The Governing Boards of the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and the Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to align the strategies and activities of each organisation with a view toward a merger of the two organisations.
The MOU was signed on October 2020 and work has begun to conduct due diligence on both parties and propose a new operating structure for the merged organisations.
Nick Milestone, Chair of TRADA, said: “This is an historic step forward for timber in the UK. Bringing the two oldest, biggest names in timber together like this can only be good news. It will combine the lobbying and communications power of the TTF with the technical know-how, insight and design guidance from TRADA to make timber the first-choice product for designers across the country.”
The two organisations will continue to run operations in parallel under a common management plan for at least the first year before starting to merge activities, ensuring that no aspect of current member services is neglected or lost from either.
BM TRADA, which has run TRADA’s operations under a contract arrangement for the last 25 years, is in discussions with the two organisations regarding the role that it will perform under the new arrangement proposed.
The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) is a British federation of timber traders, founded in 1892 and based in London. It groups together more than 370 voluntary member companies operating as agents, importers, manufacturers, merchants and sawmillers.
The Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA) is an international membership organisation dedicated to inspiring and informing best practice design, specification and use of wood in the built environment and related fields.
