What a delightful irony it was to have an advert from those astute concrete people, depicting the Colindale fire, placed opposite an announcement for your zero-carbon conference (18 May, pages 50-51) – all that previously sequestered carbon being put back into the atmosphere!

What those astute concrete people fail to mention is that the blazing framework in their picture was just that, a blazing framework. It was not a completed structure and had no fire protection in it whatsoever. The concrete lobby seems perpetually unable to promote its material purely on merit. I wondered how long it would be before they took advantage of Colindale.

What part of the phrase at the heart of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) edict – “legal, decent, honest and truthful” – do they claim this vilification of timber represents? I trust the timber frame industry will be taking the appropriate steps with the ASA.

John Park, Canada Wood UK

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