Timber course knowledge was put into real-life context when nine graduates from six different builders’ merchants and joinery companies joined new SCA staff and last year’s Career Development Award winners on their post-course visit to SCA Timber Supply’s forests, mills and tree nursery in Sweden, from 6-8 April.

Top scorer in the BTEC qualification gained by SCA course delegates was Daniel Brockwell of timber merchants Arnold Laver Timberworld. The qualification and experience gained by merchants will bear good business fruit for individuals and their companies for years to come. The next round of SCA courses will commence in September.

This is the 13th year in which SCA course graduates from builders’ merchants and wood industry companies of all kinds have consolidated their learning through a visit to SCA in Sweden. This autumn will also mark a decade of SCA’s sponsorship of the wood industry’s TTJ Career Development Awards.

Continuing its dedication to merchant training, SCA Timber Supply has additionally committed to long-term sponsorship of the training initiative category in the Builders’ Merchants Awards for Excellence. The category will be re-named the Rob Simpson Training Initiative Award for builders’ merchants, in memory of SCA Timber Supply’s former managing director who died suddenly last autumn.