There is a growing need to move towards renewable resources and sustainable materials in all areas of modern life.
This can be seen on the small scale: paper straws and bags instead of plastic, and the large: the ‘green’ energy sector, and construction and infrastructure projects with total carbon costings and limits built-in.
By producing a high performance building material with a very low (sometimes negative) carbon cost, from renewable, sustainable wood sources, we provide the market with a product that’s not only desirable for its own qualities, but which helps solve a growing problem.
In short, our products offer new, sustainable options for the built environment, allowing our customers (and their customers) to build in sustainable ways.
Accoya® and Tricoya® can replace man-made, highly carbon-polluting and natural resource depleting alternatives, and also possess unique characteristics that open completely new possibilities for design and function (e.g. Tricoya® panels for MDF in exterior or wet environments).
Last year we sold around 60 thousand cubic metres of Accoya® wood, including for use as Tricoya®. This is a small fraction of a percent of the global solid wood market – it is a premium product with premium qualities, but we believe Accoya® could ultimately reach sales of 1 million cubic metres per year.
Currently we sell the majority of our Accoya® to a network of timber distributors, who sell into a variety of industries: principally joinery (windows and doors), cladding and decking, with some also used for civil construction and outdoor furniture production.
As we expand our operations and production capacity, and further develop our range of products, we see opportunities to broaden those markets and meet the demands of larger scale manufacturers and new applications.
We estimate the global market for panels made from Tricoya® to be over 1.6 million cubic metres per year, which amounts to around 1% of the global manufacturing capacity of MDF (medium density fibreboard).
Our Tricoya® is currently made by ‘chipping’ some of our Accoya® wood. Seeding the market in this way, sales of Tricoya panels have been increasing dramatically since their introduction in 2012.
The Hull plant, which will acetylate sourced wood elements, will dramatically improve Tricoya® production capacity and efficiency while also freeing up more Accoya® wood for sale.