Wood is one of the most flexible materials our planet has to offer. It is used for sturdy constructions or simply for decorative items, as winter fuel or as a musical instrument. Aside from its manifold range of use, wood offers another invaluable advantage: It is the world's only naturally renewable construction material. Especially the slow growing hardwoods are popular when it comes to massive woodworks, also for industrial structures. The faster growing softwoods, on the other hand, are not suitable for bigger constructions, since their surface is not hard enough to resist bad weather conditions.

Accoya wood combines the advantages of both sources. The material is manufactured from New Zealand grown Radiata Pine, which has been chemically modified through a proprietary acetylation process. Accsys Technologies developed the treatment to give the fast-growing timber exceptional dimensional stability and Class I durability. "Traditionally, only endangered tropical hardwoods or other environmentally compromised alternatives were suitable for use in harsh external environments, but Accoya now allows the use of wood which does not compromise in either performance or sustainability," says Bryan Crennell, Head of Marketing, Accsys Technologies.

The sustainably produced Accoya wood won numerous prizes for its ecological benefits. Due to its environmentally friendly production and its good characteristics, it is seen as one of the most seminal construction materials. "It is very encouraging that as greater focus has been put on sustainable building in recent years, wood is playing an increasing role," says Crennell.

To distribute the new material in Europe, Accsys entered into a license agreement with Rhodia Acetow. The license grants Rhodia the exclusive rights for a 15 year period to produce and sell Accoya to over 40 European countries except the UK, Ireland and Benelux. The agreement also allows the construction of multiple Accoya production plants in various locations over a period of 25 years.

The cooperation between Accsys and Rhodia is only the newest partnership in a wide network. BP, one of Europe's major manufacturers of acetyls-based chemicals, also supports the Accoya wood production by supplying acetyls products. Paul Clegg, CEO of Accsys Technologies, commented: "The long term objective of Accsys is to license its proprietary acetylation technology for the manufacture and sale of Accoya and Tricoya to third parties around the world. " Tricoya is Accsys' latest brand, including acetylated wood elements like chips, fibers and particles - of course sustainably produced and with all typical Accoya characteristics.