Marking 14 years of the Accoya journey

Today, on 11 March 2021, we’re marking 14 years exactly since the first ever batch of Accoya wood was produced: a milestone in our journey that we’re enormously proud of!

11.03.2021

Since that inaugural batch back in 2007 the world has changed a lot and our business has evolved and grown, but there are at least two things that we have all been able to rely on: the high quality and lasting appeal of our Accoya wood, and the support of our partners.

Over the last 14 years, Accsys has worked with distributors to bring Accoya to the world. We’ve developed partnerships and relationships in Europe, the USA and Americas, Japan and across Australasia to name just a few. Our distributors and manufacturers really are key to our success. Many have transformed their businesses by using Accoya to make long-lasting products which come without the issues and callbacks experienced with other wood species.  It’s one sign of true confidence in the quality of our wood that distributors who were with us from the very beginning are still actively selling and marketing Accoya today.

So, today we’d like to thank all our friends, colleagues and associates and partners – the distributors, sub-distributors, manufacturers and system partners – who have helped us shape the future for sustainable, long-lasting building materials since 2007.  We also want to thank the architects, specifiers, developers and homeowners for choosing Accoya and making the world a more sustainable place – and it’s always a privilege to see our wood showcased in so many stunning designs and settings around the world!

Unrivalled performance

Unrivalled performance

Accoya is made using sustainable, responsibly grown and harvested FSC® certified wood and is Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold overall with a Platinum rating for Material Health. Its unparalleled structural stability, incredible durability and excellent sustainability credentials make it a truly unmatched product for a wide range of applications and situations.

Accoya has been used in projects around the world as a high-performance timber of choice for years, and it all started in Scotland back in 2006. The first worldwide Accoya project took place in Glenrothes in Fife, Scotland when architectural designer Gordon Aitkin installed Accoya cladding on his own new family home. For him, sustainability and durability were crucial in the harsh Scottish climate.

When we went back to speak to Gordon ten years after installation, he revealed the only maintenance that he had needed to carry out on the cladding was a light sand and recoat in a small, exposed area.

It’s due to Accoya’s exceptional dimensional stability, barely shrinking or swelling at all, that coatings will last longer even in tough environmental climates. It’s not just up in Scotland that we’ve been able to see first-hand the exceptional performance of Accoya though – there are projects all over the world, from Antarctica to Asia, beaches to mountaintops, and almost everywhere in between. With our commitment to quality, we also have testing rigs set up in Arnhem in the Netherlands that have monitored the performance of Accoya over the last decade with leading coatings company Remmers. After 14 years of exposure, the tests showed no visible coating degradation even with zero maintenance.

A Sustainable Focus

In recent years, sustainability has become a key global focus and the building industry is no exception. Architects, designers and manufacturers now look to use building materials which not only perform well and look good but come with genuine sustainability credentials.

Accoya wood’s green credentials are wide-ranging and well-established,  with its Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold status really standing out amongst other building materials. Cradle to Cradle is a globally recognised measure of safer, more sustainable products made for the circular economy. Brands like Google and M&S, for example, are now adopting Accoya for innovative wooden facades because of our unique combination of sustainability and high-performance advantages.

Looking beyond the product itself, last year we launched the Accsys 2020 Sustainability Report.  This sets out our strategy for and approach and commitment to sustainability across all aspects of our business. It really does underline our purpose at Accsys: changing wood to change the world, with today marking 14 years of doing just that.

What’s next for Accoya

What’s next for Accoya

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 14th ‘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?’

Where to Buy

You can buy Accoya and Accoya products from our selection of distributors or manufacturers in your region. Use our map search tool to find your nearest Accoya supplier.

Where to Buy
Close

You are currently on the Accoya site

Would you like to visit the Accoya Site to view all relevant content for your location?

Yes take me to the site

No thanks, stay on site