With the help of sustainable construction and the use of non-toxic materials, many future benefits are being realised. And here are just 5 of the great reasons why building sustainable stadiums promotes a healthier environment¹:

1. Water preservation: because a lot of water is needed in stadiums to water and prepare the real grass pitches, clean the venue or for sanitary reasons, water consumption in stadiums are very high. When considering how to reduce water consumption, green initiatives such as rainwater harvesting and recycling can be considered.
2. Energy preservation: in order to reduce the use of energy, more and more stadiums are being made to conserve energy consumption, and even being equipped with solar and wind power to provide them with an alternative energy source.
3. Low pollution: nowadays, more and more stadiums are built with healthier, more sustainably-sourced and recycled materials, such as wood, plastic and paper. With the help of using greener building materials that help fight global resource depletion, the amount of waste and pollution in the environment is reduced and the destructive impacts of construction are minimised.
4. Financial benefits: by choosing greener and longer-lasting materials for stadiums, environmentally-friendly projects will be
   cheaper in the long run when the maintenance and operation of the buildings are taken into account. Moreover, the value of the project can actually increase over time, while the costs of water, energy, maintenance and insurance premiums can decrease.
5. Reduced health risks to the community: using non-toxic materials can not only reduce health problems within the community, but also safety risks while stadia are constructed and in use for years after!

So now you have been introduced to world’s leading sustainable sporting stadiums, the real question is: How can you contribute to making a sustainable stadium?

As we know, many of the commonly used building materials are made of non-renewable resources, such as PVC or aluminium, which are finite, depleting resources, and often come with heavy energy and emissions costs. Every day, more and more pollution is released and CO2 is added to the surface air. However, our world can also provide us with raw materials that offer a long-term solution to both of these impacts: this material is wood, from well-managed and sustainable forests.

By specifying Accoya wood, you are already one step closer to helping build a more sustainable stadium by selecting it as your material for decking, cladding, windows and doors – frames or any other application. Accoya wood is sourced from fast growing trees and sustainably certified forests and offers many benefits to application-oriented industries around the world! Its high performance, unrivalled durability and sustainable credentials make it the perfect solution; a truly unique combination of qualities.

Thanks to our unique acetylation process, Accoya wood is highly resistant to decay – meaning it lasts and stores carbon for decades, making it a perfect alternative not only to carbon-intensive and resource-depleting materials, but also to slower-growing and unsustainably sourced hardwoods.

Just think about it. Who wouldn’t want beautiful installations from a material that has a longer lifespan while simultaneously increasing global carbon storage and providing us with a climate-proof alternative to concrete, metal and plastic, all for the sake of a more sustainable environment?

And don’t forget; you are opting for a premium product with exceptional stability that can easily last twice as long and require less upkeep than other alternatives – so in the long run the running costs can be much cheaper too.

Accoya wood may not be competing in the Olympics, but it has it’s very own Gold: Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold to be precise, marking it as the top performer in the building materials industry.

To give you some inspiration and ideas, let’s look at a couple of the few sustainable projects where Accoya has contributed to a more sustainable world by helping to build a greener sports stadium!

The outdoor velodrome, designed by Sander Douma Architects, was specified with Accoya wood for the 200m cycling track in Assen, the Netherlands, making it the perfect place for cyclists to train for their future cycling races while enjoying some fresh air.

The outdoor velodrome not only gives cyclists a feeling of freedom, but also creates benefits for the cyclists by giving them less resistance and more speed when cycling on the track. This is thanks to our unique modification process, which makes Accoya the perfect material for both internal and external applications of the sports stadium.

1. Boost Your Outdoor Living Space

Natural wood decking is an ideal transition from your home’s interior to the outdoors. “Decks are a great way to create a seamless connection between the interior and the exterior if the colour of the hardwood flooring on the interior matches the deck beyond,” Bovell says. For this stunning home in West Vancouver designed by McLeod Bovell Modern Houses, the deck’s blonde hue corresponds with the light-toned flooring inside, both a beachy complement to the blue waters of the pool and the inlet beyond. Bovell’s team used board-formed concrete for the siding, which has a softwood grain texture that mimics the natural wood of the decking.

For this project, Bovell selected acetylated wood for the decking — a material chosen carefully to stand up to the climate of the site. Acetylating changes the cell structure of the wood so the cell walls block moisture, reducing the wood’s ability to absorb water. This results in nontoxic wood that’s naturally water- and insect-resistant, is barefoot-friendly and is safe for people and pets.

