> FIVE MINUTES WITH…
09 February 2009
MAURICE BROOKS
• How long have you been at Wood NI?
This is my third year as a Director of Wood NI.
• What do you enjoy most about working at Wood NI?
I am very passionate about the wood industry so inevitably I enjoy my role at Wood NI. I particularly enjoy keeping in touch with those in the industry and making new contacts.
• Where did you work before Wood NI?
I was previously Chairman of the Northern Irish Timber Trade Association (NITTA), before which I worked at Brooks Group for forty two years, which is now owned by Wolseley. There I had various roles from Timber Director to Development Director. I moved to Northern Ireland ten years ago and am based in County Down , but I have been working in Northern Ireland for thirteen years now.
• What do you do outside of work e.g. hobbies, family?
I am involved in the Rotary Club in Belfast, founded in 1911, it was one of the first three Rotary clubs to form outside the United States .
Sailing is my main sport, but I also enjoy gardening and going for walks. In the last four years I have also been lucky enough to enjoy gaining six grandchildren. As you can imagine they keep me very busy and fortunately they mostly live close by.
• What are your main concerns facing the timber industry?
In the short term, the current market conditions facing traders concerns me. Members are having to cut costs, which also means job losses, and what is more, a loss of their valuable knowledge to the industry. The weakness of the pound has also had a serious affect upon our market.
In the long term, sustainability is my greatest desire and concern for the wood industry. Our industry needs to get serious and live up to sustainability. It’s essential for our industry that the products we trade in and supply are legal and sustainable.
• How do you think the timber industry can improve?
I am a big believer in education and training. Training staff is essentially the core. It is also important to increase product innovation and build on marketing.
• How is Wood NI helping to overcome these?
Wood NI covers all of Northern Ireland and we are a marketing led organisation. We have made an important link up with the construction industry group, which is lobbying to get greater investment to support the wood construction industry as much as possible. We hope that by doing so we will be able to pull projects through the economic downturn.
• What has been Wood NI’s most recent key accomplishment?
At Wood NI we are proud to be sponsors of various industry awards. We have developed a stronger relationship between the timber trade in the North and South of Ireland, and this has been evidenced by our sponsorship of the all Ireland third level student awards for design in timber run by the Wood Marketing Federation. We are one of two main sponsors. We are also pleased to report that two out of the three awards have gone to students in Northern Ireland. The three types of awards are for architectural, of which we won two awards, engineering, and furniture design, the award for which we have won for the past two years.
Our second sponsorship is with The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) Biennial Design Awards, which are for an array of project sizes. We were the main sponsor of it last year and we created a new award called “The Wood Award” for best design in timber.
Wood NI also places a lot of emphasis on staff training. We had nineteen students last year who achieved their Institute of Wood Science Award. We also like to encourage suppliers to talk about their products to the industry.
By operating as a local organisation we have been able to achieve great local credence and show the Northern Irish ability to operate in its own right. However, we are also delighted to be joining forces with the TTF provisionally for two years and explore the possibilities of promoting wood. We are proud to be working with the TTF, an organisation whose credibility as a reliable supplier is so strong.
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