The Celebration of Wood, a conversation with Sykes Timber.
In December we caught up with Sykes Timber to get an insight to the world of wood and what sustainability looks like to them. Sykes Timber has been supplying high quality hardwood and softwood for over 160 years and is still very much a family owned and run business.
Two generations of Sykes - Bob and Joe - joined us on the call and we jumped straight in by asking them about their business philosophy including the Quaker ethos. “Honesty, integrity and treating everyone with kindness and fairness”, Bob explained is fundamental to their business. The Quaker values have been passed down through generations although aren’t pushed upon their employees, but Sykes Timber emphasised the importance of employing people who share these values and integrating them into the business culture.
This lead nicely into the hot topic of 2025 - Sustainability and its importance. Joe talked us through their common-sense approach and how they focus on in-house practices before seeking external certifications life FSC and PFC. They have an emphasis on investing in practices that might not have direct financial gain but provide peace of mind, which is something everyone that can, should adopt. On their route to being even more sustainable they are exploring rainwater harvesting for washing lorries and other simple, sustainable practices. As well as this Sykes also owns a lot of woodland across the UK, which they manage for useable timber, and use wood boilers and solar panels to reduce energy consumption. Sustainability now more than ever is very important and is something that is very apparent in the future of the boating industry. “We’re great believers in wood as a whole being the most sustainable material on earth if managed correctly”. What an inspiring statement.
The conversation then turned to future timbers and if there are still ‘go-to’ timbers for boat builders to use. Joe stated that the world is trying to reinvent timber for some peculiar reason. We talked about the trade potentially looking for a timber that is good for building as opposed to a natural material. With building products you need less input and less thought whereas with raw material timber you have to take time to understand and educate yourself on it.
Bob concluded that there are future timbers to look out for, “but there's more development, certainly home-grown timber is having a sort of a drive again and rightly so, so where we can use home-grown timbers and they perform to what we need them to perform to, then it should be encouraged.” But to also keep in mind the current and traditional timbers as they have proven successful. Both Bob and Joe mentioned “the reason why mahogany, teak and oak were used is because they are the best woods, not just because they happen to be used. They cover so many end uses. These people were using wood because it needed to perform, not because it looked pretty”.
We finished the interview by asking for an update on Sykes Timber’s new facilities. They are hoping to be finished by the end of January, which is very exciting! Invites will be sent out - we can’t wait to visit. Thank you Bob and Joe for giving up their time to delve into some great insights. If you want to read the whole interview drop us a message.