“We found this product after searching for a replacement for natural wood alternatives for decking material in the challenging climate that is the West Coast of British Columbia,” Bovell says. “Accoya wood is a good choice of wood for the West Coast because there are not any other durable wood options that are hard enough for a durable deck surface.” Additionally, the wood offered by Accoya is sustainably sourced, with a smaller environmental footprint than other decking materials.

3. Complement Your Yard

Even if you have a modest-size home, wood decking is a natural companion to any style of landscape or even a view looking out to leafy canopies. At home alongside lawns, flower beds, shrubs and trees, wood decking provides a calming neutral palette for colourful gardens and looks harmonious with green landscaping. Grey is an on-trend neutral colour for decking, letting a green lawn and colourful flowers really pop. One of the advantages of using natural wood decking is that the boards will naturally weather to a silvery grey. If you’re bringing greenery to your deck with potted plants, choosing acetylated wood reduces the chance of water stains left by the pots.

4. Express Your Personal Style

Options abound when it comes to colour stains and surface textures for wood decking. You can let your design taste shine with smooth, brushed, charred or even custom textured finishes for a one-of-a-kind look. Bovell prefers a wood’s more natural texture and focuses on stains. “The stain is usually matched to the wood scheme in the interior or exterior architecture and material palette of the house,” she says.

The slight variation in the boards and natural weathering can add subtle texture to an expanse of decking. Additionally, you might like to explore mixing wood decking with different hardscape materials such as cut stone, poured concrete or crunchy gravel, and choose a board colour and finish that ties them together visually. In the same way, Bovell selected a blonde hue to match the hardwood floors of the previously mentioned home, you could select decking to pick up the colours of natural stone in a flagstone path leading to a deck, for a similarly cohesive look.

1. Less Stress

Perhaps one of the areas with the most comprehensive research is around stress. In short, natural environments and wood in par­ticular help reduce stress and improve wellbeing. Over the past ten years, several studies have come to the same conclusion.

One study⁸ showed that adding plants or even posters of plants into hospital waiting rooms had the potential to reduce patients’ feelings of stress. Another study⁹ put 119 students into four different rooms:

• a room with wood and plants
• a room with wood and no plants
• a room with no wood but with plants
• a room with no wood and no plants

The plants had no influence on the result, but the wood did. Students had lower stress levels in the wooden rooms.

Similarly, the newly refurbished National Oncology Institute waiting room in Bratislava, Slovakia was the location for a 2019 study.¹⁰ Visitors were measured for respiration, heart rate, cortisol level and blood pressure before, during and after their stay in the wooden room.

The participants described their emotions as predominantly satisfied or very satisfied and their cortisol levels decreased by 7.5%, implying a stress-reducing effect.

4. Creativity boost

In the past ten years, different research groups have come up with the same conclusion: wood grain as a texture positively influences creativity. The most recent evidence comes from a 2019 Slovakian study¹ where people were tested in different simulated living room environments.

The surroundings that had the most positive effect on creativity were the ones using both warm and cold colours as well as natural materials such as wood and textiles. These surroundings also had the most positive effect on problem-solving capability, understanding and thinking ability.

On the other hand, the environment with strong colours, artificial wood imitations and synthetic textiles, triggered stress in the participants. The same study also tested people by putting them in front of three different walls and allowing them to touch the wall. Brain activity increased when looking at the wooden wall compared to looking at walls made from chipboard or white laminate.

Back in 2010, a different study² examined creative performance in different environments and this also showed how exposed wood or stone surfaces have a higher potential for creativity. This was compared to artificially produced surfaces such as drywall, plastic laminate, glass, carpet or synthetic fibres.

What is modified wood?

According to TRADA (The Timber Research and Development Association), ‘wood modification involves the action of a chemical, biological or physical agent upon the material, resulting in a property enhancement effective for the service life of the modified wood’.

It’s a bit of a mouthful but essentially means that the properties of the wood are actually changed by the modification process – enhancing performance by changing the wood itself rather than just soaking or infusing it with other chemicals.

To avoid making this article as impenetrable as modified wood, we’re just going to focus on chemically modified wood, partly because it’s the most well-known, but mainly because it really shows the highest benefits and performance, putting it at the top end of modified woods you can buy.

