First off, we have the Hotel Rotterdam Airport. This is a special project in a special location, as it is not often that you get to build right next door to Rotterdam Airport. Accoya was chosen by both the contractor and the architects as the perfect material to use for cladding. The most important aspect of the wood was its need to be fire-resistant as well as durable, stable, and sustainable.

The underlying idea in the age we now live in is to construct safe buildings by adhering to the strict criteria that go with it. Let’s not forget the emphasis on sustainability, which is becoming increasingly important. For this project, the aspect of sustainability in connection with the environment and the surroundings is not only represented by the Accoya façade cladding but also by the plants that decorate it. In this way, all parts of the building have contributed towards creating a beautiful, stable, sustainable hotel that gives its guests a warm welcome.

Accoya was chosen for the material used for the Olive Seymour Boardwalk located at Herdsman Lake Regional Park. As a result of the previous boardwalk made using Jarrah rotting, Accoya wood was used to replace decking boards, handrails, and joists.

The RHS embarked on ambitious plans to realise their fifth garden—a 154-acre site in the former Worsley New Hall grounds, on the outskirts of Salford. White Cottage Greenhouses were commissioned to design, manufacture, and install two large mono-pitch lean-to glasshouses in the new Paradise Garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. The garden was created within a heritage landscape and is the first RHS garden in the North West of England’s climatic and ecological conditions.

White Cottage has been successfully manufacturing painted-timber greenhouses for many years. Their ethos has always been to create a genuine timber-framed greenhouse while minimising maintenance and decay risk. This made them the perfect fit for this project.

Over the last five years, White Cottage has shifted entirely over to Accoya wood, and so there was no other material choice for the Paradise Garden superstructures. With Accoya, excessive movement in tongue and groove boards is eliminated, meaning cracks in paint are far less likely to occur. There are time savings in the joinery manufacturing process, fewer defects such as knots, and better performance all around, as well as outstanding, guaranteed durability.

A key feature of Accoya is that the coatings will last longer than on other timber products. White Cottage believes that Accoya is easier to paint and requires less preparation than other timber alternatives.

The uniquely designed piece of public artwork, Please Be Seated, was made from 1440 planks of Accoya timber and designed by London-based designers, Paul Cocksedge Studio. Accoya is a fantastic timber to use for sculptures such as this one due to its high performance, yet what is particularly outstanding is that you don’t need to sacrifice performance for non-sustainable timber. A key benefit of making Accoya the material of choice is the Cradle to Cradle Gold Certification. This recognises that Accoya is fully circular, with no added synthetic materials, fully recyclable, and non-toxic. The Accoya planks are supported by a framework of bent steel designed to be easily assembled and disassembled for travel.

The structure was fabricated in partnership with UAP, and the Accoya was sourced and supplied by a local Accoya-approved distributor, Jiangsu Dragon Wood (JDW). Paul Cocksedge Studio worked with JDW to complete and install, managing the entire process remotely as a result of COVID restrictions.

The Belgian Kalmthoutse Heide park has gained a valuable landmark: a new 42-metre-high fire watchtower. Architect NOHNIK and construction partners Bureau Bouwtechniek and Ingenieursbureau ABT Belgi created an elegant truss structure by perfectly combining wood and steel. From every angle, the fire watchtower offers a dynamic and panoramic view over the natural landscape of the Kalmthoutse Heide.

Accoya wood was the material of choice for the railings, balustrades, and fire watchtower—the ultimate contrast to the steel truss construction frame. A variation of wood thicknesses and spacing was used, creating a sophisticated look, and thanks to the colour and material combination of Accoya wood, the tower harmonises beautifully with the surrounding natural landscape.

We are pleased to share our positive updates with you, including the successful commissioning of our fourth reactor in Arnhem and plant construction in North America, both leading to increased Accoya production capacity!

It’s been a busy time for Accoya, with several award wins, numerous projects, and the introduction of our new innovation, Accoya Color. Find out more within the RoundUp below.

With regular inspection and care, you’ll enjoy a beautiful finish for decades to come.

Inspect your joinery regularly. Any damage in the paint should be addressed immediately to prevent moisture ingress and water entrapment under the coating. Like most things, wooden joinery can greatly benefit from regular inspection, care and maintenance – just like an annual service on a boiler or car. We strongly recommend annual inspection, cleaning of the frames and maintenance.

