Our products offer the world a choice to build more sustainably, without compromising on quality.
They open new opportunities in design, specification, building and manufacturing with their unique characteristics – the best properties of natural wood, enhanced by our acetylation process into a high performance, sustainable building material.
Content on this page contains extracts from the Accsys Annual Report 2023
Market Overview
Accsys’ products are positioned within the global wood products market, the global wood products market size is expected to grow from $805b in 2024 to $1,054b in 2028 with a CAGR of 7%. (Source: The Business Research Company).
Our products outperform competing materials most strongly when used in an outside environment.
– They compete with the high value end of the outdoor wood market.
Accoya and Tricoya offer market-leading warranties and service life, along with sustainability credentials that make them particularly attractive in an increasingly environmentally responsible world.
Targeted segment penetration
With products that could be described as disruptive to existing materials, we have focused on developing regions and product applications which will support sustainable growth.
The majority of Accoya sales are to a global network of timber distributors, many of whom are long-standing customers, which in turn supply a variety of industries, principally for joinery (windows and doors), decking and cladding. Accoya is primarily selected for use by architects, manufacturers and specifiers for its high-performance characteristics.
Tricoya panels are manufactured using Accoya for Tricoya from Arnhem. Agreements have been secured with Finsa and Medite, who use the Tricoya acetylated wood elements in place of traditional wood chip feedstock to create, market and sell Tricoya panels. Sales of Tricoya panels have increased significantly each year since Medite introduced them to the market in 2012, being used both in place of ‘traditional’ panels and in applications where wood panels would not have previously been feasible.
Focus
Our focus on selling to our distributors and marketing to the wider industry has proven to be a successful route to establish our products in the market as we challenge traditional preconceptions about material choice.
We have built and developed strong relationships with our distributor networks in key territories. We are committed to developing these relationships through training, support and engagement with both our distributors and their manufacturing customers. As a result, we can develop brand and product advocates throughout the value chain.
Demand drivers
There are three main types of drivers of demand for our products.
Industry demand drivers
Performance
Our products are most frequently chosen for their characteristics, quality and performance across all climate extremes, often resulting in low total cost of ownership across the product lifetime. This is fundamental to our proposition.
This competitive advantage against other woods and non-wood materials means we believe we can grow faster than the market through market penetration and share gains.
Construction & redevelopment
Rising GDP per capita, economic development and higher standards of living are fuelling construction, the principal driver of wood consumption, across the world. Our products are used in new constructions and in the refurbishment, redevelopment and remodelling of commercial and residential buildings and projects.
Underlying drivers include rising standards around expectations of building usages, performance and design, and regulatory changes (notably building safety, maintenance, sustainability and energy performance).
Megatrends
Sustainability
The built environment is responsible for almost 40% of global carbon emissions. In addition to decarbonisation, the ‘Race to Zero’, and setting of net zero carbon targets, there is also an increasing focus on renewable resources to support a circular economy. In addition, many countries and global businesses now have mandatory, legislative targets to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Shifting consumer priorities
Consumers in our geographic end markets continue to shift towards products that have a lower environmental impact, from shopping bags and drinking straws to the cars we drive. The trend is the same in the built environment: around the world we can see evidence of mass timber buildings using renewable, carbon-storing wood in place of concrete and steel.
Lifestyle changes
Socio-economic changes are driving a cultural shift in expectations for residences and commercial buildings and there is an increasing demand for high performance and low maintenance wood products suitable for outdoor use.
Competitive advantage and material substitution
Accoya® solid wood has class-leading properties that match or improve upon the unsustainable alternatives, combined with its certified sustainability credentials. Our acetylation process substantially reduces the effects of water on the wood, dramatically reducing susceptibility to swelling, shrinking and decay – all but eliminating the traditional drawbacks of wood, while enhancing the positives.
Architects, specifiers, manufacturers and end-customers no longer need to choose between performance and sustainability, with Accoya® offering clear advantages over non-renewable, unsustainable and heavily polluting alternatives such as tropical hardwoods, synthetics and plastics or mined metals.
Tricoya® panels’ enhanced performance and suitability for use in ‘wet’ environments not only improves their appeal compared to traditional panel products, but also opens completely new use scenarios and design possibilities. Tricoya® displaces alternative more expensive or less easily handled products and opens up major new market opportunities in the construction sector; and sales of Tricoya® panels have increased significantly each year since their introduction to the market.
Both products offer not just ultra-high quality and performance but also market-leading warranties and service life, along with the sustainable benefits and credentials that make them so attractive in this increasingly environmentally-responsible world.
Targeted segment penetration
With products that could be described as ‘disruptive’ to the existing materials on offer, and with demand exceeding production capacity, we have focused on developing the regions and product applications to support rapid but sustainable growth. This means targeting the product categories and use cases for which our products are particularly well-suited, offering the most substantial and easily-understood advantages over other materials.
The majority of our Accoya® sales are to a network of timber distributors which in turn supply a variety of industries, principally for joinery (windows and doors), decking and cladding. Accoya® is primarily selected for use by architects, manufacturers and specifiers for its high performance characteristics. We focus on these applications as Accoya® offers particularly clear and compelling advantages over traditional alternatives, both in material performance as well as sustainability.
Tricoya® panels are currently manufactured using chipped Accoya® wood, in advance of the completion of the dedicated Tricoya® wood chip acetylation plant in Hull, UK. Agreements have been secured with MEDITE and FINSA, who are expected to use the Tricoya® acetylated wood elements in place of traditional wood chip feedstock to create, market and sell Tricoya® panels. Sales of Tricoya® panels have increased significantly each year since MEDITE introduced them to the market in 2012, being used both in place of ‘traditional’ panels and in applications where wood panels would not have previously been feasible.
As we expand our manufacturing capacity, we will be targeting not just development of and expansion into new regional markets, but also into more application types as we continue to develop our product range.
Route to market
Our focus on marketing and selling to our distributors and their customers has been a very successful route to establish our products in the market as we challenge traditional preconceptions about material choice. We have built and developed strong relationships with our distributor networks in key territories.
Through training, support and engagement with them and their manufacturing customers, we develop brand and product advocates throughout the value chain.
We are seeking to significantly increase the awareness of the benefits of Accoya® with end users and consumers. Currently our extended sales network with our partners and customers is a major driver of end-user demand – expert recommendation being highly valued in our markets – however we are already seeing evidence of Accoya® in particular gaining a very positive reputation with enthusiastic property and home owners as well. The integration of our Approved Manufacturer Programme with location- and application-based ‘Where to Buy’ listings on the new website has resulted in significantly increased throughput of demand to vendors of Accoya® products: benefitting our brand, our customers, and end-consumers.
By developing our multi-channel marketing strategy, coupled with continued close support with our distributors and manufacturers, we will ensure that we continue to build on our strong market position.