What performance can you expect from acetylated wood?

Acetylated wood is unrivalled in terms of its durability and stability, especially compared to untreated or pressure-treated wood. Accoya® acetylated wood leads the modified wood industry, and it’s the only wood in the world to offer a 50-year warranty: half a century of guaranteed peace of mind, and industry experts have even stated an expected service life of 70+ years.  It even has a 25-year warranty for use in or underwater, proving its performance even in the toughest conditions.

As with all materials it will still benefit from a bit of maintenance and cleaning, but requirements are substantially reduced, and the impacts of irregular work are considerably less severe.

With these performance properties, it’s no wonder that more and more people, and expert joiners and manufacturers, are selecting Accoya as their wood of choice, for windows, doors, decking, cladding, fencing and other exterior wood applications.

I make no apology for listing my own company’s products here, Accoya wood and Tricoya (in the form of Medite Tricoya Extreme in the UK). Even if I wasn’t involved in these products I would have them on my list because they are such a great example of how we don’t necessarily need to compromise performance in our bid to use more sustainable products.

Photosynthesis is the best means we have of capturing carbon from the atmosphere and in the form of trees we have natural “production units” that convert it for us into a very versatile building material – wood. Using more wood in construction is vital as we aim for that carbon neutral target, yet so often specifiers choose carbon-intensive man-made materials that they have confidence in over wood because of concerns over the durability and stability of the latter.

Both Accoya (solid wood) and Tricoya (panels) are based on sustainably-grown timber which is tweaked at the molecular level by a chemical reaction called acetylation to vastly improve the performance of the wood in a non-toxic manner, thus locking in all of that sequestered carbon for decades longer than would otherwise be the case in products that are much more reliable and predictable than those made from un-acetylated wood. Both Accoya and Tricoya afford us the opportunity to significantly increase the amount of timber we use in construction without compromising on service life expectations or performance, even in challenging external applications.

There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we work. Although permanent home working is likely to be gradually replaced by a flexible hybrid office/home model as restrictions ease, there will still be thousands of us tapping away on laptops at home this year.  So, it’s no surprise that we’re seeing demand for garden offices soar as workers seek a quiet space outside away from the noise of the house.

Garden offices tend to be entirely separate from the house, fully insulated with heating and built for all weather conditions. Depending on space, they can range in size from a single person room to a fully kitted out office with a built-in kitchen and bathroom. Cheaper than a house extension, garden offices also come with significantly less environmental impact, particularly if built from or clad in sustainable timber.

Embrace the biophilic trend and celebrate your natural surroundings with an unpainted wood exterior. Add a clear coating to preserve the wood’s original hue or let it weather to a beautiful soft grey, as seen on this home in St. Joseph, Michigan. Its acetylated wood cladding pops against the black window frames and is low-maintenance, durable and resistant to rot, insects and fungi.

Acetylation is the process of modifying wood with a concentrated vinegar, “which makes it so that the wood doesn’t stay wet,” says Tim Svarczkopf, a technical manager at Accoya, a company that creates acetylated wood. It reduces the shrink and swell by 75% and allows Accoya to offer a 50-year warranty. “If the wood hardly swells and doesn’t rot for 50 years, the applications are virtually limitless,” Svarczkopf says.

Modern minimalist architecture, with its clean lines and simple colour palettes, continues to pop up in Houzz’s most-saved photos. Impressive use of volume, shape and contrasting materials — such as sleek metal and textural stone — adds visual interest and turns heads.

Acetylated wood decking brings visual warmth to the modern home in West Vancouver seen here, acting as a counterpoint to the expansive glass and rough concrete. While salt crystals may form on the planks, the coastal environment won’t have any effect on the wood itself, Svarczkopf says. The deck won’t splinter and can be enjoyed all year round with minimal upkeep. “Friends who use acetylated wood in coastal regions rave about it,” McBride says.

Mix contemporary and traditional styles for a new exterior look that’s all your own. “Sleek” and “simple” are the watchwords of this approach to help you avoid anything too mismatched. Think neutral hues, clean lines and minimal detailing. For example, consider one large picture window instead of multiple mullioned designs.