Please speak to your coatings supplier about supporting documentation such as care and full maintenance recommendations.

This video is based on best practice techniques and will help you keep your windows looking their best for even longer.

We have already referenced some of the properties of uPVC that made it seem such a compelling material for application in window frames and even doors when launched in the 1980s:

Cheap: There is not getting away from the fact that uPVC window frames are possible to mass produce and therefore drive down the cost of manufacturing. Compared with bespoke timber framed windows uPVC can seem like a significant cost saving, although it is necessary to look at the full life cost – something we will refer to again later in the article.

Low maintenance: uPVC was introduced into the market as a wonder product that required little to no maintenance, which is an attractive proposition when faced with the alternative of timber windows, particularly with the paintwork which is prone to flake off over time. uPVC window frames do have their own issues however which are important to reference here.

• Structural integrity – even though uPVC is relatively durable, their light weight means that they’re prone to sagging. Essentially the weight of the glazing can cause the frame to bend, an issue not seen with wood or aluminium window frames
• Discoloration – over time uPVC window frames will discolour and peel. This is due to extensive UV exposure with the frames turning an unsightly yellow colour. Unlike timber frames which can be re-painted the same cannot be said with uPVC. If you’re looking to smarten up your house, you have little alternative other than replacing your windows.

Durability: One of the key selling points of uPVC window frames is claimed durability – probably the most important factor when deciding what type of window frames you go with. Compared to soft wood timber frames uPVC undoubtedly has a clear advantage here, but as we know different types of wood have different properties and we must be careful not to lump them all together. What is the best way of establishing how durable a product really is? Well, looking to see what the manufacturer warranty or guarantee offered is a good place to start. You will struggle to find a uPVC window maker that offer a warranty of more than 10 years on the uPVC elements of the window. There are plenty examples of uPVC windows that have lasted longer than 10 years, but it gives you an insight into how long they expect their product to last. By contrast, the best performing wood brands such as Accoya wood have been offering warranties of up to 50 years on their product.

Whilst it was the Romans that pioneered the use of glass for windows, wood has long been the preferred choice of material for window frames. The size of one’s window through history has often represented wealth and class, and as window making techniques evolved, so the size of windows has increased. In the seventeenth century the fashion became to have taller, rather than wide windows, and to facilitate this they were often divided into four. In the same century the sash window was invented with the top sash fixed and the bottom sash sliding upwards.

In term of the species of wood used, oak and pine were the two most common, with oak offering better durability than the softwood pine.

The very thing that makes wood so good to look at and to touch, is also part of its inherent limitation as a building material… Wood is a natural, organic material which over time and subject to certain conditions like rain will decay or rot. However, whereas all uPVC broadly has the same properties and performance, wood covers a huge spectrum of performance from the cheapest low performance softwood, all the way through more robust hardwoods, and to the pinnacle of high performance and durability – acetylated wood, otherwise known as Accoya. Like we discussed on uPVC, you really need to determine how long you expect to be living in your house… Cheaper softwood window frames might last 7-10 years, slightly worse than uPVC, whereas a hardwood window frame (such as iroko, sapele, or even oak) could be expected to last anywhere from 10-30 years. This would depend on the exposure of the window (to sun and rain), the climate, or even the quality of the wood, which can vary batch to batch. For the belt and braces approach, an Accoya window frame is warranted for 50 years, with an expected service life from between 77-90 years, according to a recent study by the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

Wood is an organic material, and it changes over time as it reacts with the sun and the rain, developing new colours and textures: a process known as weathering.

Accoya, as a natural wood product, is no different

Like other wood species, uncoated Accoya wood will weather over time to an elegant slivery grey colour when left outside and exposed to the elements.

Unlike other woods however, weathering does not affect the durability, stability or performance of Accoya.

During the weathering transition process the surface colour of Accoya can appear patchy due to the different levels of sunlight and rain coming into contact with the wood, but over time it evens out to a beautiful silvery grey effect that lasts for decades to come.

Because Accoya has such great dimensional stability, coatings are not so stressed by shrinking and swelling forces that affect all other types of wood – meaning they last and look better for longer. For certain applications such as windows it is industry standard for frames to be coated to protect the other parts of the window fittings and mechanisms.

