Why OSKOP is giving its testing away

OSKOP is at the Structural Timber Conference in Birmingham on 7 October. The argument, in short: closed-panel timber is already the best answer for schools, and the testing behind it should belong to everyone.

On 7 October, Paul Inch of Strata makes OSKOP's case at the Structural Timber Conference in Birmingham, alongside architects Zubin Masters of Bond Bryan and Claire Barton of Haverstock. He won't be walking through the detail of OSKOP. The process, platform and product documents already do that, and anyone can read them. The session is about why an open kit of parts matters, and what the opportunity looks like for UK timber frame manufacturers and main contractors.

Schools are forecast to be the fastest growing of the ten main UK construction sectors, with around twenty per cent growth expected in 2027. The Department for Education wants panelised construction, and that demand has to be built by someone. The question OSKOP puts to the timber industry is whether it gets built safely and by many suppliers, or narrowly and behind closed IP.

"Residential is a hard market right now," says Paul. "Schools are the natural adjacent market for UK timber frame companies, and you don't have to be an education specialist to move into it. Adding school work simply diversifies the offer."

What OSKOP adds is procurement visibility and compliance simplicity, a clear and verifiable definition of what good looks like that isn't tied to one factory's capacity.

Closed-panel timber is already the best answer on cost and carbon, and the fastest to build. It arrives fire-rated and insulated as standard. OSKOP's job is to standardise it into a full kit of parts, tested against the competing compliance requirements at once, and to publish that openly with no IP.

The reason is resilience.

"If one factory fails financially, the project can transfer to another supplier against the same standard," says Zubin. Closed-panel supply to schools has been shaped for years by a small number of proprietary products, some now sitting inside major framework contractors. That concentrates the market and leaves clients relying on one or two sources, when the same panels could be made by many. "The testing sits behind intellectual property, and that becomes the barrier," he says. "OSKOP takes the opposite path."

For Claire, this is a values question before a technical one.

"The goal is buildings that are genuinely safer, not buildings that are compliant only on paper," she says.

Firms have assumed plasterboard would do the job without verified test data. Modular businesses whose testing didn't hold up have failed, taking client confidence with them. Grenfell remains the reference point for what happens when fire performance is assumed rather than proven.

Add a structural element to a tested panel, a steel post say, and the evidence no longer describes what you've built. "You cannot add something later that wasn't in the test," says Claire. Her worry is where that leads manufacturers. "Do they really want to become experts in fire rather than experts in producing components? Spending heavily on proving what they make diverts them from making it."

The open model also lets timber be built close to where it's used. A scheme in the South West should be sourcing from Somerset, not trucking panels down from Scotland, and certainly not importing closed panel from Germany at a carbon cost of roughly a tonne per truck. The capability is already here, dozens of companies making timber frame and closed panel, with some of the strongest service teams in the sector. What they need is OSKOP to fill the compliance gaps.

OSKOP isn't claiming to be perfect. "We're saying, join us," says Paul.

"We'll walk anyone through our methodology and our rationale. If you've already solved this independently and better, and you have the validation to prove it, you don't need us. This is for everyone else looking for the path to compliance."

He makes the full case in Birmingham on 7 October. The invitation isn't to be persuaded, but to argue back.

Paul Inch, Zubin Masters and Claire Barton speak at the Structural Timber Conference on 7 October 2026 at the National Conference Centre, Birmingham. All three are part of the wider group behind OSKOP