A modern addition imbues this shingled home in Bellport, New York, with fresh style while preserving its historic character. The new space features simple windows and charred acetylated-wood cladding, chosen for its durability and sustainability. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, among others, the cladding is fully biodegradable. “The waste isn’t going to impact the environment, as opposed to cement board, vinyl or aluminium,” McBride says. Svarczkopf notes, “It’s also a very fast-growing renewable resource and a carbon-sequestering product. The fact that it lasts for so long and needs less maintenance enhances the life cycle benefits.”

This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.

To see the article on HOUZZ, please click here.

Since that very first batch in 2007 Accsys has expanded our offering in both availability and scope to give even greater choice and versatility to the construction industry. We’ve constantly refined and developed our Accoya production processes and buying options, and developed Tricoya®, many of the Accoya’s long list of benefits to the world in panel form, unlocking vast creative and functional potential for a more sustainable built environment. We’ll be opening the world’s first Tricoya plant this year, an exciting prospect and quite amazing in the context of Accoya’s 14^th ‘birthday’!

As we’re celebrating Accoya today though, we shouldn’t forget to also mention that the new www.accoya.com launched recently, with updated branding and a whole new way to see and showcase the product and its uses in stunning detail – as well as simplifying the path to purchase.

So, maybe the question isn’t ‘why is Accoya still a favourite after 14 years’, but ‘why would you want to choose anything else?’

Liesbeth Janson has been an architect for more than 30 years.  In 1993 she started her first architectural firm in Amsterdam, and in 2008 moved to The Hague to found her current practice, Studio Huijgens.

The intersection of social, creative and scientific is one of Liesbeth’s favourite parts of being an architect. The end result is also something tangible, visible, long-lasting and sustainable, and good architecture can have a very real and positive effect on how people live and work. With her focus on private commissioning she has close contact with clients who are also the end users, really connecting the theoretical work to the actual creation of a building and the impact it has.

Liesbeth’s favourite part of her job is that she gets to sketch all kinds of possible solutions for programmatic and aesthetic issues. In addition, she finds it a uniquely fulfilling experience when she is able to physically walk through a building she designed. This is one of her favourite moments during the construction phase: where the design comes to life. Since 2014 she has specialised in working with self-build groups, which for her challenges her architectural skills in the best possible way, because there is freedom to design and create together with the clients. This collaborative approach means she can help them realise their own personal dream house, with the end users becoming co-owners of their environment instead of temporary tenants.

Liesbeth stimulates communities to organise and shape their own green living environment, thereby doing her bit to change the world for the better. Her greatest achievement to date has been to create an entirely green urban renewal complex called FagelCats, in the old centre of Amsterdam. FagelCats consists of a sustainable apartment complex for elderly residents, including special care housing and a large communal ‘healing garden’.  “The 100% Accoya garden pavilion is an almost sacred place to meet for all the inhabitants and it is a pearl to look at for the neighbours as well. Realising this project from scratch took around 10 years!”, she said.

We asked Liesbeth what tips she could give to younger women who might also be interested in architecture. She says there are many interesting opportunities and possibilities in the field of architecture and everyone can develop their own speciality, which makes the work personally interesting and exciting. The sense of achievement is also something special to the work: “Honestly, it feels very good to visit or pass your own projects when realised. To see your buildings grow older in their habitat, see how they function, to exchange experiences with their owners or users,” she adds. As a female architect, Liesbeth does not notice any different attitude or extra difficulties in getting the work done even in what has traditionally been quite a male-dominated environment, but hopes that what she and other female architects do and achieve can be an inspiration to future generations.

With her own practice, ‘Diana Blake Design’ based in the holiday resort of Whangamata, New Zealand, Diana has been working in the architectural profession for more than 20 years.

From an early age, Diana had childhood memories of her father spending hours laying bricks, mixing concrete and building around her childhood home. In her teenage years, Diana also used to cycle around the city looking for new houses under construction, for which she would devise layouts or build with Lego models.

Specialising in residential projects, retail, hospitality and service industries, her favourite part of the job is being able to bring happiness to her clients’ lives. Seeing a house being lived in and people enjoying the spaces gives her great satisfaction and a great accompaniment to her love of the whole creative process of design.

At the age of 26 she was able to realise her dream by setting up her own agency and managed to overcome all the obstacles, creating a business of which she is very proud, and that has achieved recognition and celebration in the industry with several awards over the years. Combining a personal and professional highlight, her son has also chosen a career in architecture and has now been part of the firm for just over two years.

