Woodhouse Association´s regular general meeting took place on May 14. The meeting elected a new board for the next two years and managing director of the Association changed as well. Annika Kibus, an Association´s project manager will continue in the new position as a leader of the umbrella organisation.
Chairman of the Board of Woodhouse Association is continuously Siim Leisalu who assured that the sector´s umbrella organisation´s goal is to maintain the Association´s current level of development. „There are a number of challenges to take on in order to develop the sector and most important ones will be taken into action by the board. When up until now we have mainly been focusing on keeping the Estonian woodhouse producers´ reputation good at destination markets, then after having reached to be one of the strongest producing countries in Europe, we now need to further develop our domestic market,“ says Leisalu. Important areas in order to build a strong foundation for the home market are promoting of engineering education, solving the workforce issues and valuing wood as construction material in buildings of different use.
New members of the board are Andrus Prangli (Hobbiton OÜ) from a company producing handcrafted log houses, architect Mihkel Urmet (Tempt OÜ) and Andres Veel, a log house construction teacher at Hiiumaa Vocational School.
Estonian Woodhouse Association´s board members 2021-2023:
- Siim Leisalu (Timbeco Woodhouse OÜ) – Chairman of the Board
- Martin Talts (KMT Prefab OÜ) – Vice Chairman of the Board
- Tarmo Tamm (Peetri Puit OÜ)
- Andrus Prangli (Hobbiton OÜ)
- Mihkel Urmet (Tempt OÜ)
- Andres Veel (Hiiumaa Vocational School)
Estonian Woodhouse Association´s Board can have 5-7 members according to the statutes and the board is elected for two years.
After the general meeting Annika Kibus will start as an acting managing director of Woodhouse Association. Having worked for two years as a project manager at the Association she has gained considerable knowledge to continue as managing director. The current managing director Lauri Kivil´s duties in the job will end in the beginning of July.
„Exciting times are ahead of us – green transformation, digitalisation, and industrialisation. Having all those challenges in mind, I believe that now is the time to make a restart, set new ambitions and to not fall behind from future trends. Estonian woodhouse sector is very capable in my opinion and I hope that I will be able to offer the members of the Association the necessary resources to implement the challenges. Especially having in mind the green transformation and strong competition at markets where one always has to be one step ahead of the others,“ said Kibus when taking on the new job.
Great thank you to the previous board for contribution to the sector´s development and to Lauri Kivil for outstanding work leading the Association as managing director!
Estonian Woodhouse Association was established by 17 wooden house manufacturers on May 20, 1999. The Association currently has 60 members, 30 of whom woodhouse producers – modular, prefab element, handcrafted, machined log homes, CLT houses and garden houses. Other members include architecture and engineering bureaus and supporting sector (construction material and accessories producers). Members have long term experience at Estonian construction market and their production is one of the biggest export profit sources for the state of Estonia. Main goal of Estonian Woodhouse Association is to increase its members’ competitive edge and export capability through various supporting activities.