Green Deal will be resuscitated in a way that drives RM & I work. This all is before you consider possible forks in the road such as the Scottish Independence Referendum on 18th September and the General Election on 7th May next year.

With the government and industry construction strategy having set ambitious targets for 2025, we may see a bit more certainty as to where industry is heading. Whether these aims gain cross-party support or even whether they level with recent policy decisions is another question altogether. The BWF has been looking at the role the UK timber supply chain can play in helping to meet the wider aims of the Strategy – we have been working with the TTF and are keen to put in place an overarching set of targets that we believe the UK timber supply chain can meet and need your views.

So what could industry pledge for the future?

So what do you think should the sector be aspiring to over the next few years? Think about a number of objectives that industry could target in order help your business make the most of the future opportunities. This could include delivering the data that the supply chain wants in order to increase specification of our sustainable, UK manufactured and fast-delivery products whether that is through BIM, EPD or other means.

If you have something you would like to “add to the pot” then please get in touch. You can feed back to me on matthew.mahony@bwf.org.uk , or log in and leave your comments below the line.

We will be discussing these further at the Forests Forever meeting in London on September 2nd, so please feed back your views to me and if anyone wishes to attend the meeting, then let me know by the end of next week.