Norbord Europe, the UK’s leading manufacturer of timber-based panel products is urging UK construction industry buyers to do their bit for the economy by adopting a “Buy British” policy. By buying British, jobs are protected, money is saved and the environment is respected.

There is, of course, a counter argument that states that we need to see the wider picture but that can be difficult when UK jobs are being lost on a weekly basis and the challenges that British manufacturing is facing are studied.

With construction workloads falling and the housebuilding industry effectively dormant, sales of building materials are at the lowest level for years. Yet, ironically, UK-made construction products are also more competitive now, compared with imported goods, due to recent currency fluctuations and rising transport costs.

Norbord, the largest of the UK’s four main panel product manufacturers, has benefited in recent years from the growing trend for sustainable construction methods. All of Norbord’s products, which include SterlingOSB, Caberwood MDF and Caberboard PB, are made either from forest thinnings grown in sustainable UK plantations or from recycled timber waste.

Now, buyers who specify these sustainable homegrown products can save money while supporting the British economy. With the Pound falling in value against the Euro and the US Dollar, imported timber products are increasingly uncompetitive this is an opportunity for UK manufacturing to assert itself and the specifiers of wood panels can help with this. All Norbord UK manufactured products can be specified in the confidence that they meet and are produced to the highest environmental criteria with production based right here in Britain.