In Diana’s view, the health of our planet is a big factor in both the world and the industry these days. “I hope I can make a small difference by making more sustainable choices in the selection of building materials and processes, making builders more aware of the amount of waste in the construction industry and how to reduce it, and designing homes that follow the passive house principles to achieve more sustainability”, she said. Diana has chosen Accoya for a number of projects, not only for its appearance, but also for its longevity, stability and the fact that it is non-toxic and able to withstand the harsh New Zealand coastal climate.

As a career, Diana finds that architecture brings together a great combination of challenging, fulfilling and rewarding moments, and is something all young people should at least consider. A passion for design and construction is a good start, and being able to communicate and listen is key. There is always more to learn and there are always interesting developments and changes – but all in all, she says that if anyone might be interested in architecture as a future career they should “Go for it!”

“When I was growing up, I was a bit geeky. I enjoyed my math and science classes, but I also loved visual art”, Mingyuk says, and pursuing architecture allowed her to combine her passion for both science and the arts. Mingyuk is a Senior Associate at Michael Green Architecture (MGA) in Canada, with 16 years of project experience in architecture and several innovative mass timber buildings, residential projects and even airports in her portfolio, with several projects winning Governor General’s Medals in Architecture.

Seeing a project come to life is her favourite part of the job. Bringing a project from initial conception to the end result is not easy, but there is immense satisfaction from seeing the success of a project come to fruition. “Realizing a project sometimes feels like giving birth! A lot of effort, sweat, tears, and occasional swearing are all part of that experience. You have good days and bad days, but in the end, building a successful project that is impactful to the users and the community is extremely gratifying.” Working on the Ronald McDonald House BC + Yukon project in Vancouver was a particular highlight, creating a “home away from home” for 74 sick children and their families.

With buildings accounting for about 40% of global carbon emissions (operational and embodied), Mingyuk feels that architects not only have an impact on the environment, but also influence the fabric of society. Building sustainable – physically and socially –  is her team’s mission. Together, they think about the best decisions, not only for people but also for the planet: “How can we design with less? What is the most appropriate material to use? Where do these materials come from? What experience can we offer the users and the community at large? “What kind of story can our projects tell?” says Mingyuk. Accoya wood has been chosen and used in quite a few projects to answer some of these questions, with its sustainable credentials and performance characteristics aligning well with MGA’s value of making a positive impact on this world.

For Mingyuk, it is important for young people to find their passion and go after it. “Because when you love what you are doing, you will find ways to make a positive impact on yourself, the people around you, and the many others you will encounter along the way. When you love what you are doing, it becomes easier to find your own voice.” This is something she likes to pass on to young people – women in particular – who might be interested in architecture.

Put simply greenwashing is consumer deception. And with consumers in the UK reportedly spending GBP 41 billion on ‘eco-friendly’ products, greenwashing is a growing problem.

This was highlighted last month by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with a new probe into misleading environmental claims. The CMA will be actively investigating how products and services claiming to be ‘eco-friendly’ are being marketed, and whether consumers could be being misled. This will be on a global scale – to action this investigation the CMA has teamed up with the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets as part of a project with the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN).

Greenwashing can appear in a multitude of ways.

To really understand it I have listed several forms that it can take below.

Justin Peckham, Accsys Head of Sales for UK and Ireland

So, it’s clear that greenwashing is a real problem. That’s why I’m so encouraged by the CMA’s announcement. But one element immediately struck me given my role as Accsys Head of Sales for the UK and Ireland – the investigation has a special focus on certain industries, and unfortunately, construction isn’t one of them. The CMA is specifically looking at: (1) textiles and fashion, (2) travel and transport, and (3) fast-moving consumer goods. It’s perhaps interesting to note that these industries as well as being high profile is also very much consumer facing. It’s clear that the CMA is looking above all to protect consumers from being duped. This however shouldn’t detract from our collective responsibility within the construction industry to shine a light on not only the good but also the bad and ugly when it comes to brands making sustainability and eco-friendly claims.

