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CLC committee raises concerns on material shortages 26 May, 2021 SHARE John Newcomb, CEO of the Builders Merchants Federation and Peter Caplehorn, CEO of the Construction Products Association, co-chairs of the Construction Leadership Council’s Product Availability working group have issued a statement.
Activity in the UK construction sector, already high at the start of the year, has been very robust and picked up sharply from the beginning of March. New housing and repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI), together with infrastructure, have led the way. We now also see increasingly strong performance in the commercial and industrial sub-sectors, applying further strain on the supply chain.
Building and DIY projects are being put on hold because of a supply shortage of cement, timber, steel and paint while homeowners face a major rise in the cost of renovation projects due to skyrocketing demand.
The Office for National Statistics has projected an increase of up to eight per cent in material prices, as shortages of vital construction materials post-lockdown mean that the industry its biggest price surge in two decades.
For instance, the price of timber has risen by more than 400 per cent over the last year, with copper nearly doubling in price during the same period.
Shipping costs have also increased sharply due to a shortage of empty containers from Covid-related issues and the recovery in global demand post-pandemic.
bags of cement in a house under construction
Supplies of bagged cement and certain electronic components are “growing areas of concern”, the Construction Leadership Council has said.
The CLC said in its latest update that product availability is worsening, as it previously warned was likely to happen. Supplies are likely to face constraints for the next six months due to strong national and global demand. Activity in the UK has increased since March, it added, with the previously subdued commercial and industrial sectors seeing workloads pick up.
A shortage of haulage drivers and increased demand from the consumer-goods sector is also making it harder to find transportation for items, the CLC said.