What about the workers?

The issue of the skills gap and the role of migrant workers has emerged again with warnings for the Government from not only the Commons’ own Communities and Local Government Committee Read story but also the Federation of Master Builders Read story. This is made all the more serious, as the committee MP’s point out because of the impact it may on that other spectre to haunt the industry nationally – the housing crisis.

Still on construction as a whole, we learn the sector was only spared to No 1 position in the league table of company insolvencies by an even bigger disaster in another sector! Read Story

And, on a more optimistic note, we are keeping on track in the run-up to the FIT Show with the launch of our own dedicated page for many of the recent articles about what the visitors can expect to find at the show. With more than 200 exhibitors taking all of three halls at the NEC later this month, visitors will need all the info they can get if they are to make the most of this epic event so we hope you find our new facility useful. View Page

And of course, as ever, we hope you also enjoy the rest of this week’s issue.

Chris Church Editor

Please send all your news stories to news@the-glazine.com

This Week's News

The big eight and the broken housing market

MPs have called on the Government to support small and medium homebuilders to tackle the grip that the big eight companies have on the ‘broken’ housing market.

In a Communities and Local Government Committee report, members said: “We have found a homebuilding sector that is dominated by the biggest companies. The eight largest firms build more than half of all new homes, which means we are overly reliant on an alarmingly small number of commercial actors.

“The large developers are often accused of landbanking (holding on to land to artificially restrain supply in order to maintain high house prices), and while we have not seen evidence of this, we have found that there is little incentive for volume housebuilders to build any quicker.”

Read More Here...

Housing pledges ‘redundant’ without migrants – FMB

The Government’s manifesto pledges on housing and infrastructure will all be redundant if the construction sector does not have enough skilled workers post-Brexit, according to the Federation of Master Builders.

The warning came as the organisation launched its ‘Programme for Government’ policy document by calling on all major political parties to recognise the importance of migrant labour to the sector.

Chief Executive Brian Berry said: “The UK construction sector’s demand for skilled migrant workers from the EU and beyond cannot be overstated. In London alone, there are more than 157,000 non-UK construction workers constituting almost half of the industry’s workforce in the capital. Pre-Brexit, 60% of small construction firms are already having trouble hiring bricklayers and that’s before the UK abandons the free movement of people. If the next Government implements an inflexible immigration system that hinders the ability of talented foreign construction workers from making their way to the UK, any manifesto pledges relating to the delivery of housing and infrastructure will be rendered meaningless.

Read More Here...

Construction near top in the insolvency table

Construction was the second biggest victim of insolvencies in England and Wales last year – and the sector was only spared the unenviable top spot in the league by a massive ‘one-off’ in the only higher sector, Admin and Support.

Figures released this week by the Government’s Insolvency Service show that 2,554 construction companies entered some form of insolvency during in the year to Q4, a 4.5% increase in the year to Q3.

Insolvencies across all industries also rose in Q1 of this year for the third successive quarter to 3,976, with the underlying increase (excluding the one-off phenomenon) showing a similar 4.5% increase on last quarter and 5.3% against Q1 year.

Figures are calculated separately for Scotland and Northern Ireland, where different trends are visible, though calculations by sector are not included. In Scotland, overall total company insolvencies fell by a third to 172, while in Northern Ireland, the figure for the same period rose by 20.7% to 99.

Read More Here...

All set for FIT

May is here and it’s the final countdown of days until the biggest FIT Show ever.

With more than 200 exhibitors and a growing list of top industry people registered to visit the event at its new NEC home later this month, the news is still coming in thick and fast from companies eager to share the news of what they have in store.

From now until the show, as well as our usual front page section, The Glazine is launching a dedicated FIT Show page featuring many of the most recent articles on exhibitors and their plans for the event, building to a comprehensive overview of what is happening around the show.

Just take a look at our front page section this week for all the latest event previews, then click here to see the wider picture.

NHIC targets consumers with ‘Progress’ mag launch

The National Home Improvement Council has launched ‘Progress’ a quarterly consumer magazine in both hard copy and digital formats, aimed at showcasing the best and newest ideas for home improvement in the UK.

Progress is being launched at the ‘NHIC – Raising Standards Together’ event, held at the House of Lords and inspired by the release of the Each Home Counts report. Guest speakers include Clive Betts, MP, discussing policy matters which affect the country’s existing housing stock, and Dr Peter Bonfield, OBE, FREng from BRE, discussing the importance of the NHIC providing much-needed leadership in the home improvement sector to raise standards and protect consumers.

The ‘Raising Standards Together’ event is supported by. Paul Forrester, Technical Services Manager of NHIC member Recticel Insulation which is supporting the event, said, “The NHIC’s diverse membership, broad knowledge base and deep-rooted links to government give it formidable and, most importantly, effective influence.”

Read More Here...

We Have Email

From: Leon Friend,
Director, Hueck UK,

A series of proposed infrastructure projects surrounding the Northern Powerhouse initiative could open fresh opportunities for manufacturers of building products in the UK.

Proposed infrastructure projects include HS2, a £50 billion high-speed railway connecting London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds and Manchester. A report by KPMG says the new rail project could boost the UK economy by £15bn a year and will create 22,000 construction jobs in the next five years.

HS2 is set to provide a big boost for the aluminium sector as specifiers on projects around the rail-line look to aluminium as the material of choice, presenting opportunities for manufacturers of these types of products. Manufacturers are also set to benefit from an increase in new housing, particularly in the PRS sector, as young professionals flock to the major cities.

Manchester has a flourishing PRS sector. An increase in career prospects and a rise in population has seen PRS in the city grow by 85% over the last decade.

Read More