Considering the return of wood to nature leads us on to the next key prediction, lifelong wellbeing. We must now be mindful of the entire lifecycle of the materials and building process and, beyond this, the health and wellbeing of those that work on and live in the buildings we erect. The World Green Building Council’s Six Principles for a Healthy, Sustainable Built Environment underlines the importance of the relationship between sustainable development and human wellbeing, detailing how harmony with nature and climate change action is linked to social values, including the health of construction workers.  Buildings made of wood have seen not only construction time, effort, and waste reduced by as much as 90%, but have had a positive impact on construction workers, whose exposure to the dust and toxic fumes of a regular building site is drastically lowered. Furthermore, timber buildings continue to have a positive impact on people throughout their lives as wood surfaces have been found to lower stress levels, improve attention and focus, and increase creativity. With the difficulty of the preceding two years, a movement towards design that benefits wellbeing is likely to be at the forefront of many minds.

Our final prediction is that net zero emission targets will no longer cut the mustard. With several governments and large companies committing to net zero targets, reducing emissions is a global target. However, with increasing pressure from those who recognise this may no longer be enough, we believe there will be a push towards climate positivity: removing more greenhouses gases from the atmosphere than are released. In an industry that is responsible for a large portion of global emissions, we think companies have started to notice the scale of the positive impact we could have if we pushed for these more ambitious targets.

So much attention is paid to the interiors of our homes, but the exterior is what makes the first impression. A beautifully designed façade enhances the architecture and sets the tone and feel of a home before guests even set foot inside. With its warm, natural appeal and virtually limitless design potential, wood cladding has emerged as a major trend in exteriors. Here are six of-the-moment ways to use it to give your property serious street appeal.

While standard wood cladding has its benefits, it’s not suitable for every project or homeowner, as it requires ongoing maintenance and can deteriorate over time. Today you’ll find innovative alternatives that provide all the warmth and natural appeal of wood, with minimal maintenance requirements and far superior durability. Accoya’s acetylated wood cladding can withstand even tough weather conditions, is resistant to rotting, and if left untreated will weather naturally to a beautiful silvery grey.

Accoya wood has impressive environmental credentials too. It’s fully sustainable, and every panel comes with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. It is also 100 percent nontoxic, so you can have peace of mind knowing it’s a healthy choice for you and your family.

If you’re looking to make a statement with a bold exterior, consider giving your home the shou-sugi-ban treatment. This ancient Japanese technique involves charring the wood to preserve and strengthen it. The charring turns the wood a deep charcoal black while revealing its texture and grain. Not only does this wood treatment make for a striking façade, but it minimizes maintenance.

Natural appeal aside, wood cladding gives you endlessly creative ways to express your personal style. Take this three-story office building designed and occupied by architectural firm Dillon Kyle Architects in Houston, for example. It’s clad in 2,500 Accoya boards that have an abstract leaf-like pattern carved into the wood. The pattern references the oak trees that line the neighbourhood, and it adds not just texture and softness to the modern structure but a unique personal touch.

“The Accoya wood boards are unsealed and allowed to weather over time,” says Peter Klein, associate principal architect at Dillon Kyle Architects. “The idea was to use a material where you couldn’t tell where the patterns started and stopped — just one big continuous object.”

As the wood cladding would play a pivotal role in the look and performance of the building, the firm took their time choosing the right one. “Even left untreated, it didn’t warp or mildew or mould, and that let us know we were on the right path,” Klein says. “The neutral grey tones coupled with its long-term durability, resistance to rot and insects made Accoya wood the ideal material for this project.”

Running slender boards vertically, as the architect has done here, is a clever design technique for making a low roof or ceiling appear higher. You can use this strategy both outside your home with wood cladding and inside with wood wall lining.

If room height is not a concern, consider mixing vertical and horizontal patterns for added texture and interest inside or outside your home.

More: Learn more about Accoya’s range of sustainable, acetylated wood products by visiting our homepage here.

This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.

Accoya is created with a different principle: the actual wood itself is changed and enhanced by boosting the presence of molecule groups that are already a natural part of the wood.  It becomes more stable, more durable…and highly resistant (or unappetising) to shipworms!