Given the impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry over the last 10 months, it might be argued that we should now be concentrating our efforts on recovery. But few will have avoided the UK government’s mantra around ‘building back better’, (a line also used by the Biden camp in the recent presidential elections). This campaign extends to many areas of the UK economy including our health service and social care, but it isn’t hard to see the relevancy of the campaign when it comes to the construction industry. With social housing and green energy and infrastructure as cornerstones to the #buildbackbetter movement, the construction industry is front and centre in terms of delivering the government’s agenda. But whether you think the UK government is proposing nothing more than glib rhetoric and nice soundbites, it’s worth reflecting on why the construction industry needs to up its game? Some key statistics:

• 39% of global energy use is accounted for by building and construction
• 60% of the urban development required by 2030 is yet to be built
• 73% of people would change their habits to reduce their environmental impact

All Accoya is sourced from managed and replenished forestry winning awards all around the world for its environmental credentials.

Thanks to Accoya’s unparalleled stability, Accoya windows and doors open effortlessly all year round and will continue to do so for decades to come. This lack of movement not only enhances performance but also significantly prolongs the life of coatings, enabling Accoya windows to remain looking pristine for many, many years.

Accoya is a far better natural insulator than any other wood thereby keeping homes cosy and energy costs down. Vastly reduced maintenance costs combined with sustainability makes Accoya windows a solid long-term investment at little cost to the environment.

The entire structure of the building, including the external walls, is CLT timber combined with glulam columns and beams with Accoya external wall cladding. This project calculated to sequester 180 tonnes of carbon, which in terms of embodied energy, much more than offsets the transport from Austria.

Read more about the Christies Care Home project.

Designed by WilkinsonEyre, the village can accommodate up to 50 students with visiting staff. The high-quality and energy efficient living pods are prefabricated from cross-laminated timber (CLT), Accoya and other materials for rapid on-site assembly. Arranged in units and rising two to three-stories to create a welcoming social space to the campus alongside the larger industrial buildings.

Read more about Wilkinson Eyre Modular village project. 

• Environment Agency chooses Accoya to replace hardwood for assets that support bio-diversity

• Accsys donated the wood to gather further data on durability and longevity in marine environments, adding to positive testing results from the Mediterranean and North Sea.

Fenders are not only an essential part of flood management assets in the Thames Estuary, they also provide unique bio-diversity niches in tidal waters, promoting healthy and diverse habitats.

Accoya wood, donated by Accsys via its distributor International Timber, is being used by the Environment Agency’s TEAM2100 programme as proof of concept that it can replace hardwood, provide habitat and contribute to achieving the organisation’s Net Zero ambition.

Accoya is a revolutionary, modified and dimensionally stable wood. It delivers remarkable levels of performance and is a product that will stand the test of time.

Accoya wood is made by Accsys at its factory in Arnhem, The Netherlands.

Accsys transforms fast-growing certified sustainable wood into Accoya wood through a proprietary acetylation process. The result is a high-performing product with sustainability credentials greater than those of man-made materials, intensive resource depleting and highly carbon polluting alternatives.

This gives the world the choice to build sustainably, offering new opportunities for the built environment.

Check out these great projects located in Belgium built with Accoya!

The Police station in the small town of Molenbeek in Belgium was designed by Architectenbureau Emmanuel Bouffioux. After 5 years since the Accoya was installed in 2015, the facade is just as stable and shows a beautiful silver-grey weathering.

During a visit to the Police station, we were particularly curious about the performance of the Accoya wood as this project features challenging lines. The facade was a joy to see.

In projects like this, you truly see just how stable Accoya really is and where we can make a difference. We are convinced that this type of structure with good long-term results is only possible with Accoya.

Xavier Deruyttere- Martal Houtimport, Accoya Distributor in Belgium and Luxembourg

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Houben built the new headquarters of the FNG Group in Mechelen, Antwerp. FNG is a Belgian fashion house known for the brands Fred & Ginger, Van Hassels, CKS and Baker Bridge.

The building was designed by Stéphane Beel Architects and is very eye-catching in the Mechelen station area.

The terrace was made of durable Accoya wood that hardly shrinks and swells, so that the terrace remains perfectly stable.

If you want to make your house ‘winter ready’, an important step is to invest in a well insulated, beautiful front door.

This may not apply to new-build homes, given the stricter requirements for more energy-efficient construction of new homes, but this story does apply to existing homes.

You could choose to use special insulation materials and draft excluders, but even then you will be surprised how much heat can be lost from around the edges. That is why, in some cases, installing a new front door is a wise choice.

And you don’t need to compromise on material either. A stunning front door that doesn’t swell or jam is possible with Accoya and worth the investment.

And don’t forget, your front door is the first thing your guests will see and first impressions count!

