A new code of conduct for manufacturers and suppliers of building materials has been put forward by the Construction Products Association (CPA), in a bid to address market failings brought to light by the Grenfell tragedy.
The draft Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI) has been drawn up by the trade body in response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s 2018 call for substantial changes in the way products are tested, described and sold.
The new code features 11 clauses that have been built around five “acid tests” of trustworthiness – that product information must be clear, accurate, up-to-date, accessible and unambiguous.
In a foreword to a new consultation on the code, CPA Marketing Integrity Group chair Adam Turk, also chief executive of insulation specialist Siderise, said: “Once formally launched later this year, I challenge all construction product manufacturers to embrace the principles of this code, and I implore all those that use our information to work only wi
Design, procurement and construction processes have become more complex over time, and the added complications of covid-19 and Brexit have piled on the pressure. Steve Watts of Alinea examines in detail the factors affecting productivity and considers how we can bring about improvements to get more for less
01 / Introduction: the productivity puzzle
Life has become ever more complicated, and property development is no exception. It has always been an endeavour with finely balanced risks and rewards, and in which profitability is influenced by a range of factors, some easier to control and predict than others. The graph below of prime City of London rents, capital values and construction price inflation over the last 30 years (figure 1) shows office development in the capital has faced ever‑increasing cost pressures and values that have been supported by yield compression.
The number of European Union-born workers in the UK construction industry dropped by more than a quarter in 12 months.
In the third quarter of 2020, there were 127,000 EU-born workers in the industry, down from 176,000 recorded in the same period in 2019. The 28 per cent drop was greater than the 7 per cent fall in total employment in construction, according to data collected by the Construction Products Association.
Monika Slowikowska, director of London-based residential contractor Golden Houses, told
Construction News that, since January 2020, her staff numbers have dropped from 160 to 68 as people have left the country. She said some of her workers were intent on leaving the UK in 2020 before the end of the Brexit transition period, although the onset of the pandemic in March accelerated the process.
ACM cladding
Three quarters of an initial £200m government funding pot to help private-sector residential building owners fix unsafe cladding has been allocated, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
At the end of December 2020, £151m had been granted to fund various stages of remediation work, with full project funding having been approved for 64 buildings, its latest progress report said. Exactly 100 sites are eligible for the cash, with 94 having already applied for funding and the remainder expected to follow suit.
Earlier this month, the
Sunday Times reported that agreed funding came with ‘gagging’ orders, preventing building owners from speaking to the press without prior government approval.