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Construction market activity
There have been a few encouraging signs for the market this month. Against this background the industry has been lobbying hard for the Chancellor to take some action in his budget to be announced tomorrow.
The ONS has released figures for New Orders in the Construction Industry. These figures show that in Q4 of 2012 total volume of new orders in the construction industry increased by 3.4%, compared with Q3 of 2012, this applied to all sectors with the exception of Infrastructure. The ONS also released their Output in the Construction Industry figures for January 2013. These show that the total volume of output in January 2013 was 7.9% lower than in January 2012, and fell by 6.3% compared to December 2012.
The Home Builders Federation's latest Housing Pipeline report stated that local authorities granted approvals for 45,041 new homes across England in Q4 of last year, up 62% year on year and 33% up on the previous quarter. They also said that the Government-backed NewBuy scheme has doubled last year's average, resulting in a current cumulative total of more than 3700 reservations. Further government stimulus has been announced in the form of a £225 million fund to help unlock stalled sites.
Against the background of rising house prices, five large house builders have announced increases in pre-tax profit. Barratt Homes have announced interim results for the six months ending 31 December 2012, which shows they have increased their pre-tax profits by 113%. Bovis Homes released preliminary results for the year ending 31 December 2012, which show increased pre-tax profits of 69%. Redrow PLC also announced their interim results for the six months ending 31 December 2012, showing a 50% increase in pre-tax profit. And Persimmon has announced their final results for 2012 which shows a 52% increase in their pre-tax profit.
The Miller Group has also released their results for the year to the 31st December 2012, which shows a 40% increase in their pre-tax profit. On the back of this they have predicted a double digit percentage increase in revenue during 2013.
This indicates that the housing market is the strongest is has been since the start of the recession and is showing signs of improving, at least for the larger house builders. |
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Regulations & initiatives - quick update
BIM has taken a step forward this month with the publication by CIC of:
Building Information Modelling (BIM) Protocol
Best Practice Guide for Professional Indemnity Insurance when using BIM
and
Outline Scope of Services for the role of Information Management.
The CIC have also published an Offsite Housing Review which identifies requirements for improved levels of thermal insulation as the most likely driver for increased construction of off-site construction.
The Association for the Conservation of Energy is to proceed with a judicial review against Eric Pickles regarding his decision to drop consequential improvement from Document L.
DECC has published the first statistics for the Green Deal since it was launched in January. These show that 1,803 Green Deal Assessments have been lodged, 77 Assessors and 619 Advisors have been accredited and £26.9 million worth of contracts have been let through the ECO brokerage system.
BRE has issued a consultation for its draft Product Category Rules. The purpose of this is to align its environmental profiling methodology for construction products with the European standard BS EN 15804. At some time in the future this can be expected to impact upon BRE's Green Guide.
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Sample Size Calculators - a review
In market research, the purpose of selecting a sample, rather than the whole of your target audience or target population, is to reduce cost and simplify the process.
So how do you know you have selected an adequate sample size? And how do you calculate the margin of error in your data so that it truly represents the whole? One way is to use a sample size calculator.
In this blog we take a look at five popular online calculators, offering a review on each. We also provide an explanation of the data terms, so you understand what data you need to enter to get a meaningful result.
Read more
Webinar: Market Research that Informs your Business Strategy
Friday 22 March 2013 at 12.30 - 13.30 - Cost: £45.00
In today's very competitive environment, market research is an important tool which can help you identify critical differences and opportunities. Attendees of this webinar will receive a complimentary copy of the eBook, normal price £20 + VAT. Find out more and register |
Writing effective case studies - a valuable sales tool
Case studies are an important sales tool. All too often, however, they are not given the attention or priority they deserve and opportunities are missed.
Case studies are important for a number of reasons: It is harder than ever nowadays to communicate with architects and engineers. They have always been busy people, but the recession means that many have taken on extra roles and have even less time available (like most of us).
Research conducted by Competitive Advantage for the Construction Media Index found that more than 50 per cent of architects do not read journals regularly and that when they do, project stories receive nine times more attention than advertisements.
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Ecobuild - pick up the phone, keep the conversation going
In these day of social media and email Ecobuild was an opportunity to meet new and existing clients face to face. So what now?
It is all too easy to return to our desks and hide behind our computer screens, to be diverted by project deadlines and internal meetings. In this blog I will be looking at how to keep the conversation going and importantly try to spur you on to 'dive in' and pick up the phone!
Read more |
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What's being said - a round-up of useful marketing items
If you like our blog articles please vote for us in the Construction Marketing Ideas best blog competition. Although this is a North American competition we are currently in 7th place and would like to finish a little higher!
Ecobuild round-up
Despite the economic circumstances green construction is still a thriving topic and the UK Green Building Council back this idea up with their book: Leadership for Green Growth launched at Ecobuild 2013. The book comprises a number of short essays from leaders across the UK built environment.
Also launched at the show was The Low Carbon Routemap published by the Green Construction Board, which demonstrates the challenges facing the industry and the necessity of delivering sustainable construction.
Quite rightly the Green Deal was a hot topic at Ecobuild and Stephen Bateman's blog seems to summarise the fears, concerns and hopes of those visiting the show.
Another topic of debate was BIM, with many seminars and presentations provided across the show. Dr Stephen Hamil provides the BIM highlights from the main seminar series in his Ecobuild blog.
The future materials gallery provided inspiration, but the topic that probably generated the most tweets was the Dulux dog!
Talking of Twitter Pauley Creative have provided a list of tweeters from Ecobuild and Su Butcher is asking how can Ecobuild be made better, share your thoughts using #nextyearecobuild? |
