Construction Market Activity - March
Latest Office of National Statistics figures show that construction output has continued to fall and was down 2.3% in January. Comparing the quarter with the equivalent period a year ago there was a small increase of 0.6%. The largest increase was new Infrastructure (up 11%) and the largest fall was public non-housing (down 15.4%). Construction orders for the last quarter of 2011 were also down by 2.5%, the lowest level since 1980. As with output the largest growth was in Infrastructure (up 41.6%) and new Public Housing fell by 26.6%.
In the last month there have been a spate of results declared. Despite the low housing outputs, builders have performed well in 2011; Barratt (revenue up 8.6%, profit up 40.5%), Galiford Try (revenue up 30%, profit up 89%), Bovis (revenue up 22%, profit up 35%), Persimmon (revenue down 2%, profit up 55%), Taylor Wimpey (revenue up 2.2%, profit up 81%) and Crest Nicholson (revenue up 12.2%, profit up 19%) have all show dramatic improvements. The launch this week of the government's NewBuy scheme also promises an increase in demand from new home buyers with Barratt reporting that nearly 20,000 potential homebuyers have pre-registered their interest.
This strong peformance continues with other sectors, for contracting Balfour Beatty announced their results which showed an overall increase in profits of 22% despite a fall in construction operating profit of 16%. Construction revenue was up, although the order book was down 23%. In manufacturing Kingspan announced strong performance with revenue up 14% and profit up 24% after allowance for acquisitions. Finally, for the supplier sector Travis Perkins announced that turnover was up 6% on a like-for-like basis and profits were up 37%. |
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Regulations & Initiatives - quick update
The Green Deal
It sounds like a full launch of the Green Deal will not happen in October 2012, with the government now talking of a 'soft launch' starting then. Amongst other issues it is reported that the energy companies will not be in a position to process the finance until the first quarter of 2013.
In a more positive vane, the government has announced £3.5million in funding to help train hundreds of people in key green skills ahead of the launch of the Green Deal, this is described as delivering on the Deputy Prime Minister's announcement to create 1,000 Green Deal apprenticeships.
A report commissioned by Construction Skills, Asset Skills and Summit Skills has been published which has identify skills and knowledge required to deliver the Green Deal, determining the extent to which the existing workforce possess these and the capacity of training provision to deliver them. The research estimates that just over a fifth of the built environment workforce holds core job roles required for the delivery of the Green Deal, equating to over 800,000 employees. A conservative estimate of those requiring training would be 8,000. Included in recommendations is the suggestion that assessors and installers will need to receive regular CPD "focuses particularly upon emerging technologies and new products/systems relating to energy efficiency measures." Is this the first hint of a new range of CPD seminars to be delivered by manufacturers?
The Construction Products Association has launched a Guide to an Understanding of the Embodied Impacts of Construction Products. The CPA also has a dedicated website on sustainability which provides a single point of reference for information on sustainability of building products. |
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What are the Best Communication Channels to use?
Today sees the lanch of the 2012 Construction Media Index!
The 2012 Construction Media Index has now been published, providing a wealth of information on traditional and online media used. Our preview has already caused discussion about the increased use of Twitter and declining role of Product Directories.
We asked Su Butcher of JustPractising.com to review some of the findings and give her views:
The architect is probably the most important member of the design team, distilling the requirements and advice of the other members. Often though they are time poor and consequently hard to get hold of. So how do you introduce your products? You need to find a way of getting the architect's attention and then reassuring him that your product ticks all of the right boxes.Read more
If you are finding all of these developments challenging why not put everything into context by booking a place on one of our open courses held at The Building Centre?
Effective Specification Selling on 29th March
Marketing in the Construction Industry on 2nd May. |
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What's being said - a round-up of useful marketing items
In line with our latest research, the Construction Media Index, we wanted to share with you an infographic from the Chartered Institute of Marketing summarising their research: Social Media Benchmark.
Pinterest is a fast growing social network for image based marketing, currently B2C but one to watch for B2B.
Moving from online to live networking, now is the time to finalise your trip to Ecobuild, here are some items that caught our attention:
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