UK Timber Design Conference 2026 – The conversation around timber has changed

Last Thursday we launched Fyral at the UK Timber Design Conference at One Birdcage Walk in Westminster, and we came away with a clearer picture of where our industry is heading.

The Fyral launch
Fyral is our new engineered hardwood floor, built around a thermally modified British timber core instead of the imported plywood found in most engineered flooring. The product is all about making better use of British timber.
The response was warm all day, with a steady stream of architects, designers and fellow members of the timber trade stopping to talk. Charlie Law, Sustainability Director at Timber Development UK, was first in line to see it after we teased him with it earlier this year, and he continues to champion Brimstone and everything good about it. Support like his means a great deal to us.

The theme of the day
If one idea ran through the whole conference, it was making the most of timber. In his opening address, TDUK Chief Executive David Hopkins reminded the room that while forest cover in Europe keeps growing, timber is not an unlimited resource, and meeting housing and decarbonisation targets means making the most of every available species and every individual tree.
The newly published Building from England’s Woodlands report, funded by the Forestry Commission, puts numbers on that challenge. Hardwood species make up 77% of England’s woodland area, yet 85% of the hardwood harvest is currently burned for fuel rather than put to long-term use. The research shows English hardwoods are a capable, underused construction resource.
The presentations picked up the same thread throughout the day. The Using Wood Well project, from changebuilding and Waugh Thistleton, previewed a tool that will let designers measure the wood use intensity of a project at the earliest stages, and a panel on timber reuse explored how reclaimed timber might be regraded and specified at scale. The conversation has clearly moved on since last year, when planning delays dominated. The question now is how to use the wood we have as well as we possibly can.

Our takeaways
The desire to build in wood remains as strong as ever, but the list of reasons why it is not permitted keeps growing. Rules restricting timber in London, the current consultation on Approved Document B fire safety guidance and limits on panel products across parts of the UK all came up throughout the day, and together they gave the event a more subdued mood than last year.
There is real support across the industry for the Timber in Construction Roadmap, yet in practice Government is making it harder rather than easier to build with timber. The will is there. The optimism is being tested.

Where Fyral fits
We believe Fyral was a perfect fit for the spirit of the event. The product is all about making better use of British timber, and that is exactly what the day asked of everyone in the room. The problems are real. So is our part in the answer.