Skills shortages, speed of build and growing public support encourage industry to adopt timber frame.
Housebuilders are feeling the strain of skills shortages and many expect the industry to adopt timber frame and other prefabrication techniques as a solution.

In a survey of the top 100 housebuilders, half of respondents acknowledged that they are experiencing skills shortages on their sites. Almost as many said that they are looking to prefabricated build components to ease the strain. Although homebuilders are evenly divided on whether their own company will make a move to timber frame, 45% expect the industry as a whole to be making greater use of timber-frame techniques in the near future.

If they do, few expect their buyers to balk at the shift in build technology. When housebuilders were asked how they thought the general public viewed timber frame, 50% said that they thought public perception was improving. Some respondents believed that public attitudes depended upon age and whether people recalled the early 1980s World in Action television documentary damning timber frame. "The over forties want traditional build, the thirtysomethings are changing their attitudes, and the twentysomethings have no problem with timber frame at all," was a typical comment.

The timber-frame construction survey was supported by the Housing Forum, timber industry organisation Wood for Good, and Building Homes and was conducted by communications consultant Chelgate. It questioned top housebuilders on their current and future use of timber frame and other components.

The survey shows that housebuilders are either large-scale users of timber frame, or non-adopters. In the British housebuilding industry as a whole, timber frame's market share has been edging upwards slowly and currently stands at 10%, with the highest share of timber frame homes being built in Scotland, according to NHBC statistics.

Although skills shortages are playing a strong part in driving housebuilders to rethink their build techniques, speed of build, changes to the Building Regulations and increasing customer expectations are also influences. But in making the shift away from increasingly scarce traditional skills many housebuilders reveal in the survey that they are relying on timber-frame manufacturers to come up with the design and construction expertise needed.

As far as other components are concerned, concrete emerges as a popular option for floors, reflecting the increase in apartment construction under the Government's sustainable development agenda. The survey also identifies a growing trend for MDF, rather than timber, for such features as skirtings.