From the world’s largest covered mangrove to the park restaurant furniture and the window frames and facade of the gift shop, Accoya wood is loved by the Arnhem zoo:

“By choosing Accoya you make a sustainable choice. Because of our experience with the wood in previous projects in the park and because we are convinced of the quality, we do not hesitate to use the sustainable wood again”.

• Frank Simon, Technology Manager, Burgers’ Zoo

The  600m2 bistro bar and catering pavilion known as FortVier was created by four friends as a place to enjoy and celebrate life. Designed by H²A Architecture and Urban Planning, it features Accoya wood for the cladding, roof, and unique decorative logo.  With a largely open and free floor plan the building also has internal folding walls and can be rearranged inside into café, restaurant and party room areas.

“We deliberately chose Accoya because it is the ultimate sustainable product with a natural look.”

• Vivian Trienen, Director of the FortVier College Foundation

With the citizens’ initiative ‘Here once stood a church’, a long-held wish to return the old stained-glass windows of the Kleine Eusebiuskerk Church (demolished in 1990) to their original location in the Coehoornpark has been fulfilled.

Accsys was proud to support this by sponsoring the Accoya wood frames, working with local carpenters and craftsmen to create the unique, colourful and historic gate.

Café het Moortgat on the Ruiterstaart in Arnhem has commissioned Collectief Soepel from Arnhem to make a folding façade bench with weather-resistant wood. Offering an unexpected place to rest in front of the cafe, or enjoy a coffee in the sun, the bench can fold away at quiet times. Collectief Flexible chose Accoya because of the beautiful natural appearance of the wood combined with its durability for outdoor use.

Foodhall Arnhem, located on the Rijnkade in Arnhem, brings over a dozen world cuisines together in one place. The food hall hosts enthusiastic entrepreneurs and culinary talents providing a huge variety of the tastiest meals, snacks and drinks. Welcoming visitors is the beautiful entrance made of sustainable Accoya wood.

The walkway to the entrance of the Accsys offices is equipped with designer outdoor lighting: the STRADA by timberlab. It is a lamppost made of layers of Accoya wood, carefully curved into shape for a durable, elegant lighting solution that blends organic materials with modern techniques and aesthetics.  Left untreated, the wood will weather over time to a silvered colour as the fixtures become part of the natural environment.

Your home’s exterior says a lot about your style. Here’s a look at four home exterior trends we’re seeing.

1. Increased Use of Natural Wood

Home designers are increasingly using natural products like stone and wood – partly because they look good and partly because they want to use sustainable products. Accoya is made using FSC^® certified, responsibly harvested wood. It is also non-toxic and contains no harmful chemicals.

3. Using Texture to Make a Feel-Good Statement

One popular way to add texture and drama is with Shou Sugi Ban, a traditional Japanese art of charring wood. The process leaves a beautiful dark charcoal finish on Accoya that complements the wood grain. The practice is well-suited for cladding or siding options because it provides excellent durability that will stand up to the elements. You can use it all over your home, or just to create an eye-catching feature that will stand out from the rest of your home’s exterior.

4. Go exotic with Shou Sugi Ban

Shou Sugi Ban is a popular trend in wood cladding right now, particularly for modern home designs. This traditional Japanese technique of charring wood makes it more durable and gives the cladding a unique black color and burned texture for a long-lasting finish.

5. Vary the siding orientation

You can install your cladding vertically, horizontally, and even in patterns – all on the same home. And, because it is natural wood, Accoya is easy to work with.

6. Mix siding styles

The exciting part is that there are no rules. You can combine traditional narrow horizontal lap cladding mixed with wider vertical boards. Accoya comes in a variety of board widths, and it’s dimensionally stable, so joints stay smooth.

The outdoor kitchen has been on the rise for years. Indeed in some circles, it is almost common to have one. Though why would an outdoor kitchen suit you?

The first reason is a simple one. Cooking indoors in the summer isn’t always pleasant when we have high temperatures. The second reason; it is much more fun to eat outside than inside. In the United Kingdom, this isn’t always possible due to our changing weather throughout the year but when you get the chance, you usually want to make the most of it. 

