Hemsec SIPs supporting MMC construction in the face of materials shortages
Hemsec has been able to increase its panel manufacture, despite well-reported global materials supply challenges. Thanks to strong partnerships with our supply chain, we expect to continue to support our customers so they can keep delivering projects.
The materials shortage in the UK construction industry is down a combination of factors, including as strong global demand, the impact of Covid and Brexit.
Hemsec SIPs can support builders and contractors in ways that overcome these shortages, and so our Product Manager Juliette Mullineux has kept up with industry comment, and picked out some of the most interesting for our management team which she found in The Guardian and PBC Today ; we thought you, our readers, would find them interesting, too:
- According to Noble Francis, Economics Director at the Construction Products Association, timber has gone up more than 80% in the past six months, while copper and steel prices have jumped by 40%.
- “With the price of timber battens, steel beams and plastic insulation all going up too, material costs were up by about 50%,” said James Talman, Chief Executive of The National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC).
- “The problems come at a time when the number of new homes being built is at its highest level in a decade and locked-down Britons have been funnelling cash saved on holidays and commuting into their homes.
- “There has been no let-up this year, as in the first three months of 2021, enquiries made to local building firms increased at their fastest rate in a decade”, according to the Federation of Master Builders
- Demand is strongest in the ‘repair, maintenance and improvement’ market.
- With some builders’ merchants reporting sales growth of up to 40% over the past year, John Newcomb, the Chief Executive of the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) said the industry was seeing ‘quite incredible demand’.
- “You can’t point the finger at anybody because so many different materials have availability issues right now. People who have been in this industry for over 30 years say they’ve never seen anything like it.”
There is also a labour shortage… Builders are struggling to recruit bricklayers, joiners and even general labourers.
Using SIPs, far fewer workers are needed, so we can help here too.
If you are a contractor or builder interested in Hemsec SIPs, please contact us, because we may be able to support you with product, whether or not you already use SIPs.