Partnering with Britton Timbers, a long-standing Accoya distributor in Australia, Accoya wood has been supplied for use for oyster seed trays and posts to Australian oyster farms since 2015 and is currently undergoing a testing programme.

Backed up with a 10-year warranty for this application, Accoya offers a unique solution to the challenge for oyster farms. It is sustainable, non-toxic and has an excellent reputation around the world for many applications, but this application is unique and could change the industry.

Barangaroo House

A three-storey restaurant in Sydney’s CBD, was one of the first in the city to use Accoya wood cladding and is a remarkable example of why this natural look is an increasingly popular choice for the beautification of our cities. Nested amongst the modernist city architecture, it makes use of the distinctive Japanese charring technique, Shou Sugi Ban, to create a striking building that breathes life into the otherwise sterile landscape. The Barangaroo project is a globally renowned urban renewal project that has sustainability and well-being at its heart, so it is hard to think of a more fitting product for this than Accoya.

What’s more, is that Accoya is durable across the entire range of climates. Its use in Britain, as seen above in north London, proves a resilience in wet conditions, and Barangaroo House exemplifies its durability in Sydney’s hot and humid summers. This guaranteed sustainability means that not only will this striking example of wood cladding architecture makes this corner of the city more beautiful, it will do so for lifetimes to come.

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.

What happens at the end of its product life? Can the wood also have circular economy benefits?

As well as lasting for decades (and with a warranty for 50 years for above ground use), Accoya doesn’t contain any plastics or new elements that aren’t found naturally in wood: it’s biodegradable and can be handled in the same manner as raw wood at the end of life through recycling, composting or as a bio-based fuel source (as stated in the company’s KOMO product certificate and further evidenced by SHR – Wood Research Foundation Netherlands).  It can even be up-cycled into Tricoya wood chips, which are used to make high performance wood panels that can last decades more!

What about the transition to net zero economy?

At Accsys and through our flagship Accoya wood product, we believe that our actions and those actions of our customers can help contribute to one of the biggest challenges of our time – combatting climate change and the transition to a net zero economy.

Wood sequesters carbon, meaning that it captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locks it in for its useful life, and the more durable and long lasting wood, alongside its use at end of life, can have a positive influence on the environment. Last year, our products locked in and safely stored around 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This means that everyone involved in the process to use Accoya, from making and distributing it to the owner living with it, has helped take the equivalent of roughly 120 million miles of car driving emissions out of the atmosphere and store it safely in a useful, beautiful product.

‘Accoya – a new way of thinking about wood’ shows, tells and illustrates the unique properties and benefits of the product: enhancing the natural qualities of wood while negating its traditional weaknesses, creating a building material that offers distinct advantages compared to tropical hardwoods, plastics and other materials.

Working with its distributors and manufacturers who create end products – such as doors, windows, cladding and decking – from Accoya wood, people throughout the value chain can quickly and easily find the information they need, understand the benefits and proposition of the product, and then find and contact the right vendor for their requirements.

In 2020 Accsys also won Bronze for “Best strategic or creative development of a new brand” for its corporate brand.

See the Transform Awards winners article here.

Pictured left: Jen Neville & Kate Gorringe – Mr B and Friends
Laura Keily & Natalie Davies – Accsys

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?’

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

It goes without saying that you want doors and windows that will stay in good condition for years, but how can you guarantee the timber you choose will hardly shrink, warp, or move? Step forward Accoya wood, a modified wood product that uses a non-toxic process to create a product that rivals the performance of the best hardwoods.

Not only can Accoya wood withstand the test of any climate, including the most extreme, it brings unprecedented reliability as it’s more stable than other timbers; it is checked and trusted not to move significantly as a result of changes in humidity.

Bonus tip: With Accoya wood’s 50-year warranty on above-ground timber (surpassing teak), you’ll be safe in the knowledge that your forever home will look good for decades.

Whether you’re going for traditional wooden sash windows frames, bay windows or architectural glazing, the aesthetic appeal of your frames is a key consideration. Accoya wood is easy to work with, so it’s ideal for both period or contemporary joinery, while bespoke sizes and designs offer plenty of creativity, allowing you to have a truly unique look.

Accoya wood’s style benefits don’t stop there. Its naturally light colour affords a wide range of translucent colour options, from light oak to the darkest ebony. The stability of Accoya wood means that black paints can be used with confidence on external applications.