The materials of your outdoor kitchen must be able to survive well in all weather conditions. Scaffolding wood is a commonly used option but unfortunately not very durable due to its vulnerability to moisture. A more suitable material is Accoya wood or Medite Tricoya Extreme MDF board. This wood has been preserved through an environmentally friendly acetylation process so that it hardly shrinks or swells and has an outdoor warranty of 50 years against rot. This means that not only can you enjoy an environmentally friendly choice but your outdoor kitchen can be enjoyed by future generations. If you choose a countertop, then limestone is recommended for this. Granite is also a popular option (but more expensive). If you want to create a Mediterranean atmosphere, you can also opt for Portuguese concrete tiles. 

This means that Bees, along with a large number of other insects, ensure that plants are fertilised. Because insects fly from flower to flower in search of pollen and nectar, they can fertilise flowers, allowing the plant to start bearing fruit. This fruit in turn ensures the reproduction of the plant. Therefore, insects play an essential role in the reproductive cycle of many plants.

The number of bees is declining rapidly. Wild bees and solitary bees are struggling in a landscape with less and less flowers.

If you drive on the A13 towards Rotterdam, the Netherlands, you will see a tall wooden building from a distance, called the Melarium. It is a work of art and used as a centre for nature, bees and art. The building has shutters on the outside as underneath are where the beehives are. Local Beekeepers have a number of beehives inside the Melarium.

The building itself symbolises a bee. “You can see the head, chest and abdomen of the insect. You may also have noticed that it has a lot of small windows. They symbolise the bee’s eyes.” What’s also special is that it is made from sustainable Accoya wood and that the Melarium is completely self-sufficient. “Energy is generated by solar panels and there is a stove where wood from the forest is burned. The toilet is flushed with rainwater: we supply drinking water with jerrycans.”

Towns with a lot of rural areas have a unique opportunity to contribute here.

The effect of installing a beehive is much greater than just “the bees themselves and a little honey.” It can not only be an interesting object, but it is also about people being aware of the fact that a bee is very important for biodiversity and therefore also for our earth, they become interested in the profession but also how they can contribute, like; sow more plants and flowers and use fewer pesticides, etc.

Accoya is a modified wood product, which uses a non-toxic formula to create a product which rivals the performance of the best hardwoods, while being highly sustainable and ethically sourced at the same time.

One of many the advantages of Accoya is that it is much less prone to shrinking and swelling with changes in humidity than other types of wood, and therefore doesn’t suffer from the movement issues of oak.

And because it is a much more stable timber, it requires far less maintenance than other timbers and does not need to be re-coated as often.

Though Accoya is naturally a lighter colour than oak and has a different grain pattern it can be stained to match the colour of oak such that from any distance it is hard to tell the difference.

An additional benefit of Accoya is that it has significantly better insulation properties than oak, so using Accoya means much warmer rooms, with lower heating bills as well.

Complementing this, we’ve also made it much easier to buy Accoya® wood for your own project.  Our ‘Where to Buy’ section provides you with local and national listings for the distributors and trained manufacturers best placed to help you, no matter where you live or what you want to do!

With this new, more tailored and local focus, we are also now presenting a truly global brand for Accoya. When you first visit the site, you will be automatically routed to your local version of the website – in your local language and showing you the most relevant content.  We have started this off with five localised websites for our current largest geographic markets, and are set up to extend this further as we continue to grow.

The new Accoya® website is a big step forward for us as we grow and evolve Accoya® and its brand, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Designed and manufactured by Bath Bespoke, Accoya was selected for the windows and French windows and doors throughout this stunning country home on the outskirts of Bath.

All the windows and doors were completely bespoke and crafted using traditional methods by the team at Bath Bespoke. Working closely with their clients and their selected architects, Bath Bespoke combined a mixture of styles – some sleek, contemporary elements and some period style mouldings to complement the exposed stone throughout the property.

Accoya was chosen as the ideal wood for the project thanks to its seamless quality finish and its ability not to shrink or swell during seasonal weather changes, meaning Accoya doors and windows open and close effortlessly all year round.

Traditionally charring timber until it turns to charcoal black was the only option but now manufacturers using this technology have broaden their range with added treatments/colours to achieve long lasting features. New techniques to enhance the timber’s aesthetics, offering traditional, highly charred black cladding, heavily textured looking timber in sleek and contemporary finishes is offering architects and designers the freedom to design whilst achieving the look and finish they desire.

See more charred Accoya projects here.

And have a look at where you could buy Accoya wood from today!

Shou Sugi Ban® is a registered Trade Mark in UK & EU owned by Exterior Solutions Ltd