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Construction Market Activity - June
Last month the Office for National Statistics reported that construction output had fallen. This month they have reported that new orders have grown by 4.6% compared with the last quarter of 2011, however this is down 3.6% on the equivalent quarter a year ago. Positives are the large quarterly increases in private industrial and private commercial new work and small increases for Public Sector new work. However the positives are partly due to the poor performance in the previous quarter.
Commenting on the new orders data, Noble Francis, Economics Director at the Construction Products Association said 'With government cuts impacting sharply upon construction, it is no surprise to see that public sector construction new orders were hit hard in Q1. Of even greater concern was that new orders for housing were so badly hit. Public housing new orders in Q1 were 41% lower than a year earlier and private housing new orders in Q1 were 14% lower than a year earlier. Yet, with large house builders reporting good results recently and expressing optimism over the next 12 months, this suggests that it is SMEs who are suffering.'
Glenigan also reported a 6% decline in project starts for the 3 months to May. Office; retail and industrial building increased, but health and education fell.
Although housing new orders were down, house prices increased slightly in May as reported by both the Nationwide (0.3%) and Halifax (0.5%). The Homes & Communities Agency has also released its official statistics for construction of new homes managed through their programmes. This shows that for the year ended April 2012 completions were down 7.5% and starts down 65.4% at just 19,967 homes. The HCA describe this as "strong performance" in their newsletter! It has since been reported that they are talking to the government about bringing forward spending on affordable housing.
An initial tranche of projects for the government's Priority Schools Building Programme has now been announced, with 261 schools named to receive funding. With the government's review of PFI still incomplete it is unclear how the promised £2 billion will be provided. £400 million of direct capital funding has been made available to enable the first 42 schools to proceed using the existing contractors' framework set up by Partnerships for Schools. |
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Regulations & Initiatives - quick update
On Monday DECC announced the government's response to the Green Deal consultation. The full Government Response, Final Stage Impact Assessment and Progress in Setting up the Green Deal Framework as well as other Guidance and Advisory Documents are all available. This includes the expansion of approved measures from 30 to 45, see our Green Deal Update for the full listing.
The government has also hinted that it will be taking action to promote the Green Deal. Saying 'activity will be dominated by Green Deal participants (assessors, installers and providers). However, during the market development period and beyond, DECC will work with private and public sector partners including Green Deal providers, Local Authorities, Social Housing Landlords and other key players to build momentum for change. We will also help build confidence and trust by fostering recognition of the Green Deal Quality Mark which will have to be used by all Green Deal participants. This work will be complemented by the introduction of a £200m package of incentives to encourage early take-up. We will announce further details on the scheme later this year.'
The new BREEAM Domestic refurbishment scheme has just been launched. It replaces ECOHomes, the predecessor to the Code for Sustainable Homes and has still been used for domestic refurbishment until now. For use by designers, financiers, policy makers, developers, planning authorities and landlords, the tool provides a rating for domestic refurbishment from Pass to Outstanding.
UKAS announced the first tranche of accreditations against EN 45011 for certification of installation and advisory services under the DECC Green Deal programme. Accredited organisations are; Ascertiva Group Ltd, trading as NICEIC, Blue Flame Certification Ltd, BM TRADA Certification, BRE Global Ltd, British Board of Agrément, BSI Assurance UK Ltd, Certass Limited, CIBSE Certification Limited, Construction Licensing Executive, ECMK Limited, Elmhurst Energy Systems, Energy Saving Trust, FENSA Ltd, Oil Firing Technical Association (OFTEC). |
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Why you need to provide BIM objects
As with any new idea, BIM is both an opportunity and a threat to building product manufacturers. Provide the level of detail required and your product will be incorporated into the building's specification at an early stage. Don't provide BIM objects and risk competitor products being used instead.
For a manufacturer the need to provide BIM objects will become as necessary as the provision of standard specification clauses or CAD details. At the moment Adoption of BIM is growing fast and soon it will become mandatory for companies that wish to achieve effective specification selling. Continued.... |
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How to write a market research brief
Market research provides an important understanding of your customers; their needs, issues, opinions about your company and your competitors. It is the road map for business strategy and as the landscape is always changing, especially in times of recession, it is important to undertake regular research, keeping your road map current.
As with commissioning any service, it is critical to invest plenty of time in developing a comprehensive brief to ensure you are getting the best from your budget. In our recent blog we outline the key items to consider when commissioning research. Continued... |
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Construction Marketing Expenditure Survey
How do you decide your marketing spend and then justify it to the Finance Director? Even when starting with a bottom-up process it is useful to have a comparison with other similar companies.
We have just published this year's edition of our online survey into Construction Marketing Expenditure. This is designed to provide an insight into how construction marketing expenditure is committed and will close in early September. The report will be published shortly afterwards and will be designed to help people to compile their marketing budgets for next year.
All information is anonymous, and if you complete the survey you will receive a free copy of the report. |
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What's being said - a round-up of useful marketing items
New EU cookie law - Is your website compliant?
You may have heard about the new EU Cookie Law which came into force at the end of May? The legislation requires that you are transparent about the cookies your website uses and that you allow visitors to opt-out of having their data tracked. View this Youtube video for a good example found on the BT website, then to find out more take a look at Jan Klin's down to earth article on the subject.
How has construction changed during the Queens reign?
This article by Construction Manager is a fun read into how the industry has changed over the last 60 years.
Information resources
www.esi.info is one of a number of online information resources for professionals involved with the built environment. It is free to use and unlike many other product directories it lets users compare products and services from various UK construction companies.
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Forthcoming events
Presentation Perfect - 20 June - Birmingham
Face to face interactions are important, but pitching a new idea, campaign or justifying budgets can be a daunting prospect. This session is designed to provide hints and tips on delivering a winning presentation.
Digital Insiders - 12 July - London
Digital marketing seminars and workshops for business owners and marketers from building product manufacturers.
Timber Expo - 25 - 26 September - Coventry
Timber Expo is the premier show in the UK for all those involved in the timber sector.
The construction industry is making increased use of new technology like LinkedIn, Twitter, Apps and BIM. Just how is this impacting on the process of specification?
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